Many people have lost their jobs during this pandemic through no fault of their own.
For my book, "We Got Fired! ... and It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us," I interviewed 29 people who landed on their feet and excelled after they were furloughed or given a pink slip. These were high-profile people, often fired in a very public arena. To sum up each of their inspirational stories, I asked everyone what advice they would give to people looking for a job.
Pat Mitchell was the first female president and CEO of PBS. She had been working as a researcher/writer for Look magazine when it went out of business.
Her advice was: "Be determined. ... I was determined not to give up. I figured it would all come around if I could find a way to survive financially while I stayed focused on what I wanted. It didn't come easily. If you look at my résumé, it seems like one exciting jump from one run to the next. Every one of those moves was somewhat of a risk. Some didn't work out as I planned or hoped. I didn't follow a straight line to get where I am, but I never went backward either."
She added: "Seize every chance you have to learn. It's amazing how many skills we seem to acquire by accident."
Bernie Marcus was CEO of the Handy Dan Home Improvement Center chain when the parent company declared bankruptcy. Marcus was fired by a vindictive board even though the Handy Dan division was not in bankruptcy.
"They threw me out of my office and put bars on the door. They searched my files. It was pretty terrible — one of those corporate things.
He was persuaded to drop his lawsuit against the company by a mentor who encouraged him to get on with his life. Another friend advised him to open the store he had always dreamed of. And that's how Home Depot was born. He was fired from a top spot in hardware retailing and went on to redefine the hardware industry.