Suddenly Unemployed
The Honest Guide to Job Searching
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Welcome to the worst club you never wanted to join BUY FROM INGRAMSPARKAMAZONKOBOREAD THE INTRODUCTIONTABLE OF CONTENTS 190 pages · Paperback ISBN 978-1-946458-41-4 · ebook ISBN 978-1-946458-75-9 |
| 190Pages | 21Chapters | 38,000Employees he hired into | 474Stores |
Welcome to the worst club you never wanted to join
You got fired, or laid off, or your contract ended, or you were restructured out of existence. The details stop mattering almost immediately. What matters is that it’s Tuesday and you have nowhere to be.
Nobody prepares you for this. One day you have a title and responsibilities and a paycheck, and the next you have a cardboard box and a login that no longer works. The practical problems are solvable. The part nobody writes about is the first two weeks.
Most job search advice is written for somebody browsing openings from a comfortable chair on a Tuesday afternoon while still employed. It tells you to network authentically while you’re behind on rent. It tells you to hold out for the right fit while you refresh the banking app and do arithmetic you’d rather not do.
This book assumes the opposite, because nobody buys a book about job searching from a comfortable chair.
What is inside Suddenly Unemployed?
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The first weeks
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The search
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Harder cases
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Afterward
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Who should read Suddenly Unemployed?
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Read it if
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Not for you if
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Why did I write Suddenly Unemployed?
Richard Lowe, the Writing King
For twenty years I hired at Trader Joe’s, a $16 billion company with 38,000 employees. I read the resumes, sat on the interviews, and delivered the news the other way too. I know what the gap in your employment history looks like from the hiring side, because I looked at thousands of them. Then I left corporate life and rebuilt from nothing. That’s the part most career advice skips.
► Behind the Book: Suddenly Unemployed
How this one got written, what went wrong, and what got cut.
► I Decided in Thirty Seconds Whether Your Resume Was Worth Reading
One story from behind this book.
What do people ask about Suddenly Unemployed?
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Street-Smart Management Wisdom Management Without BS |
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Cutting Through the BS |
You made it through the worst day
The rest of it is a process, and processes can be worked.
BUY FROM INGRAMSPARKAMAZONKOBOREAD THE INTRODUCTIONTABLE OF CONTENTS
Paperback and ebook.
Introduction
Suddenly Unemployed
You got fired. Or laid off. Or your contract ended. Or your company “restructured” you out of existence. The exact details don’t matter. What matters is that you’re unemployed, and you’re feeling like your life just exploded.
Nobody prepares you for this. One day you’re a professional with a title, responsibilities, and a paycheck. The next day you’re unemployed, and everything you thought you knew about yourself and your future has been turned upside down.
This book isn’t going to blow sunshine up your ass about how unemployment is “an opportunity for growth” or “a chance to find your passion.” Unemployment sucks. It’s stressful, demoralizing, and financially terrifying. Anyone who tells you otherwise has either never been unemployed or is selling you something.
What this book will do is give you a realistic roadmap for surviving unemployment and finding work again. Not inspirational platitudes. Not feel-good nonsense. Practical advice from someone who understands what you’re going through.
I spent 20 years as Director of Computer Operations and Technical Services at Trader Joe’s, a $16 billion company with 38,000 employees and 400+ stores. I hired people. I fired people. I sat across the table and decided in the first 30 seconds whether a resume was worth my time. I know exactly what hiring managers are thinking because I was one for two decades. In my opinion you’ll rarely get a job through the front door. A resume sent to HR competes with a thousand others and hits automated keyword filters first, so find the posting and then network your way to the hiring manager.
When I left Trader Joe’s in 2013, I had to rebuild my professional identity from scratch, the same thing you’re doing now. I’ve been the desperate one refreshing my inbox, the one who had to figure out how to explain a gap, the one who had to start over at an age when most people assume the hard part is behind them. Have an escape hatch, because it’s vital. I didn’t have one when I left my corporate IT job, so I winged it, and I got by.
Unemployment isn’t fair. Good people get fired for bad reasons. Qualified candidates get rejected for jobs they could do in their sleep. The process is frustrating, demoralizing, and often arbitrary. You can’t control what happened to you, and you can’t control how employers respond to your applications. What you can control is your strategy, your presentation, and your mindset.
Nobody was going to hire me when I left in my fifties. I had 33 years of tech experience, and it didn’t matter. That’s ageism, and it’s the reason I went freelance. Companies weren’t hiring people like me, but they were hiring consultants and coaches.
Most people find work. The goal isn’t to enjoy unemployment or find meaning in it. The goal is to get employed again with your finances, sanity, and relationships as intact as possible.
The only way I know to find a job these days is talking to people. Word-of-mouth networking works, and the resume game mostly doesn’t, so don’t even play it. Employers usually look at your LinkedIn profile after they’ve talked to you. It’s rarely how they find you. Don’t get discouraged. If a company doesn’t respond, that’s their loss. Move on immediately, and don’t wait to do it.
Table of contents
Suddenly Unemployed
- Introduction: Welcome to the Worst Club You Never Wanted to Join The Shock – What Just Happened and What You Do Right Now
- Don’t Be an Idiot – What Not to Do When You’re Angry and Stupid
- Money Panic – How Long Can You Actually Survive?
- The Psychological Grind – When the Search Becomes a Slog
- Fast Money – Side Gigs That Actually Pay This Week
- Your Reputation and What People Will Think
- Why Your Resume Probably Sucks and How to Fix It
- How to Take Advantage of AI for Your Job Search
- The Job Search That Actually Works
- Job Searching with ADHD
- Networking When You’re Desperate (and People Can Smell It)
- Interviews When You’re Coming from Unemployment
- Negotiating When You Have No Leverage
- Starting Your New Job When You’re Already Exhausted
- Making Sure This Never Happens Again When to Give Up on Your Old Career
- Unemployment and Disability
- Finding Work After Retirement
- Don’t Get Scammed When You’re Desperate
- Remote and Hybrid Work
- When Your Situation Is Complicated
- When You’re Young and Already Screwed
- Conclusion: You Made It Through