Every freelancer has had the experience of having a contract terminated unexpectedly. It becomes less and less a cause of stress the more often it happens. But, except for the occasional project from Hell ( and I do not mean the Scandinavian town) , there is always a tail-between- the legs-factor even if you can expectorate in the director's wine and try to move on. The longer the project the more it hurts.

Over the years I have gained a high profile from a good CV and talking to a lot of recruiters. This takes time and the best time to start is when you do not need a job. If you still have a job use this to plan ahead,

Assume you have time to clean up. Make sure you empty  your desk completely, and, most important, remove all you can from your PC. I normally create a folder with my name for everything not directly related to the project (notes, timesheets, correspondence etc). Then at the end I need only delete one folder. Ideally your PC will be in the state in which you found it on the first day of your new job. Clean up the company mobile and  other electronic devices.  Remove everything irrelevant from your email.

On the last day say good by to your colleagues. Try  not to be openly negative about the circumstances of your departure. Say “It has been good working with you” even if you are thinking “Die slowly and painfully”.  If appropriate give them contact details – not too much, you may not want them to know where you live, or your personal email.

Then walk out with your head held high. When you are somewhere no on can see you give them a V sign

You need a bit of time to grieve the loss of your job. Allocate a week. You may not need a week. Have a private wake, write down all the good and bad about the job, get drunk (once!!) if you need to and  do nothing. This is a transition period. At the  end of the week you might like to  arrange a rite of passage, a weekend on the beach, a small party. Here  you can tell your friends what happened. This will tell you, over the next few months,  who your real friends are.

Panic leads to mistakes. While grieving for your job look at your expenses and cut out what you do not need. The magazine you never read, the society you never attend. It is also a good time to eat less. You can sleep more and will need to do so. This is not a panicked cutback, it is rational. Could you do without a car ( but could you become a driving instructor)? Would a motor bike or even a pedal cycle be enough? Talk to your family and tell them you have to cut back. Tell the teenagers to get their friends to ring them, make clothes last longer. Realistically assess the job market. Look at my post on Lessons for employees which gives guidance for looking after yourself.

Above all THINK WHAT YOU WANT

Losing a job is a great opportunity for career change whether sideways or out completely. In IT for instance, I have been a developer for years and I am looking at higher level roles or even project management. I know I will lose the edge of my technical skills but I can always practice at home.

If you are looking at career change do these two things, at the very least

Write down all you like about each job you have held. Write down what you disliked.

Go through the papers and cut out all the advertisements for jobs you would like to do.
Eliminate the ones you could never do (Circus Strongman comes to mind for most people) and then lay them out in a square. Left to right how much training you will need and top to bottom how well they fit your life: 90% travel is not suitable if you have school age children. Repeat this daily till you find no new roles entering the pile.

Even if you are thinking about becoming self employed these exercises will help you.

Remember you may be able to turn a hobby into a career. I was told of a coil winder who bred budgerigars as a hobby. It turned out he was a world expert on Budgerigars so his career consultant turned a footnote on hisCV into the centre point. Now the guy was an expert Budgerigar consultant who had skills as a coil winder. A week later he got a job at the local zoo. In the Budgerigar house.

Take the pile  of advertisements and  imagine yourself doing each job. How do you feel about it? 
Eliminate the ones where you have an active  negative feeling. Ignore fear. It  may be a warning, but probably is not.

Now look through the remainder and establish  the common features. Do they involve people or technology? Travel? Long hours and high pressure (some people LIKE that)?. Why do they interest you.  Be creative. If you like Dance and  want to help people  consider a career in dance therapy.

You will end with a number of possible job roles. Prioritise these.

Now you need an action plan. Daily weekly and monthly targets. On and off line actions.
Revise your marketing document, also known as your CV. Read it as if you were a stranger.  Would you interview yourself on the basis of the CV.   I once wrote CVs for job seekers and the two biggest errors were underselling and overselling.  Here are the targets I suggest.

Daily: 3 to 10 job moves: a job move is anything from an application to  ringing an agent. Basically a job move is anything that might result in getting work.

Weekly: review progress, look at your marketing materials and strategy. Chase up any interviewsor meetings. Plan the next week.

Monthly: Look at your  marketing materials again. Evaluate the success of your campaign.  Be ready to take new actions. Be ready to send your CV  out again

For the last 7 years as a freelancer I  have never been out of work for more than a month. The only reason  my existing strategy failed was because the IT job market collapsed. Even recruiters were getting worried about their jobs. Things seem to be easing but clients are still trying to take advantage.

My strategy was basically  (1) Every time a got an email from a recruiter about a job I wanted they went into my address book  (2) As soon as I started looking my CV  ( Which I updated reguarly even when working) went to  every recruiter on my list. Allowing for people moving on that  was about 2,000 people. (3) Get automated job lists emailed from every job site I could find. (4) Contact my preferred recruiters by phone. (4)  Do something to keep my skills  alive and  put it on my CV.

Take time to grieve, examine outgoings, work out  what you want to do and how to  find that work. Put the plan into action, monitor it regularly making changes if need be. Don't panic, don;t sell yourself  short