Experts also advise the newly unemployed to think about courses they took in college, especially liberal arts subjects they might have loved but dismissed because they didn't necessarily lead to professions.
Could a love of food, or theater, or writing - or the teaching of any of those - help a person think about a new direction?", asked Robert Chope, a San Francisco psychologist who focuses on work issues.
What about family influences?, he went on. Is there a business in the family you could work in, or coax in a new direction?
Often after a layoff, people with some capital think about starting their own businesses in areas they like, such as food, said Robert Rosania, senior career consultant with Jewish Employment and Vocational Services in Center City.
Adding a word of caution, he said that people sometimes don't consider that they might need to get business training to become an entrepreneur, and that they should consider further education.
Many people he sees also talk about becoming teachers, although, Rosania said, he's not sure how many actually follow through.
When a laid-off person, especially a professional, considers what's next, a job that helps the greater good might be rewarding, according to Marci Alboher, senior fellow at Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank on work and social purpose headquartered in San Francisco. It's funded by organizations such as the MetLife Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"Once people get through their sulking period after losing a job, they might begin to ask themselves, 'What would I have pursued if I had not been on the track I originally followed?'"
The answer could be a job that helps others, Alboher suggested.
These are so-called "encore careers," she added, in areas that have openings and are also beneficial to society.
