In Part I of this article, I discussed the tremendous emotional stress that assaults anyone who has lost her job. To begin the healthy process of moving forward after the loss of a job, I am providing a strategy developed from my experience working with thousands of people who were between jobs in my 33-year career as a professional recruiter. The first steps in that strategy required the newly unemployed person to (1) recognize, (2) understand and (3) manage the emotional roller coaster that job loss and the resulting job search will create. The following is "the rest of the story":

The grieving period. This emotional phase should be as short as possible. The longer you are stuck in the quagmire of distress and dis-ease, the less likely you will be able to rectify this situation and make it better. And, the sooner you start taking positive steps to find a job, the sooner the larger problem of being unemployed is corrected.

The major reason that people seem to think that they need a longer grieving period is that they don't really know what to do instead. It is easier to get stuck in a grieving period than it is to develop and execute a plan. Although many people claim they need it, I'm not a big fan of grieving for more than a day or two. I’ve never seen a person continue to grieve once they’ve started developing their action plan.

Transitioning from grieving to beginning your job search campaign. This is very simple. It isn't easy… but it is very simple. Obviously, the first step is to develop a strategy. I refer to my strategy as the "Massive Action Plan." That plan includes these steps:

• Write clear goals
• Write daily and weekly plans
• Use the goals as affirmations
• Remember, this is a numbers game: the more contacts you make; the more interviews you have; the more likely you are to find a job quickly
• Develop lists of family, previous peers, subordinates and employers to call
• Develop a "script" to use in contacting the above people
• Keep good records so one can reach out to these people again
• Develop lists of hiring authorities to cold call and ask for an interview
• Develop a "cold call" presentation on one’s features, advantages and benefits (i.e. why one should be hired)
• Write an effective resume – k.i.s. – keep it simple
• Design a system of effectively cold calling hiring authorities to present yourself
• Design a specific scripted interview presentation to be used in interviews
• Get face-to-face interviews – these are the most important events
• Perform well during face-to-face interviews
• Follow up on face-to-face interviews to get second, third interviews
• Manage expectation by focusing on the process – not the result
• Juggle as many interviewing processes as possible, remembering that you have nothing until you have an offer
• Evaluate offers … choose one
• Go to work on a new job (and be ready for surprises)

The sooner you develop and begin to execute this Massive Action Plan, the sooner you will get over the emotional pain of having lost a job.