Losing your Social Sector job, finding another and making that process feel seamless

Social sector professionals fear job loss, or contracts ending as much as people working in the wider private sector. Our modern work ethic comes from the factories of the industrial revolution where your place on the assembly line was everything. Being a part of this mythical, idyllic ‘factory’ guaranteed your own security and that of  your family as well as  your place within a community. The job created and sustained identity.  You had to show up and do your job, and the company takes care of the rest. This simplified version was never fully true, but even the imperfect version is long over for most of us. We are living in the third industrial revolution of the Internet age. Many jobs in our environment are moving to a short term contract basis. Pensioned long term employees are rare in our social sector fields.

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The big fear
​A personal and professional crisis can occur when the perceived permanence of a current job comes to an end. Crisis points have happened for many friends, colleagues, and for me in the past when a  contract or job arrangement ends. For as often as this happens,  and for how routine as this is in our modern economy, there is often an aura of secrecy and fear of talking about the process of ending one project and finding another. People feel unwilling to talk about the experience. However, preparing for, moving through this part of our life and work gracefully is something that we can learn and practice. 

The ‘loss’ experience feels awful.  I remember in painful detail a time early in my career that an employer told me that my contract was not being renewed. It was a headquarters position in an international organization working in Geneva Switzerland. It was obvious that things were not working well on either side but was grasping onto the current status, not sure of where to go next. Despite this event having low consequences in real terms, at the time I experienced feelings of loss, shock and uncertainty. I remember feeling rejection, self doubt and a loss of self worth. 

On the flip side of loss, I used to experience each new contract or job as a massive adrenaline hit. High on the incoming money and interesting work I would buzz with excitement and love the feeling of engagement, belonging and meaning. Then when the project or job would end, I would feel the inverse of this high. A large crash would ensue, with the familiar feelings of loss, isolation, and aimlessness. I was feeling this because I was not clear on my overarching life / work maps and core principles. Without this bigger picture awareness, I was buffeted by each new high and low. I was a victim of these inevitable and frequent fluctuations.   
Since then I have started  and ended multiple contracts, jobs and other working situations and have developed strategies and tactics to weather this essential part of our social sector working lives. 

What’s the right mindset for meeting this change? 
Looking back at my own early situation and my emotions, I can identify so many ways to better handle this situation. The right mindset is the foundation of dealing with a changing work scenario,  as when  a valued job or contract ends.

We can define a set of actions and mental models to make our next job ‘loss’ irrelevant. We do this by creating a mindset where many individual opportunities begin and end as a part of a wider life and work tapestry. These sequential assignments are merely transition points in our life, not serial crises.

There are 5 steps to making yourself ‘loss proof’ and setting up mental, emotional, professional and financial strategies to make yourself immune to the inevitable ups and downs of social sector work. 

1 Mindset Zoom Out - Know how to ‘zoom out’ and reduce your focus from this specific event. Go outside at night and look at the stars, the size of the galaxies and then put your current emotions and problems into that universal context. They might seem smaller and more manageable. Take time to acknowledge the feelings of pain, loss and rejection. Understand that they are normal human emotions and then let them pass through you so that you can focus on next steps. This is where you create the mindset that is calm, engaged, and hungry for the next opportunity. Work through the emotions until you are in a tranquil state and are not desperate or afraid as you initiate the next search. 

• Internal script: I know my problems seem large but in the context of the wider universe they are miniscule. I have the power to put them in context in my own mind and calm myself to choose the next course of action. I have acknowledged these feelings and now I’m  calm and ready for the next thing. 

2 Clear Eyed Look - Clear your mind by disrupting your routine and going to an inspiring location to think. This can be a palm-fringed beach or a new coffee shop in your town with a nice wooden table and a big window. Take stock of your recent experience and write down what happened. Are there things you need to change about your actions or approach, or was this situation out of your control? Make a plan to adjust things within your circle of control and let go of the rest. Take stock of your skills, interest and accomplishments. These are  more plentiful than you usually admit to yourself. 

• Internal script: I’ve taken a clear look at what happened. I could have, for example, better communicated  my vision for the organization, built my network internally, come up with new projects to add value etc.. I will do that next time. Things that were outside my control were: people’s perception of my work, hidden agendas, the ending of donor cycles that changed our organization’s budget, the actions of others that reflected badly on me, what others said about m. I will let the things out of my circle of control fall away from my thinking. I will redouble focus on that which I can control. 

3 Define a plan - Have your own goals defined. Know where your pain points are and create an overarching work and life strategy. Ideally you have this in place even before your current job began, or you can use this current job loss to define these goals. Get fully clear and committed to these goals and realize that  this situation  is one step on this comprehensive personal  map. Then develop a specific next step plan based on your integrated business and life maps. This  includes a visioning exercise where you imagine your ideal scenario then come up with systematic steps that you act on every day to get to that state.Examples could be: networking actions, researching new opportunities, job applications, LinkedIn updating. Try taking a course such as Dream Job by Ramit Sethi. Don’t let a good crisis go to waste! If you have the family and financial space, take a two week trip to a new location and allow some empty space into your life to help process and strategize for your next area of focus. 

• Internal script: I know what my principles are and what a potential end state could be for my overall life. I can redirect my professional focus based on these principles. The details are not fully clear and the outcome is beyond my control but I will take actions that support my  life and business maps. 

• External script: When someone asks me what I do, I have a clear compelling answer that shows my passion for my social sector focus and brings out my overarching path. 

4 Your network - Your professional and personal network is the best place to get your next position. Make a spreadsheet of your professional network and reach out to these people regularly. This should be happening in advance of any job switching so that the relationships are strong and real. If you are reaching out after a job is ending, you have already built the right mindset to explain that you are in transition and will not appear desperate for the next thing. 

• External Script: I’m taking some time away from X organization and transitioning into work that focuses on Y. It’s a wonderful time to reassess priorities and spend some time with Z or travel to A, something that I’ve always wanted to do. From our previous conversations and your blog posts I know that you’ve been thinking a lot about B, can we talk next week about your thoughts in this area? I’d appreciate getting your guidance on B as I prioritize. 

5 Your finances - One of the best ways to kill fear during a social sector job transition is to know your financial goals (established as a part of your life/work map described above) and have consistently worked toward those goals over many years. Small interruptions to that wide arch of work is inevitable for any investor and will not matter in the long run. Make sure you have a sufficient emergency fund in place to cover 3 months of full or 6 to 12 months of reduced expenses. This safety margin will make short term interruptions irrelevant. As an owner of my own business and working as a contractor in various capacities, I have a mix of cash in a bank account and stocks / bond funds in a taxable portfolio (not locked in a retirement account)  that can cover six months of full expenses and 12 months of reduced expenses. This gives me the cushion that I need to cover monthly expenses while ramping up new projects, ending existing projects and developing the occasional moonshot. 

• Internal script: I have a solid plan to achieve financial security at my planned date. The actual outcome is beyond my control but I have an investment plan, savings goals and the knowledge and advice to carry out this plan over the long term. A short interruption to this plan is irrelevant because I’m focusing on the big picture and will work hard to carry out my plan. I have enough resources available to cover short term costs (x number of months) as I craft my next opportunity. I will build up these resources if they do not already exist to erase this issue for the future.

Wrapping it up 
Don’t let a good crisis go to waste. These five steps will reduce and eventually eliminate your fear around the inevitable starting and stopping of projects and jobs. These five steps create mental strength, plus professional and financial strategies to weather these changes. Eventually you may even start looking forward to the disruptions since you have antifragile systems in place and know how to enjoy the ride.