After Michael Guarini lost his job as president of the health division of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide last year, he started dressing up more. The advertising and public relations firm had a business-casual dress code, but now for networking meetings, Mr. Guarini says he generally wears business suits, even with people with whom he is long acquainted.
This often requires humorous deflecting. 'People invariably say, 'I hope you didn't wear a suit for me,'' says Mr. Guarini. He has two pat replies: 'You're worth it,' or, 'I had some other meetings today.'
In the aftermath of a layoff, style is critical. And it's about more than the decision to polish a wardrobe. The way people comport themselves after losing a job can make all the difference in what comes next. From how they convey the news to colleagues, to the type of clothes they wear and how they punctuate their emails, the newly jobless must use careful footwork to navigate the job hunt.
When in doubt, it's a safe bet to retreat to conservative styles. After Michael Bragg was downsized from his New York-based job at a high-end European fashion brand, he went out and bought a new pair of shoes -- lace-up, American-made Aldens. Play it straight with email, too. Sure, sometimes it's perfectly acceptable to shoot off a short, all lowercase missive to a colleague. But punctuation is a risk-free option. The same goes for social-networking. Now is not the time to post pics from a beer-sodden barbecue and share them with everyone in your network.
Many executives must learn to rein in their presumptuous, free-wheeling style. Amy Friedman, chief executive of Partners in Human Resources International, got an emergency call to help a recently fired senior marketing executive at a big media company. The laid-off executive had broadly bad-mouthed her former employer in what she saw as casual conversations. Three weeks later, with damaging gossip swirling, it was Ms. Friedman's job to form a recovery plan.
'We scripted it out,' Ms. Friedman says. They made a list of each person the executive had phoned, including what she told them, to the best of her memory. Then they rehearsed an apology, along the lines of: 'I was very reactive that day, but I'm on good terms with my former organization and I'd really like to enlist your support.'
There's no reason to agonize over telling people you're job hunting. One out of 10 workers is unemployed these days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And most economic forecasts suggest that the employment situation will worsen before it improves. Jonscott Turco, a vice president with Partners in Human Resources, says most people have become so accustomed to layoffs that they assume it was a downsizing even if the person was fired for cause. It's best to choose words that are direct and clear without providing much detail: I'm no longer with my company and I'm looking for opportunities. 'People get into a jam when they start to give details,' Mr. Turco says.
Most people say they know to avoid the sort of bridge-burning tantrum thrown by the ad exec who was fired on the season premier of 'Mad Men' this week. Yet just type in 'I lost my job today' on YouTube. The site is chock-full of videos of stunned, suddenly jobless people putting their worst foot forward.
Digging at his ear and mumbling, Don Bell called his former company an obscene name in a video he posted the day he lost his job. 'I was really distraught,' says Mr. Bell, a truck driver in Gahanna, Ohio. He says his former employer hasn't seen the video.
After I spent time watching his and other just-fired videos one evening, my young son asked, 'Mom, why are you watching crazy people?' Of course, we'd all like to think we'd handle the bad news more sanely. But even people in the employment business can be caught off guard, proving just how important it can be to consider your 'fired style.'
An executive recruiter for hedge funds says that after he was fired earlier this year, 'The rest of the day I was on the phone with people telling them what happened and basically getting it off my chest.' The recruiter, who asked that his name not be used, says he didn't think of this as a networking move because the people were friends.
Many career counselors recommend taking several days or even weeks off after losing a job -- time to prepare mentally as well as to organize for a search. Joelyn Cecere, who heads the financial services practice at career consulting firm Drake, Beam, Morin Inc., likens this with recovering from a marital split.
'Sometimes when you go through a divorce, you think you're ready to date,' Ms. Cecere says. 'But often . . . it's obvious to everybody but the person that that person does not need to be out there dating.'
在去年邁克爾?加里尼(Michael Guarini)丟掉奧美(Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide)醫療子公司總裁的工作後，他開始穿得更加正式。加里尼先生表示，廣告和公關公司奧美的着裝要求是商務休閒裝，但是如今，在參加社交活動時，他一般都會穿上職業正裝，即便是與他很熟的人會面時也是如此。
這常常需要略帶幽默感的委婉解釋。加里尼先生表示，大家總是說，‘我希望你不是爲我才穿得這麼正式。’他恰好有兩個回答來應付此類問題：“你值得我這麼做”，或是，“我今天還要參加其它的會議”。
在失業之後，個人風格變得至關重要。而這並不只是完善衣櫃的決定那麼簡單。人們失業之後的舉止談吐可能會決定未來的求職進展。從他們如何將消息告知同事，穿什麼類型的衣服，到寫電子郵件時如何斷句，新進失業人員必須藉助仔細謹慎的策略來駕馭求職的過程。
當你心有疑惑的時候，最安全的方法就是迴歸傳統風格。邁克爾?布拉格(Michael Bragg)在一家高端歐洲時尚品牌駐紐約的職位被裁減後，他出去買了一雙新鞋──繫帶的美國製Aldens。同時也在電子郵件中直言不諱。誠然，有時候給某個同事發去一封全是小寫字母的簡短信件完全可以接受。但是，標點符號是沒有風險的選擇。對於社交活動也是如此。現在可不是將你在燒烤野餐上喝醉的模樣上傳到網上，與自己網絡裏的所有人分享的時候。
許多管理人士必須學會控制自己專橫、隨心所欲的風格。Partners in Human Resources International的首席執行長艾米?弗裏德曼(Amy Friedman)日前接到一個緊急電話，要她幫助某家大型媒體公司最近剛被解僱的進階市場主管。這位失業的管理人士在她所認爲的非正式對話中對前僱主大放厥詞。三週後，隨着流言不斷蔓延，其破壞性影響也開始顯現，弗裏德曼女士不得不爲她制定一個名聲修復計劃。
弗裏德曼女士表示，“我們爲此寫了個‘劇本’。”他們列出了這位管理人士所致電過的所有人的.名單，包括她根據自己的記憶當時是如何和他們對話的。然後，他們排練了道歉提綱，大意是：“我那天非常情緒化，但是我和前僱主的關係良好，我真的希望獲得你們的支援。”
沒有理由爲告訴他人你正在找工作而感到苦惱。根據美國勞工部(Bureau of Labor)的統計數字，如今十分之一的美國人處於失業狀態。而大多數經濟預測均顯示，就業狀況將會繼續惡化一段時間纔能有所改善。Partners in Human Resources的副總裁約翰斯科特?塔克(Jonscott Turco)表示，大多數人對失業已經見多不怪，以至於即便某人是因爲過失被解僱的，他們也會認爲是出於企業減員調整的緣故。最好是選擇直接、清晰而無需提供過多細節的措辭：我已經離開以前的公司，目前正在尋找機會。塔克先生表示，一旦開始提供失業的具體細節，人們往往會陷入困境。
大多數人表示他們知道應該避免《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)第三季裏那位被解僱的廣告管理人士的暴怒情緒。然而，你在YouTube上輸入“我今天失業了” ('I lost my job today')看看。上面充斥着那些突然失業、備受打擊的人們最糟糕的一面。
失業那天，唐?貝爾(Don Bell)上傳了一個視頻，他裝作說悄悄話的樣子，用一個猥褻的名字稱呼他的前僱主。這位俄亥俄州Gahanna的卡車司機表示，“我當時真要發瘋了。”他說他的前僱主沒有看到這個視頻。
某天傍晚，在我觀看了他和其他新進失業人士的視頻之後，我年幼的兒子問道，“媽媽，爲什麼你在看那些瘋狂的傢伙？”當然，我們都願意認爲我們會更加理性地對待壞消息。但是，即便那些身在就業服務行業的人們也會措手不及，這也證明了思考自己的“失業風格”可能會有多麼重要。
一位負責對衝基金行業的獵頭顧問表示，今年早些時候他被解僱了。當天餘下的時間，他都在和別人通電話，講述自己的遭遇，其實就是想把解僱這件事一吐而快。這位不願透露姓名的獵頭顧問表示，他並不認爲這樣做是社交的一部分，因爲他通電話的那些人都是朋友。
許多職業顧問建議，一旦失業，不妨休息幾天，甚至幾周，花點時間在精神上做好準備，然後有條不紊地開始找工作。職業諮詢公司Drake, Beam, Morin Inc.負責金融服務行業的負責人喬琳?西西亞(Joelyn Cecere)表示，這其實和從婚姻破裂的打擊中恢復過來沒有什麼兩樣。
西西亞女士說，有時候在你經歷離婚之後，你認爲自己已經可以再次約會了。但是，常常是除了你自己之外的所有人都明白，你這時候根本不需要約會。