Tips For Laid-Off Workers
The latest bunch of tips from Gerri Willis at CNN concern what you can do if you’ve been laid off recently. As usual her tips are varied but probably all useful, and unfortunately tips targeting those who’ve been laid off are becoming relevant to more and more people at the moment. In summary, she suggests:
- Don’t withdraw money from your 401(k) - unless you have absolutely no other option. You’ll be cashing in an investment that is at a low point (therefore losing money), and you’ll have to pay the 10% penalty unless you’re already almost 60 years old. In other words, you’re losing a lot of money on dollars you will still need in the future.
- Find some other sources of money - if you have a home equity line of credit, use that; if not, try to find even some part-time work (not necessarily related to your usual work) or possibly look at freelancing.
- Consider retraining - certain professions have some obvious retraining possibilities at the moment, for example Willis mentions that construction workers are now commonly being retrained as green retrofitters. Look around for something where you can use some of your existing skills and experience but in an industry where getting a new job is a better prospect.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 5:53 am and is filed under Jobs & Employment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
