Dealing With Being Laid Off

Written By: Claudia Buck 

Posted By Ken Smith

It's the dreaded tap on the shoulder. The proverbial pink slip.

Amid record unemployment, millions across the country are getting the bad news: Your services at work are no longer needed.

Without question, getting laid off is an emotional and financial shock. For advice on how to cope, we talked with three Sacramento financial advisers. Here are their tips:

Absorbing the shock

"Don't get demoralized. It takes resiliency to take that (layoff) blow and not let it disable you," said Peter Cole, a chartered financial consultant and a clinical psychiatry professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

It's normal to feel a layoff is a personal failure, he noted. Take stock of anything that made you vulnerable, but recognize that in this financially stressed economy most layoffs are beyond your control.

Don't let it drain your emotional reserves. Talk it out with friends, family, a counselor or religious adviser, he said. "Then get your butt in gear."