The Job Search Checklist, Everything You Need to Know to Get Back to Work After a Layoff, by Damian Birkel, Amacom 2013Does your boss avoid eye contact?  Are the admins “tsk tsking” you and making mild little sympathy smiles?  Have you noticed that somebody put a privacy screen over HR’s computer monitors?  Are people working later and later and hunkering down when they’re not engaging in cross-cubicle whispers?  It could mean…..

Do you know the nine signs of an impending layoff, and better yet, what steps to take in advance of the event?  Author Damian Birkel has been laid off four times and this latest book may not be the you want to read, but it’s designed to give you power to survive and cut the stress of yet one more life change.  For example, when the boss won’t make eye contact, check out the situation for other layoff clues; or when administrative assistants give you “sad eyes” or guilt signs it may be because they have completed the latest org chart and know that your name is not on it!  Whew, just one of these tells would be enough to render a great performer nudgy. 

So what’s a professional to do for a strategic response when it all starts to add up?  Birkel recommends advance planning and activities that include obtaining signed and approved performance reviews, maintaining copies of your contacts at home, as well as capturing all positive e-mails and other endorsements.  And then there are the financials – here the author offers a number of sound advance warning preparations as well.  With two plus chapters dealing with the severe emotional issues connected to job loss, the author moves on to the job recovery campaign 

The book is clearly more than the job search checklist the title suggests.  From a professional who has experienced much of the displacement terror, it contains unexpected advice and scenario options.  It’s more than a lengthy list of skills, experiences and contacts.  For example, Birkel asks the job seeker to prepare by comparing work experiences – figure out which job was your happiest, in which job were you most successful, what management styles work best for you, and the biggie, if you could start your career all over again, what would you do differently?  He even ask the two most difficult questions – does the field I worked in still exist as a career, and “What is your dream job?”

2014 is going to be a better year.  We’ll still have an economy with weak spots and nothing is to be taken for granted, but this book is a powerfully encouraging tool that anyone considering – or forced into - a job change will find very useful.  There are end of-chapter checklists, sample letters and networking organizers, interview tips and rules, wardrobe recommendations, and wonderful advice for getting ready for the new job, and the first six months. 

Mill Girl Verdict:  an unusual and fresh approach to difficult challenges.