Synopsis
Job loss is an all too common occurrence in today's society, yet sound, practical advice on how to deal with the devastation - emotional as well as financial - is hard to come by. Now, Ann Kaiser Stearns, author of the bestselling Living Through Personal Crisis (which Ann Landers called "the best all-purpose self-help book I have seen in years"), uses her expertise to provide compassionate support and guidance for anyone struggling with the difficulties of unemployment or unhappy re-employment. Moving step by step through the process of recovery, and taking into consideration the impact of job loss on all aspects of life, Dr. Stearns discusses surviving fears, doubts, and diminished self-esteem; coping with depression, stress, and other health issues; resolving conflicts with spouses and children as they react to changing finances, roles, and responsibilities; and facing job search or new employment with confidence.
Filled with interviews and case histories of men and women - both white and blue collar - who survived unemployment, Living Through Job Loss is the essential handbook for millions of Americans who have been displaced by mergers, downsizing, and other workplace changes.
Reviews
Stearns, a psychology professor at Essex Community College in Baltimore, believes that many people change overnight when they lose their jobs. Often more distressing than any financial concerns are the emotional effects. People who have recently lost their jobs often doubt their own abilities, which in turn makes searching for a new job difficult. This insecurity can cause stress, strained family relations and other problems. By using profiles of people who lost their jobs and ended up in new positions, started their own businesses or explored entirely new lifestyles, Stearns offers pointers on fighting the side effects of unemployment. Such advice as seeking free help in managing credit or carefully budgeting any severance pay as "bridge money" is sound, if unoriginal. The most helpful section is that designed to help readers recognize their skills and needs, both on the job and at home, as they search for new positions. In its validation of feelings, this book will provide some help to readers, but a more powerful examination of the same subject is William Byron's Finding Work Without Losing Heart.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
For the hundreds of thousands of workers over age 40 who, in the early nineties, were downsized, lateralized, or otherwise euphemized out of their jobs, Stearns offers succor for the psyche. Much of her advice is standard self-help but may not be known by her target readership--blue-collar and midlevel white-collar workers who had never received a pink slip. So to blunt their susceptibility to anger, depression, drinking, despair, and possibly suicide, she serves up a commiserative blend of anecdotes, citations of studies, and emotional strategies for coping with the crisis. Deteriorating mental and physical health as the hidden cost of job-loss stress, followed by financial belt-tightening and family conflicts are the central problems that Stearns addresses, always illustrated with true-life stories with which readers might identify. Accepting a lower paying position or less traditional terms of employment are other realities the 40-pluser must anticipate. For all these fears, Stearns' contemporary view valuably allays listlessness for the unemployed person, who often heads straight for the library expecting to find a book like this. Gilbert Taylor
Stearns (Coming Back?Rebuilding Lives After Crisis and Loss, Random, 1988) offers a thoughtful, well-written, and exhaustively researched treatise on the effect job loss often has on displaced workers' personal and professional well-being. Unlike the typical "recareering" books that outlines job-search strategies, Stearns emphasizes the human element while avoiding the platitudes and pop psychology common to the self-help genre. The first half of the book is a comprehensive examination of layoffs and one's physical and mental health, financial status, and family relationships. The second half covers issues related to workplace survival, new job preparation, and success strategies. In addition, the hundreds of references will be of particular benefit to scholars, outplacement counselors, career development specialists, and human resource personnel. A fine piece of writing suited to business and psychology collections.?Alan Farber, Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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