When you’re at home receiving severance, it can feel like vacation pay. The garage needs organizing, and the house needs painting. There is so much to do! While you were working, you never had enough time to train the dog, organize your closets and catch up with friends. Who can blame a job-seeker for delaying a job search when the news from the marketplace is so often discouraging?

A month or six weeks’ break to recover from a layoff is a wonderful luxury for folks who have the means to take it. After that, we may begin to look for excuses not to jump into a job search. As tempting as those diversionary activities can look (I’ve always wanted to take a knitting class/improve my golf game/volunteer at the zoo), this is no time to hesitate. People who are out of work longer have a harder time finding jobs than folks who jump on their job-search projects right away.

Take a look at our Nine Reasons Not to Delay Your Job Search, even if (especially if!) you’re receiving a severance check for sitting at home right now.

• A job search is a disciplined activity, like preparing for a big exam or training for a marathon. When you were working, you followed a daily regimen. You got up, got dressed and off you went. The longer you remain in limbo with your days unstructured and no daily or weekly goals, the harder it can be to get back into the focused schedule that a 2010 job search requires.
• Your network won’t dive in to help you with your search if you’re not engaged in it yourself. You want to touch base (face-to-face is best) with at least three of your network buddies a week, and when you do, you’ll want to be able to tell them what you’re doing about your job search. The longer you wait to connect with your network cronies, the less engaged in your search they will be (and who can blame them)?
• Employers can live with the fact that you’re unemployed – heck, one out of ten people in the US is unemployed everywhere you look, if not more — but they’ll want to know how you’ve spent your time since you left your last employer. “I read War and Peace” is not the answer that employers want to hear when they ask you to account for your post-layoff time.
• You know those job ads that proclaim “We want a motivated self-starter?” Motivation and self-starter-ness show up in a candidate’s job-search activity level, just as they do on the job. You won’t have much claim to membership in the Motivated Self-Starter club if you ran out your severance and/or unemployment benefits before beginning your job search.
• Maybe there aren’t many great jobs in your area of specialization. Apply for all of them anyway, and apply for related jobs too. Most employers prefer working candidates to non-working ones. If a hiring manager has to decide between you and another candidate, who is s/he going to choose — the person who was laid off, jumped back in and is currently working (even at a one-step-back job) or the one who hasn’t worked since his layoff?
• Depending on your background, industry and geography, your job search could take three to six to nine months or more. Can you afford to wait several months before starting? Hiring processes are as slow as molasses right now. The sooner you dive in, the more you’ll learn about the local marketplace, the more you’ll cultivate useful contacts, and the more your job-search confidence will grow.
• If you came across the perfect job right now, would you be ready? Wouldn’t it be great to be primed for the task of snagging the job of your dreams? Ideally, you’d have applied for and interviewed for multiple jobs before pursuing your dream job. Get those early missteps and painful learning experiences (virtually unavoidable) out of the way before the high-stakes job opportunity presents itself.
• Avid job-seekers often uncover consulting gigs as they come across opportunities to help employers with short-term needs. These folks are in highly favorable spots as ‘permanent’ openings are created, because they’re already known and liked inside the employer. If you’re not on the market talking with people and exploring employer pain points, you won’t be one of those most-favored candidates. The consulting income is not bad, either!
• The job market is changing fast. Boilerplate resumes are a thing of the past, and resume (not just cover letter) customization is in. The more jobs you apply for, the more you’ll learn about how and when to customize your materials for specific opportunities. The sooner you begin, the better.

A fellow called me last week, and he said “I was laid off in August, and I just got hired this week. Here is the crazy part: “The version of me who was sending out resumes last August would never have gotten the job that I got this week.”

“What has changed about you?” I asked.

“Everything has changed,” he said. “Five months is a long time. My resume has changed a dozen times. My interviewing technique has changed. I’m twice as strong a candidate now as I was back then, and I’m certain that the time and experience I got on the job market helped get me my job this week.”

Don’t wait until the wolf is at the door to start your job search. Get your engine up and running today!

Nine Reasons Not To Delay Your Job Hunt is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Why You Should Sweat The Small Stuff In A Job Hunt
2. Job Hunt Got You Stressed? Try A 15-Minute Vacation
3. Ten Reasons To Run From A Job Opportunity

As a refresher, here are some of the key tips from Rusty when faced with job elimination:

• Always take the time to seek counsel to understand separation agreement. Your employer will likely want you to sign an agreement before they extend any severance or other separation benefits, and will offer you the time to talk to a lawyer before signing the release agreement. Take that time.
• Ask for employment and salary continuation versus a lump sum severance payment. Severance usually represents the equivalent salary for a period of time, and companies often disperse this as a lump sum payment because there are accounting benefits.  However, staying on the books gives you the benefit of time to take care of other business that may require employment verification. 
• Request your benefits to continue through the time of the separation package.  Regardless of whether you are successful in extending employment, you should ask that your health and dental benefits be extended through the ending date of the time of your separation period.  
• Ask to be an active employment status in company’s system until separation pay and/or period ends.  If you are technically still on payroll, this will help make sure that anyone verifying employment gets a “yes they are employed here” answer. 
• Ask for continued access to on-site services and benefits.  Perks such as company gym can go far in preserving your lifestyle and health, not to mention keeping expenses down. 
• Ask to be considered for project work in exchange for extending separation period.  Make yourself positively available to come in and help out as needed shows you want to work with the company by helping them to help you.

Be sure to check out the full post with more detailed tips, along with some other advice for employees we’ve written about in the past.

Negotiating Severance Packages—A Refresher is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Navigating a Layoff: Tips for Negotiating Your Separation Agreement and Getting the Most from Severance (Employers Listen too!)
2. Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s – Part One: Financial Fear
3. 3 Salary Negotiating Strategies To Get That Pay Raise

UPDATE: Microsoft has quickly rectified the administrative glitch regarding several severance packages – The company said the laid off workers could keep the extra payouts.

Earlier post…

For weeks now Glassdoor.com career and workplace expert, Rusty Rueff, has been offering employers advice on how to best handle tough economic times and layoffs. It seems that Microsoft‘s HR team might want to take notice. 

It appears some of the recently laid off Microsoft employees may have been paid too much, according to Saturday’s Tech Crunch that revealed letters received by former employees noted an “administrative error” that resulted in an overpayment of severance pay. Now Microsoft wants it back.  What do you think?

Update: Laid off Microsoft Employees to Keep Extra Payouts is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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2. 831 Things Yahoos Can Learn from Microsoft Employees
3. Microsoft Layoffs Do Not Compute?

The pervasive job-losses, deepening recession and credit crunch we are all facing today make it harder and harder for people who are living, or expecting to live, on the severance packages being offered today. Companies tend to want to provide lump sum severance payments so they can take the full accounting charge in the current quarter and move on.  However, many companies recognize these are different times and may be willing to work with you to assist in the transition and provide some type of employment verification grace period while you get your life in order. If you’re an employer; it’s the right thing to do.  Remember that while we call them severance or separation packages, what they are meant to be are job transition money and in this time where the transition will be longer than expected, employers can really help out just by being a little more flexible than usual. Even if we see a layoff coming – which most people don’t — it’s hard to not be taken by surprise at least a little, and having even a few extra weeks to think through all of the details can make a big difference.

Below are a few tips and “asks” you can use in negotiating your separation:

• Always take the time to seek counsel to understand separation agreement – Your employer will likely want you to sign an agreement before they extend any severance or other separation benefits. Your employer will offer you the time to talk to a lawyer before signing the release agreement. Take that time. It’s important you have a lawyer or advisor look over the document to make sure you understand everything. And, remember; don’t sign anything until you have made all requests to make the process easier, such as those below.
• Ask for employment and salary continuation versus a lump sum severance payment. Severance usually represents the equivalent salary for a period of time (for example, six weeks or six months).  Companies often disperse this as a lump sum payment because there are accounting benefits.  However, staying on the books gives you the benefit of time to take care of other business that may require employment verification.  For example, one company I am aware of kept an employee on the books for several weeks so the employee could complete a refinance of their home.  If you can’t convince your employer to provide salary continuation over a lump sum payment, then think about getting a financial advisor or bookkeeper to help you manage payments to you on the same schedule and amount that you have been used to in the past.  You want to try and keep as many of the routines that you had before in place.
• Request your benefits to continue through the time of the separation package. Regardless of whether you are successful in extending employment, you should ask that your health and dental benefits be extended through the  ending date of the time of your separation period.  For example, if you receive 3 months severance, request your benefits be continued for at least the same 3 months.  This helps to reduce out-of-pocket costs and delays COBRA from starting the 18-month clock.
• Ask to be an active employment status in company’s system until separation pay and/or period ends. If you are technically still on payroll, this will help make sure that anyone verifying employment gets a “yes they are employed here” answer.  Similarly, you should request “rehire” status be “yes” when you are finally terminated.  Since you never know who might ask and who might be answering the phone, be sure it’s noted in your file that the company would rehire you at a later date.
• Ask for continued access to on-site services and benefits. Perks such as company gym can go far in preserving your lifestyle and health, not to mention keeping expenses down.  It never hurts to ask. If you are positive in your attitude about the company you are more likely to get this extended for you.
• Ask to be considered for project work in exchange for extending separation period.  Make yourself positively available to come in and help out as needed shows you want to work with the company by helping them to help you. It can keep you busy and add compensation to your bank account.

Lastly, if you’ve been laid off, remember you are not alone.  Millions of others have also been affected by the tightening economy.  There is not shame in being caught in a layoff. These are unprecedented times but it’s important to always remember, you are talented and you have the strength and ability to get through to your next job.

If you have thoughts, questions or comments, I’d love to hear them.

Navigating a Layoff: Tips for Negotiating Your Separation Agreement and Getting the Most from Severance (Employers Listen too!) is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Negotiating Severance Packages—A Refresher
2. Employers Listen Up: Communication is like cash…
3. Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s – Part One: Financial Fear

Some of the most recent news on this front comes out of Caterpillar, who offered 2,000 of their employees the option of early retirement.  While in January the company announced the layoff of more than 22,000, this most recent effort seems to be gesture of goodwill toward their current employees.  The company has been seeing sales drop significantly as with construction tapering off, the need for bulldozers, excavators and the like are in much less demand.  CEO Owens did, however, note that if Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan passes, that he’d be able to hire back some of those individuals that were previously let go.

In looking at the company reviews and ratings for Caterpillar on Glassdoor, it isn’t surprising that they are trying to do something somewhat positive for their employees given their current financial situation.  Here’s how Caterpillar and its CEO rate as a whole:

Have a look at some recent quotes from both current and past employees that demonstrate the mutual respect between company and staff:

Well this was a good place to work I enjoyed it. The pay was good and the environment was friendly. I was let go due to the current economic situation. I would like to go back if things turn around. Overall I would say that this is a great company

The environment of friendly people. People are genuinely concerned for each other, and overall there is not a sense of competition but of support and encouragement for each other. There is a good diversity in ethnicity, gender, and age, and everyone is very welcoming in the office environment.

There are a lot of opportunities to work in diifferent areas. They are also focusing more on work life balance and have experimented with flexible work hours, compressed work week and the ability to work from home. The people who work at Caterpillar are extraordinary to work with and teamwork is very evident.

Caterpillar Employees Satisfied Overall; Company Offers 2,000 Early Retirement is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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