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Home › Articles › Career › Recession Depression

Recession Depression

Dealing With Layoffs and Downsizing

By Carma Haley Shoemaker

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Not only are these effects felt in the working world, but also at home. A dad who has lost his job may feel he has lost his place at the head of the table as well. "Most men also feel that once they lost their jobs, they also lose some of their authority with their kids," says Braginsky. "They say they neither receive nor deserve the respect they had before their unemployment. Their thoughts are that they are a failure and why should or would their children listen to a failure?"

"When I lost my job, I was devastated," says Paul Jordan, a telephone and cable lineman from Morehead, Ky. "I was worried over how we would all eat, keep the kids' school, buy things we needed. I finally realized all we had to pay. The bills, the kids I worried tremendously that we would need something we couldn't buy, like a hot water heater, etc. It was the most devastating thing to happen to me in a long time."

Pick Yourself Up
There are some men who get caught up in anger and blame the economy, their employer or anyone or anything else they can think of for their unemployment. While the economy may be a problem, men who get stuck in anger will have difficulty in finding a new position. "People who believe that they make their own future and take responsibility always do better," says Nash. "A dad's ability to pick himself off and move forward has to do with his basic resilience level. If he believes in himself and believes he is responsible for his success or failure, he is more likely to take control of what he can and move on. Taking control is updating the resume, networking and aggressively going after opportunities."

"Being without a job did affect the way I felt about a lot of things, but especially myself," says Brett Morvee, a computer helpdesk technician from Bellevue, Wash. "I felt bad beause I couldn't support my family. I was tired, my stomach hurt, I felt bad and I wanted to stay in bed. But, I'm not the kind of person that will sit back, get in a slump and allow it to last a long time. I got back up and did what I knew I had to do: support my family."

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