The sky is falling

Even when you are mentally prepared for it.. Layoff is not at all an easy thing to digest. Ecen the most rational person will be momentarily stunned and might get jittery about his capacity to get on with life henceforth. These might not be foolproof, but some effective ways to move on.. Its a compilation after reading innumerable no. of articles and blogs on people who have faced the guillotine...

Get over the shock
Allow yourself to grieve. A job loss is alomst like a death. Mourning is a normal, healthy reaction.But, don't let it be your only reaction. Get over it as soon as possible and move on.
Assess your finances
Make sure you have cash to pay the rent and buy food until you find another job. If you feel you might fall short of funds, cancel the fancy cable TV package or start buying the no-name foods. Get on a payment plan for regular bills and cut down on not-so-necessary bills like mobile. You don’t know when you will get a paycheck again so start hoarding the money you have. You might also try to get a part-time job before you get a full-time job of your choice. Swallow your pride and do what needs to be done.
Relax
Use this time to reassess your career choices, catch up on some reading. You don’t have to drive in rush hour traffic to get to work. Take a walk, smell the coffee, meet your dear friends whom you had not met in ages. Give your mind a chance to recharge and re-evaluate your life. Maybe a new career is what you need. Maybe even a new town. The point is, take this down time to sit back and enjoy your vacation. You’ll be back to work soon enough and your next vacation will be a year away.
Get Healthy
We always give the excuse “I don’t have enough time to exercise or eat right.” Even though there was a state-of-the-art gym in your previous office building, you never used it. Now is the time to hit the treadmill or if you cannot offord to do that take a jog in the nearby corporation park. If your have already signed up for gym and didn't care to go, use that neighborhood gym membership one more month. Since you have less money you should be eating out less. Get the fast food out of your diet altogether. Set a goal and try to lose those pounds or inches off your waist so you look great for your next job.
Update your skills
It’s easy to become complacent about self development after so many years in a job. We neglect investing in ourselves. We can get away with that during boom times, but during tough times we need up to date, relevant skills. Start immediately.. Just reading through or training wouldnt suffice, put it to use. Make sure you are practicing your skills professionally on a day-to-day basis.
Update your online profiles
You are on LinkedIn, right? If not, do that right now. Your LinkedIn profile is a way to showcase yourself to potential employers and recruiters. Be honest, genuine, but also make yourself stand out in a crowd. Optimize your profile for the five-line preview that comes up when someone conducts a search. Give your resume a fresh overhaul and make sure its on the edge - update. Activate your profile in monster and naukri to get attention from the recruiters who search.
Take pictures
Put your near $1000 DSLR to use by selling stock-photos of consumer products, common objects to Fotolia, ShutterStock, iStockphoto, etc. It's cheap way of selling but gives a lot of exposure and brings in bigger projects to you over time. You can even think of doing marriage photography.. :)
Do volunteer work
Not only will volunteering help others in your locale, you can add that experience to your resume. It is also a form of networking. You may meet someone working at a hospital or homeless shelter that can offer you a paying gig. It does not end there..It's important telling a prospective employer how good you are in your field and your passion for it! If you’re a techie, contribute on an open source project, develop an iPhone app or take up website projects and office automation for smaller organizations.
Start your own business
If you have some savings and can afford to work for nothing (or even less than nothing !), it's a great time to start a business. Without the annoying distraction of a booming economy, you can focus on building a natural products or essential commodity based allied business and you will have again when the economy recovers up. There is still funding in the form of small scale indutry loans, even, for early-stage/from-scratch companies. The country has long been dependant on another country's needs and its time we get out of the services culture.
Stay Positive
This is the most important part..Don’t beat yourself up about your situation. It probably happened for a good reason. You know you didn’t like that previous job of yours anyway! Now it’s time to re-think move on to the next phase of your life in the direction of probably somethnig which you always wanted to be in. This is a time in life to toughen your character up and prove what you are really made of!