People respond to their unemployed status in a number of ways. Some are optimistic, picking themselves up, brushing themselves off, and aggressively beginning their campaign for a new position. Others spend some time licking their wounds and rehashing details and downfall of their department before they find courage to go back out into world of work. Still there are others who become completely paralyzed by fear and anguish. Is there a right way to react to sudden loss of your social and financial security?

Let’s talk about optimist. He looks at his pink slip and sees a ticket to a new and exciting future. His glass is half-full, never half-empty. He reassesses his wants and desires and broadens his search to include opportunities in other fields of interest. He goes on a number of interesting interviews and soon lands a new job with a great company. And good news is that he terminates his unemployment long before unemployment terminates him and he never once touched his severance package. Mr. Optimism soon discovers that he doesn’t have authority he thought he had and when he tries to discuss matter with his director, he is met with evasiveness and ambiguity. To him, this hazy environment begins to feel much like one that preceded his previous employer’s reorganization and subsequent mass layoff. But it’s not old company – it’s a new one. Mr. Optimism overreacts one time too many and within a couple of months is unemployed, again.

Then there are Wound-Lickers. They are hurt and they know it. They were devoted to their employer and they fully embraced organization’s corporate culture. Interviewers are put off by their single-mindedness and tears that well up in their eyes. Without their position, they are lost – and they don’t hide it very well. Friends and family members who were so eager to listen during those first couple of weeks, now avoid them at all costs. Desperate for a sympathetic ear, Wound-Lickers pull out old department roster and begin calling each other to commiserate and renew their negative energy. Most pull themselves up their bootstraps and get on with life at some point. But a few, sink a dangerous low.