Jack Covert Selects - Rebound

Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss by Martha I. Finney, FT Press, 208 pages, $16.99, Paperback, February 2009, ISBN 9780137021147 The current economic climate carries with it certain unpleasant realities that we are now all too well aware of. We have felt it hit especially hard in our little corner of the world, where our sister company is closing its four bookshops, succumbing to both the economic downturn and massive shifts in the publishing industry. Regrettably, for many people, the changes in their employer's fortunes ends in job loss. Martha I. Finney's Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss is an invaluable resource that the newly unemployed worker can use to make sense of his or her situation, confront the mixed feelings that come along with it, and understand the new rules of careers so that he or she will be well-equipped to develop a plan of action and find a new job. Finney, a workplace consultant and expert in employee engagement and leadership communications, offers readers relevant, immediately applicable advice on how to deal with a job loss, from understanding your rights, to protecting your reputation, to determining how to talk about the loss in your next interview, and even to knowing what to tell family and friends. Each chapter ends with a three-part summary: "The best thing you can do," "The worst thing you can do," and "The first thing you should do." Readers are encouraged to take proactive steps in anticipating and managing this difficult change, such as controlling spending, using social networking to find a new job, and guarding against future unemployment. Finney's tone is personal and sympathetic. For instance, she writes: "You've been laid off. And your career is the accordioned wreckage joining the heaps of thousands of other careers piled up at this very same wall. Your job may have come to an unexpected, abrupt halt. But your heart and mind continue to surge forward at the same rate of speed as before, and you're in for some internal damage" (4). Her words don't sugarcoat, but all is not hopeless; in fact, Finney acknowledges that her stories intentionally end on a positive note because "your own laid-off saga can also end on an up note" (xx). It is unfortunate that the times necessitate such a thing, but Rebound is an excellent companion to have during these uncertain, difficult times.