Unemployment: Before You Re-Enter The Job Market
The U.S. unemployment rate is the highest its been in a quarter century. If your company has announced a soon-to-come layoff or you’ve been escorted out of the door: What’s next, you might ask? What should you do before updating your resume and looking for a job?
Review your financial status, especially now that it is changing. Calculate how much money you’ll need to meet your obligations and how many months you’ll have before your personal financial situation moves from good to bearable to desperate.
Evaluate your severance package and consider your options, which may involve a lump-sum payment or salary continuation. (See New York Life’s What Do I Need to Know About Severance Packages? and About.com’s article on the Severance Package.)
Look at your benefits package: your life, health, and disability insurance coverage as well as your retirement plans. When will your benefits end? Do you need to replace your insurance coverage?
Analyze your 401(k) plan options and obligations. Do you have a loan associated with the 401(k) and will you need to pay that off immediately? Should you leave the 401(k) with your employer’s administrator while you decide where to transfer the funds? Do you need to transfer the assets immediately upon your separation from the company?
Investigate a new career (if that’s what you want) and determine the time and resources it might take.
Check salary.com or payscale.com (or do your independent research) to see if your professional goals, personal desires, and financial needs are synchronized with your expected compensation. Decide whether you’ll relocate, sell the house, stay in your industry, or take an interim job while you go back to school.
Why pause before making re-entering the job market? If you take a breath and do some financial assessments, you’ll be more focused and more likely to get what you really want.
And if you’re unemployed and haven’t already done so, by all means – file for unemployment.
John Chase works in the finance field, and writes about topics such as debt settlement & debt consolidation, home loan modification, credit repair and unemployment issues. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/unemployment-before-you-reenter-the-job-market-1086662.html
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- Posted in Articles on July 31st, 2009