I have a friend who lost his job along with everyone else in his department.  Now he is scrambling to find a job.  He needs to put together his resume, conduct his job search and deal with the emotional consequence of not having a job anymore.  In our world, you seem to be defined by your career and family life.  As a result, if you lose your job, you end up losing some your perceived social status.  How do you avoid this?

The main answer is to make sure that you never end your job search.  I know of very few people who plan to retire from their current job.  As a result, you will need to find new employment at some time.  You have all heard that you need to approach the search for a job as a real job.  You need to look at the classifieds both online and offline, network your connections as well as many other things.  If you only focus on this when you need a new job, it will take longer and be a more emotional process.  And unfortunately, I have experienced this more than once. 

The answer is to continue your job search all the time.  It is always easier to find a job when you have one.  I used to work for someone who was a marginal performer at best but had a great network.  When it came time for him to look for a new employment opportunity, he always seemed to land on his feet with one good job after another.  The secret to his success was that he continued to work his network each and every day.

So the advice is work the process even during good times so that you will not be the last one standing at the unemployment office.