BOUNCING BACK </NYT_KICKER><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">

Jobless: Survival Tips for the Short Term and the Long

</NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
</NYT_BYLINE> <NYT_TEXT>

AID off. Downsized. Fired.

You may have seen it coming for months. Or it might have come out of the blue. Whatever it is called, and whatever the circumstances, losing a job is an awful experience.

All that advice about what you should have done, like setting aside enough money for six months, is not going to help. The worst part is not knowing if you will be unemployed for two weeks, two months or �?a really scary thought �?two years.

For many people out of work, being unemployed is a new experience. Of those without a job for more than six months, when state unemployment benefits usually run out, about half are managerial, professional and technical workers, an indication of who lost out in the collapse of the Internet bubble.

In 2002, Congress voted an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits for many workers. Despite this, the number of people out of work for 40 weeks or more nearly doubled to 1.3 million in the March-to-June period, from 700,000 a year earlier, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group in Washington.

So, if you suddenly find yourself outside, seemingly on the edge of a financial abyss, you may take some small comfort knowing that you are not alone. But there are bills to pay and decisions to make.

What do you do?

Getting through a stretch of unemployment with minimal economic and emotional damage requires a strategy. It also requires recognizing that a job is just that, a job. Yours may be gone for reasons beyond your control: a slow economy, a change in customer tastes, bad management. Maintaining your sense of worth, and some objectivity, is important to how you will fare.

Be Cool When It Happens

First, keep your head when the bad news hits, said Michael B. Laskoff, whose own bouts of joblessness show that having a Harvard M.B.A. is no guarantee of steady work. Mr. Laskoff, a Manhattan resident and author of "Landing on the Right Side of Your Ass: A Survival Guide For the Recently Unemployed" to be published in January, says quick thinking can put more money in your pocket.

"While you are sitting in that meeting getting fired, ask for more," he said. "The person firing you is not happy about having to fire you. Even if they wanted to fire you, it is unpleasant, so generally speaking he will do anything required to get you out of that office."

Katherine Meredith, a financial planner in Pittsburgh who has worked with laid-off employees, advises clients to make sure they ask questions until they fully understand what is in their severance package.

"Then the first place to go," Ms. Meredith said, "is the state employment office to apply for benefits."

Take Inventory and Prioritize

Next comes the job search. "The most important thing is to take a few days to absorb and decompress," said Ms. Applegate, the author of "The Entrepreneur's Desk Reference." "Then take a really honest inventory of your skills."

She recommends thinking about moving your life and career in a new direction, changing occupations or starting a business.

"Everyone who has a job should always keep a little dream list of business ideas and opportunities that appeal to them," Ms. Applegate said. Losing your job is a time to rethink that dream, she said, doing what you want to do.

Feeling good about yourself, hard as that may seem, is critical because it affects how prospective employers perceive you. And how you handle your reduced finances play into your attitude.

Mr. Laskoff says part of your self-evaluation is identifying unnecessary expenses and cutting back, but not necessarily eliminating them right away.

"Most people will say, Cut immediately back to barest minimum you can handle," Mr. Laskoff said. "I don't advise that. I always remind people doing job searches that their state of mind has a lot to do with their salability. If you cut too much, then you become miserable and depressed and that makes it difficult to your being hired."

Nancy Weil Brown, a career coach in Chatsworth, Calif., who has been laid off from several sales and marketing jobs, agreed. "Start making the minimum payment on everything," she said. "Cut back on spending, but don't go into such austerity that you have denied yourself everything because you'll become discouraged."

She suggested cutting back on eating out, for example, and "if you go to a movie, skip the popcorn." As time passes, you can cut more, she said, and "look for things to do that are fun and free, like a walk on a nature trail."

As bills stack up, the National Consumer Law Center in Boston offers 16 rules for prioritizing and lowering some expenses in its "Guide to Surviving Debt," edition 2002.

Housing and feeding the family come first, the center says; by law, child-support payments must be made. It recommends contacting electric, gas, water and other utility companies about paying the minimum amount to keep your service. Make car payments if the car is essential.

You must also pay your income taxes. Congress taxes your jobless benefits, but does not withhold taxes from the checks. Even if you cannot pay taxes that were not withheld, be sure to file your federal and state tax returns and attach a note explaining that you are unemployed.

The law center advises giving low priority to loans that are not backed by collateral. Credit-card debts and bills from lawyers, doctors and other service providers merit low priority because "there is rarely anything that these creditors can do to hurt you in the short term."

The center also advises giving low priority to debts that are secured only by your household goods, which are rarely seized for nonpayment. A mistake, the center says, is paying a debtor low on your list because of threats to sue or assertions that your credit rating will be ruined. Such suits are rare and time-consuming; besides, much of your property may by law be exempt from seizure while "nonpayment of rent, mortgage and car debts may result immediate loss of your home or car."

Not paying student loans can result in seizure of tax refunds and wage garnishments, but the center says the loans should be treated as medium priority.

Refinancing, the center warns, is rarely a good idea.

For the Long Haul, Tough Choices

Taking time to devise a plan for what to do if you are without work for an extended period will mean making well-thought-out choices, ones not made in panic or while depressed. Deciding whether to sell an heirloom �?an antique music box, grandma's silver service �?or taking a bottom-of-the-barrel job is a choice better made when heads are clear.

As time passes, there may be no choice but to turn assets into cash. Taking money out of retirement plans generally involves a 10 percent federal tax penalty if you are under age 59 1/2. Cashing in life insurance may mean much higher costs for a new policy, if you can obtain one, when you do find work. You may also get relief by going to a credit counseling agency. The endgame may be filing for bankruptcy protection.

One other mistake, often made after a long period without work, is chasing after any job, Ms. Meredith said.

"I have seen a number of people," she said, "run to a job out of state, sell their house, uproot the family, all move there and no sooner do they move than they get laid off again or they find they hate it."

If you take a job in another location, she advises, "It is much better in most cases to send one family member there for the job, see how it goes for a few months, and then decide whether to move."

And Consider Health Insurance

Another issue for people out of work, said Rebecca Derby, a senior policy analyst at Health Care for All, an advocacy group in Boston, is whether they should drop health insurance. Many, she said, reason that if they become seriously ill, they will be covered under the welfare medical system.

"You may eventually get coverage," Ms. Derby said, "but by then it may be too late."

Medicaid, the basic welfare medical program, typically becomes available once a person becomes disabled. By then, Ms. Derby said, what may have been a curable disease may be fatal.

Employers with 20 or more workers who offer health insurance are covered by a 1985 law known as Cobra, for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

If you quit or are laid off (other than for extreme misconduct like theft) or your hours are reduced, you can pay for continued coverage for yourself, your spouse and dependent children for 18 months. A spouse or child is also entitled separately, if this family member exercises the right before you end your coverage, an important consideration if someone is sick.

Many states also require coverage of people who work for small businesses. In New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the laws cover workers at companies with 2 to 19 employees, giving them the right to continue coverage for 12 months in New Jersey and for 18 months, and sometimes longer, in New York and Connecticut. A chart with these state rights is available at www.healthinsuranceinfo.net/, a site maintained by Georgetown University.

Trudy Lieberman, a health insurance expert at Consumers Union, said that the cost of continuing coverage under Cobra was high, 102 percent of what the employer paid, which is often more than $500 a month.

Unless you opt for Cobra coverage when leaving a job, Ms. Lieberman says, you are not automatically eligible to buy individual health insurance later. And if you exhaust your Cobra benefits, you must apply for new coverage within 63 days to be eligible for a policy regardless of existing health problems.