What to do when you get canned from your job...in 7 easy steps!

Going through the process of getting laid off sucks...to say the least. The process is really disruptive to the daily routine, the bank account and the psyche. Now that I've been through it, I've realized a few must-do steps to ease any transition out of company...when you only have a few hours to collect your stuff and get out of there.

Please feel free to add steps that I may have missed. Your input will be appreciated.

Step 1: Verify final payment, severance and 401K distribution

Be sure you have received the following info from HR before you leave the office. These items are typically covered during the "your job has been eliminated" conversation, but the HR team at my company is far less organized and I had to cover these myself...

• When is your last "official" day of work when you are on the payroll? When will you get your final check? Will the check be a hard copy or will it be direct deposited?
• If you get severance pay, and thankfully I did, how much is the severance and when will you be sent payment?
• What is the process to handle 401K roll over? Do you need to reach out to the provider or will the provider reach out to you with process details?
  

Step 2: Save your personal docs and contacts to a thumb drive
Before you turn in your laptop, be sure you save the following to a thumb drive or email the following to your POP account.

• All personal files,pics
• Export into a .csv or .xls file your Outlook Contacts
  

Step 3: Talk to IT about turning off your PDA account without deleting contacts

Ask the IT team how to handle turning off network access to your iPhone or Blackberry..without deleting all of your stored contacts. Doh! I deleted my employers account from the iPhone...and thus deleted all emails, calendar invites and contacts. Luckily I had saved my Outlook Contacts before hand!

Step 4: Pack up your cube

• Pack your memorabilia into the boxes HR provided...even that hula girl you brought back from Hawaii
• Ask the most senior person left in your team what hard copy files he/she would like saved. Go through the remaining files and place all papers in the tall recycle box that we all have in our cubes.
  

Step 5: Say goodbye...quickly

• Saying goodbye just after a lay off sucks...is awkward..and is no fun for anyone. I recommend just saying goodbye to your close office "posse" who probably already know your personal email address.
• Find the person that laid you off and give them a kiss and a pat on the ass.* I so wanted to do this to the person who let me go...I would have been killed instantly, but my name would have lived in infamy.
  

*exercise this option with extreme caution. I would not really do this :-)

Step 6: Get the hell out of the office

• Jump into your car and drive to the nearest bar to compare notes with your fellow victims.

Step 7: Sign up for Unemployment benefits

• Sign up for unemployment benefits as soon as you get home. You qualify to receive the government checks the last day that you are on the company payroll. The application process is all online and takes a few minutes to complete...but it takes a few weeks to start receiving the checks.