It is helpful to always keep in mind that there is a difference between being laid off and being fired. A layoff happens due to something beyond your control – whether you did your job well or not. It’s most likely that the company you work for is going through something and is in dire need of cost cutting. Unfortunately oftentimes that means letting go off some employees, including those who have performed well.

On  the other hand, when you are fired, it is usually for something you can control, such as your job performance. Recovering from a lay off is different from recovering from being fired. Here’s a helpful guide to help you navigate your way from layoff to recovery.

1. Negotiating Your Severance

First  things first, resist the urge to think of unemployment as the end of the world no matter how upsetting it may be. You will need a calm and clear mind to negotiate your severance package. Don’t think that you need to accept and immediately sign whatever severance package the HR Manager gives you. Your severance package is negotiable so take the time to read it no matter how long it is. If you need to sleep on it, let them know.

There  are things you can do to help prepare for your severance negotiations. Consult your HR Manual for information on the kind of severance package you should expect from your employer so you can plan for other elements in a severance package that you might need. If you need more information, you can politely consult other employees who’ve gone through a similar situation or even co-workers going through the same thing.

During  actual negotiations, negotiate one perk at a time rather than discussing the package as a whole. You will most likely get more if you discuss one item at a time. Also, try to work it out yourself with your employer in a congenial manner. Do the negotiating yourself, instead of with a lawyer. You’ll not only save money on lawyer’s fees, you’ll also have more control.

2. Managing Your Emotions

Losing your job, especially if you’ve done nothing wrong and actually did everything right, is unfortunate and awful no matter how you look at it. A loss is a loss, regardless of what it is. Being unemployed can be a monumental setback especially in an economic downturn. So know that it is natural to feel fear, anger, desperation, resentment, anxiety, shame, vulnerability and a host of other negative feelings. What’s important is to not let these destructive emotions consume and distract you from the work that you need to do to find a new job.

Take the time to sit with those very valid feelings, but don’t let them take hold and get the better of you moving forward. Manage them so they don’t negatively affect you as you navigate your way toward recovery. If you don’t process your inner self, your negative attitude will come out and will only hurt your chances of finding a new job. You might even say things you don’t mean at interviews or unknowingly sabotage your own efforts.

If your employer offers free psycho-emotional counseling, take it. Talk to friends and family and don’t distance or isolate yourself from your circle of trusted relations. They can give you the support you need and help keep you positive as you work to find a new job. If you have a partner and children, being openly honest and letting them know exactly what’s going on will help make the changes and challenges you’ll be up against a more positive and manageable experience. Working through the layoff can become a team effort since they’ll know how and in what areas to adjust to help ease the weight of being unemployed.

Whenever you feel low, remind yourself that you lost your job through no fault of your own and that there are lots of other employees going through the same struggle. You lost your job because your employer was struggling with an economic downturn and not because you are a bad employee. With that, remember too that you can still be a valuable employee at another organization. If that’s not enough, never forget that potential employers can smell desperation and they don’t like it so take the time to check in with yourself, so you can keep your negative emotions in check. Do this for your wellbeing and for the success of your job search.

3. Examining Your Finances

It’s important early on to take a look at and examine your finances. Determine how much money you’ll need to cover expenses from month to month, during the time you’re job hunting. Plan and budget for an extended period, more than 3 months. Identify what expenses are essential and what can be trimmed off. Knowing how much money you have and where you can cut back could lessen your anxiety.

Usually, when you are laid off, you might receive a severance package that includes a lump sum payout to help you until your next job. Find out what benefits you will or won’t receive so you can budget accordingly. For instance, find out if you can continue the company insurance plan you’re on and how much that would cost or if the company can just add that as one of the perks of the severance package.

4. Job Hunting is now your full time job

Make your new job, job hunting. All the 40 hours you spent on the job you were laid off from should now be use looking for a new job. Basically, the bulk of your day should spent looking for work. Maintain a routine and keep busy. This will prevent you from dwelling on being laid off and all the negative thought patterns about not having a job. It will also make you feel better that you are taking control and are working on your plan to look for work.

Map out and evaluate your options

Before beginning though, take a look and study the situation and see where the market is headed, what industries are on an upswing and downswing, what types of work and skills are employers looking for. Then take stock of your experience and skills and identify any matches and gaps. After that take a look at available options to help lend direction and more focused strategies with your job hunt. Do you need to switch careers, or can your skills and experience be applied in another industry? Do you need additional training? If you’re worried about employment gaps in your resume, consider filling them with part time volunteer work, or taking on some short term projects or free-lance work. You can build up your references, create new connections and develop new skills and experience which might increase your marketability.

Set goals and track your progress

Setting goals and tracking your progress doesn’t just keep things organized. It makes you more efficient and effective at your job hunt. Having a simple spread sheet that contains information like positions you’ve applied to, company names and contact information, interviews done and follow up reminders, job search websites and recruitment agencies you have accounts with helps you see the big picture, where you are getting the most results and where you’re spending too much of your time. It will help you tweak and make your plan of attack more targeted.

Yourmonthly goals can be things like tweaking your resume, drafting the cover letters, setting up or updating your linked in account, cleaning up your social media accounts, looking for trainings and expanding your network. Assessments of your progress can tell you what’s working and what’s not.

Your weekly goals should be a combination of reaching out to your current professional network, making new contacts and looking for job openings. Your weekly tasks should help you achieve your weekly goals such as apply for 15 positions, attend 1-in-person professional event or join a webinar to build new connections, reach out to 5 people in your current network that can connect you to hiring managers, look for volunteer work to keep you active and also help build your resume and connections.

Prepare to address your layoff

Whether in your cover letter or in your job interview, you will have to address the fact that you were laid off. Know that hiring managers understand that layoffs happen, so there is no need for job seekers to be defensive and blame the company. Rather than taking a defensive stance, just discuss briefly and objectively in 2-3 sentences what the company was going through and the business decisions which led to the layoff. Choose the right words and phrases so you don’t sound negative and bitter about being laid off. You can use words like downsizing, restructuring, merger, economic downturn to help keep things objective. Sounding negative and throwing blame will not reflect well on you. Coming from an objective stance, will help you focus on the experiences and qualifications that you can bring to your potential employer. If you have strong references to the company, incorporate that into your cover letter or interview to let the hiring manager know that you handled the layoff positively.

Sometimes job hunting can take much longer than expected, especially when economies are shrinking. If you are asked why it’s been a while, you can address the question by saying you are being strategic about your search and applying to companies that you really are shooting for and then focus on how your experience and qualifications match the job and their organization.

5. Put Current Events on Hold

Knowing what’s going on is important. But when you’re reading too much bad news especially about the economy, all those negative emotions and thought patterns can start to creep in and get you down, especially if you’ve been on a hunt longer than you had planned. It will be harder for you to stay optimistic when you are feeling discouraged. Be selective and careful about what you read for the sake of your job search. Remember, prospective employers can sense negativity, discouragement and desperation in job applicants and this turns them off. It communicates to them that you may not be resilient and that you could hurt morale. It could lead them to conclude that you may not be a good fit for the job and their company.

It’s could be a long and tough road ahead. It’s a marathon not a sprint, so at all times remain patient, positive and persistent.