So far in our Plan B series we’ve focused on job candidates who have time to look for the position they want (people who hate their jobs and people looking for their dream job) and those who at least know that their current situation is coming to an end (college seniors and people leaving the military). We thought it was important, though, to highlight the issues that people face when they’re laid off or get fired; those situations when time and foresight aren’t luxuries that you have. Anyone who has been in the situation is familiar with the pressure and frustration that usually accompanies it. You can start your job search hoping to find a position similar to the one you just lost, but you can end up settling for something that’s just going to allow you to pay the bills.

Most of the advice given to job candidates that have unexpectedly found themselves out of work focuses on the mental and emotional aspects of the job search:

“In order to perform at your best in interviews you need to put yourself in a positive frame of mind. Worrying about why you were fired won’t help you to land a new job. Attitude is everything during a job search! If you have been fired or laid off the best gifts you can give yourself are a professional resume, a great attitude, and an enthusiastic outlook about the new opportunities that will present themselves to you!” (From Staying Positive Even Though You’ve Been Fired)

Now, we fully believe that it’s crucial to stay positive while looking for a new job. However, we also know that it easier to stay positive when your have other opportunities at your finger tips. Opportunities where you know exactly how they match your needs and opportunities where you know how competitive you are for the open positions. This information can be constantly available while you are fully involved with your A Job. Your online system should be exploring and reporting these Plan B opportunities while keeping your “quiet” search completely secure and confidential. In effect your system should keep your back pocket full of alternative job ops at all times.This type of online service doesn’t exist today. You might recall that a while back the good people at Cheezhead pointed out that Monster was probably more concerned about getting unemployed candidates to buy booze than actually helping them find a job. The big boards aren’t set up for any type of candidate, but they can be especially toxic to those who need to find work in as little time as possible. You can end up spending your days searching high and low on those sites, submitting resume after resume, only to end up waiting for responses that never come. If we haven’t mentioned it before—-today’s job boards are BROKEN!!!!

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