You’ve Lost Your Job… What Now?
I’ve been fired, unexpectedly, what’s the first thing I should do?
Take a deep breath, relax and figure out a way to turn this huge negative into one of the biggest positives of your life. How easy that is to do is proportionate to the number of dependents you have. If you don’t have any dependents, congratulations because this is seriously a huge opportunity to make your life better. You need to have some faith and not turn a bump in the road into a recurring nightmare.
If you do have a family and kids, the least you can do is not panic. You are going to have a ton of free time on hand to spend with your family. Make sure you maximize that huge win for you and them. Dedicate at least 20% of your newly given free time to self-improvement and make it a religious part of your day to day existence. Lose some weight, read some books, take a short term course in something you’re interested in. Remember so much of what you are feeling is just a state of mind, you can look at the glass as half empty or half full. Know that if you are doing all you can do to find a job, a job will come when it’s supposed to.
These days, what should I prepare? My last air-check was on reel-to-reel?
You need 2:30 of the best material you have ever done leading with the strongest. If your last aircheck was on reel-to-reel, you need to find another career since you can’t possibly have anything that will reflect your current work. Or if the reel-to-reel stuff does reflect your current work, find a different field where you can grow since you clearly aren’t growing in this one.
Seriously, all employed air talent that do not regularly archive a show a week in this digital age are reckless. Most stations have close to CD quality loggers that can be easily tapped if you are nice to your engineer. If there isn’t one, make sure you get some sort of a digital recording device and archive regularly.
Who should I reach out to right away? I’m kind of lost?
Allaccess.com, any consultants/talent coaches you have worked with in the past, any friend you have in the radio or record business. Continue to reach out to at least one person every day on average and check in with the ones that return your calls every 30 days or so. If you work fulltime at finding a fulltime job, you will find one much faster than if you only work part time at finding a job. Write an article about your skill set that can be presented as educational and get it published. Don’t get discouraged when calls aren’t returned, it’s just a fact of life. You’ll learn quickly who were real friends and who weren’t so real. It happens to EVERYONE, don’t let it bum you out. Laugh at it.
There are many dead bodies. How do I stand out?
Be yourself. Showcase your strengths. Get your contacts to reach out to the people who are doing the hiring. There are two things a program director/general manager wants to know about new hires:
- Are they the most talented people I can get for the money I have to spend
- Are they team players? Hopefully, you play well with others and you have friends who can testify for you.
What chance do I have to land another job? Your chances are very good and increase with your skill set and flexibility. If you are highly skilled, unique and willing to move wherever the jobs are, you’ll find one in time. The harder you work at it, the quicker the results. That said, don’t obsess so much that you don’t take advantage of the time you now have. Pay yourself with stronger relationships, more knowledge, a better self-image.
In today’s radio world, what skills should I have in order to stay in this game?
The web continues to be a huge potential growth avenue for radio. Stations typically don’t have the money to pay professionals to do the work they need on their websites, databases, etc. If computers aren’t your thing, figure what your thing (outside of talking into a microphone) is and work to improve it. Are you a good crowd person? Work on a standup comedy act or public speaking and apply for jobs where there is a PR element needed. You will find more work if you have “value added” all over your resume and testimonials.
Radio is a fun field, but it’s not the only field. Be open to the idea of a job outside radio. Apply for anything that looks interesting even if you don’t think you are totally qualified. You never know what other fields your skillset can translate to. At the very least, interviewing for jobs you don’t get gives you practice at being a better interviewee and possibly one day a better interviewer!
-written by Stan Main
Click here to learn more about Stan.
