Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron. Your source for expert advice on Lean, Six Sigma, and performance improvement methods. In this episode number 26-Special, Aaron relates his experience in dealing with the initial shocks of losing his job and describes how the 8D methodology can be used to get out of it.

D0: Identify Problem: I lost my job.

D1: Use a Team: Wife, Self, Financial Advisor

D2: Define and describe the Problem:

Situation: I was let go of my job in April 2014. Despite expert advice I had less than 3 months of income saved for such an emergency (rather than the recommended 6 months). There was no severance package or payout of unused vacation. Unemployment benefits pay out for a maximum of 6 months and are only 42% of the initial income. In addition, my wife was unemployed and attending college full-time. We have 3 children and live in CT, where the cost of living is very high. If we do nothing, we will be out of cash in about 5 months, at which point we would need to decide which assets to cash out.

D3: Develop Interim Containment Plan: (Minimize Expenses, Maximize Income)

· Minimize expenses ASAP (See Graph of Scenarios )

o Do Nothing- Broke in 5 months (short of cashing in assets)

o Managed Expenses (Actual) - Prolonged cashflow, preserving retirement, assets and credit history to hold over until another job is secured – Broke in 9 months (short of cashing in assets)

§ Student Forbearances

§ Minimum payments on credit cards rather than paying off the balance

§ Cancelled Luxuries

§ State assistance for Health Care and School Lunches

o Majorly Manage Expenses (Potential) – I could have done more if I were more persistent with the Mortgage company (Wells Fargo did not respond) and State assistance programs - Broke in 12 months (short of cashing in assets)

§ Mortgage Hardship Assistance

§ Food Stamps

o Utter Hardship – Throw it to the breeze and stop paying non-survival bills - Ride out for 3+ years...

§ Stop paying mortgage (wait out the foreclosure process--- could take years)

§ Stop paying cars (repossessed in a couple months)

§ State Assistance for food and health insurance (limited time)

§ Default on credit cards

· Maximize income

o Unemployment Benefits (Apply Right away – within an hour of job loss)

o Get a New Job

§ Hit up your Network

· 3+ invitations to interview right away

§ Recruiters – Note: Although they say executive recruiters are the best avenue, I have yet to have a recruiter come through. The only jobs I ever landed were by applying directly to the company. At times, I believe having gone through a recruiter has blocked my ability to deal directly with a company in the future. Even so-called “Professional” Recruiters have treated me with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” approach. Out of dozens of recruiters I’ve worked with, I only found one that made me feel at all like a customer.

§ Online Job Search

· LinkedIn – Most valuable search in my opinion

· Indeed – Good Aggregator

· Monster

· Careerbuilder – Some more local hits (recommended jobs)

· Glassdoor

· Simply Hired – Another good aggregator

· Industry Specific Boards (iSixSigma, ASQ)

· Target company websites

§ Resume

· Update

· Post to all the same job search sites

o Update weekly to refresh your resume to the top of the searches

o Sift through recruiters of lower earnings or not related jobs (i.e. engineering going into financial planning, franchising offers, insurance agents, etc… unless that’s what you want)

Outro: Thanks for listening to this Special episode. We will continue with the conclusion of the 8D, determining root causes and corrective actions, in couple weeks. For next week, we’ll return to our regular program plan. Stay tuned for episode number 27 where we go over the important considerations when putting together an effective cross-functional team. Subscribe to past and future episodes on iTunes or stream us live on-demand with Stitcher Radio. Follow us on twitter @e6sindustries. Find us on Facebook and LinkedIn to join a discussion. Outlines and graphics for all shows are posted on our website, www.E6S-Methods.com. “Journey Through Success”