Vernal Banton
Contributor
The job market today is not what it used to be. With so many rampant company closures, it is very difficult to be gainfully employed.
What an awkward place to be. Usually, it boils down to money. Many businesses are continually downsizing departments, or closing them altogether, resulting in multiple layoffs. The staff members businesses choose to keep are typically multi-taskers who are versatile, proficient, multilingual, and willing to provide maximum labour for minimal pay.
In cases of department or company closures, the better employers are compliant to labour laws and employment standards; they are willing to offer fair severance packages based on their employees’ years of service.
Receiving severance can generate mixed emotions: happiness, sadness, and confusion result simultaneously. Happiness, from receiving a lump sum of money, but since most dismissals are sudden, former workers may experience depression. Subsequently, they may also feel extra pressure, stress and a binding financial dilemma. The confusion results from them wrestling with the fact that although they were not fired, they were not kept on staff. This situation creates a stupor that evokes feelings of strong rejection.
Many people who are inbetween jobs feel a sense of fear, insecurity, low self-esteem and sometimes even desperation; they may also feel obsolete or unmarketable. Unfortunately, in the workplace there seems to be a preferential treatment to those who are younger, or, at least look younger.
Younger staff members tend to be paid less, and some employers think that they can be better molded to grow with the company. Even though the latter comment is both incorrect and discriminatory, there are still many people in the work-force who believe it to be true.
Regrettably, seasoned workers have fewer choices after losing their long-term employment due to job bundling, downsizing and layoffs, etc. For the most part, it is because most of them do not have contemporary skills that are relevant and transferable to multiple fields.
There is hope, though: depending on their education, skills set and years of experience, they can upgrade their computer and educational skills, re-invent their look, start a sideline business, provide consultation services, work temporarily with a job agency, get advice from career counselors, write a book, run training workshops, be a motivational speaker or a business coach.
To stay motivated, they can do some anti-stress activities, which could include exercising, stretching, walking, reading, meditating, praying, writing, going to the gym, doing yoga and being more sociable by participating in the arts, sports and entertainment communities.
Most importantly, they can strategize an action plan and follow through with it. To keep themselves on track, they should draft a to-do-list for the next three to six months that will keep them grounded and will hopefully bring them closer to achieving their pursuits and goals and stay to optimistic.
Vernal Banton is a motivational speaker, author and charity spokesperson who is involved in the media and fashion retail industries. (vernalbanton.com).
