How to Recover From Being Laid Off in the Finance Industry - Daniel Welch

Daniel Welch writes for ehow.com http://www.ehow.com/members/danielwelch.html

With Wall Street cutting thousands of jobs, here are some suggestions to make a quick rebound.
Step1 Relax. Don't get worried or nervous right away. Use this time to catch up on sleep and enjoy your hobbies. Chances are you spent the last few years of your life working late hours and weekends so take a few weeks to refocus and rejuvenate.
Step2 Explore. Look at your possibilities. This might be a time and opportunity to make a transition to another career path. However, if you are certain you want to stay in the finance industry, begin to collect data on various finance firms. Use former industry contacts as much as possible. Call or email them and see if their firms happen to be hiring anyone.
Step3 Expand your search horizon. Consider moving to a smaller firm or to a regional office of a larger or middle-market firm. Despite the slow-down, many regional offices and small firms are still in need of good talent. Moving to another locale may have advantages such as an improved cost of living.
Step4 Go corporate. Even in a down-turn, companies in every sector of the economy will be looking for analysts, controllers, CFOs, economists, etc. Consider pursuing a finance job in the corporate world.
Step5 Strike out on your own. This might be the time to launch your own practice, or pursue that start-up venture you have always wanted. If you have a broad knowledge of markets and trading, you may want to consider starting and managing a small fund of friend and family money. The risks are high, and you may have to put in more hours than you did in your wall street cube, but the rewards can be quite lucrative.
Tips and Warnings:

• Maintain your contacts. Friends at other firms are your number one source for finding job leads.
• Cold calling a recruiter at a firm may just get you in the door. Be polite and have your resume and cover letter in PDF form to quickly email to the recruiter. Leave your contact information with him or her and request that they call you if anything becomes available.
• Be sure not to burn any bridges. The finance world is small, and you will only be shooting yourself in the foot.