August 10, 2025
What to Do Right After You Lose Your Job: Complete Emergency Checklist
Losing your job is one of life’s most stressful experiences, but taking the right actions in the first 24-48 hours can make the difference between chaos and controlled recovery. Here’s what you need to do immediately: file for unemployment benefits within the first week, secure COBRA health insurance within 60 days, create an emergency budget focusing on essential expenses only, update your LinkedIn profile, and reach out to your professional network. These five critical steps will stabilize your situation and position you for a successful job search. With the U.S. unemployment rate at 4.2% as of July 2025 and the
