It's hardly the thought that leaps to mind when confronted with sudden job loss: “This could be a good thing. Really.”However, after a month or so has elapsed, and as the shock wears off, there are those who start to glimpse “the silver lining” – especially if they were in high-stress, long-hours management roles before the axe fell, according to a study recently published by McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business.After years of going full tilt, the first thing many appreciate is that they finally “have time to think,” says Prof. Jelena Zikic, co-author of the study published in McMaster's Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences.Prof. Zikic, who teaches human resources at York University, and fellow researcher Julia Richardson, also of York, were not disputing that job loss “can indeed be a highly negative experience.”But in the course of their research, which included extensive interviews with 30 managers and executives who had lost their jobs late in their careers, they found that “many of the interviewees perceived the down time as a rare and welcome opportunity.”All 30 had received severance packages and the offer of career counselling services from their previous employers. This provided the opportunity for “self-reflection, stock taking and time out” – which most used to their advantage to eventually move into new careers or self-employment, they write.An information technology manager, who used to be on call all the time and slept with a pager, realized, only after the fact, that she had hated her job, Prof. Zikic says. She took out a loan, went back to school and trained as a nurse.Another former manager told the researchers he'd had “a reputation as a hardcore workaholic, which was sort of what you needed to be.” He worked every Sunday, and routinely received e-mails from colleagues well past midnight.“But I found once I was out of there, I went to being very laid back and mellow very quickly. And nobody, least of all myself or my wife, would have expected that,” he was quoted in the study as saying.The research participants had “a lot going for them” in terms of education, experience and business networks, Prof. Zikic says.But this is not to suggest they had an easy time adjusting to unemployment, she adds.There was the obvious money issue, and also the matter of pride and prestige.Before they lost their jobs, they had been senior players in their organizations, “but once you're out of that box, you're on your own,” she says.“It's hard, even for them, who had brilliant careers.”Ralph Shedletsky, chief operating officer of Toronto-based Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, says the manner in which someone's job is terminated has a major impact on how he or she recovers, takes stock and moves on. The more control a person has over the terms of departure, the better prepared he or she is to consider other options.“On the other extreme end, for someone who thinks that life is just dandy and that their position is secure, and the next day they're asked to see their boss and are told that their job has been eliminated because of a decision made by someone in a backroom somewhere … clearly they're not ready, they're not prepared,” Mr. Shedletsky says.“There's no silver lining in that; it's a dark cloud.”In many cases, though, there are positive sides to a “career transition situation” – even if they are not immediately apparent, adds Edmond Mellina, president of Toronto-based Transitus Management Consulting.“You are able to finally step back and think about where you have been and where you want to go,” Mr. Mellina says.“It's quality time with yourself.“It's not easy, because you are distressed that, as time goes by, the severance package is starting to shrink. But, it's really important to step back and reflect,” Mr. Mellina adds.Prof. Zikic says that many who participated in her study had already reached important milestones in their careers, “and this was an important moment to contemplate the next step – something they might not otherwise have done” had they still been caught up in the rat race.
“It is especially salient that interviewees believed that job loss had enabled them to escape one life and embark upon another.”
