By Alison Doyle, About.com

What should you do when you receive notice of a layoff? What's the best way of surviving a layoff? First of all, you should check with your company on the benefits you may be entitled to when you leave. It's important to be informed about your employee rights, so you are clear on where you stand when you lose your job.

Then, it's important to file for unemployment insurance, and to make sure you have all the bases covered, so you can start a job search.

Preparing for a Layoff
When a company is struggling financially its employees could face a layoff. Preparing for a layoff may shorten the period of time you will be unemployed. Here are steps you can take to help keep a layoff from hitting you too hard.

How to Handle a Layoff
Have you lost your job? If so, you're not alone. Companies are continuing to cut back jobs, to downsize and to restructure operations. Here's how to handle a layoff, including filing for unemployment, what happens with your benefits, and how to start a job search.

Leaving Your Job
Leaving your job including how to handle a termination or lay-off, how to resign, retirement, how to say goodbye to co-workers, along with sample letters and job loss advice.

Filing for Unemployment
If you have been laid-off from your job you may be able to file for unemployment online without visiting an unemployment office. You should file a claim as soon as you receive lay-off notification. Here's information on eligibility requirements, disqualifications, where to file, how to file, benefits, rates, and answers to questions on unemployment compensation.

Employee Benefits After You Lose Your Job
Find out about the employment related benefits that you may be eligible for when you resign, get fired, or get laid-off from your job. Here's information on unemployment, severance packages, giving notice, health insurance, retirement plans, workers compensation, disability, references and more resources for people who have lost their job.

Employee Rights
When the economy slows, companies run into difficulties, businesses scale back their workforce, and layoffs increase.In fact, if you look at what has happened with major corporations, it's often not predictable. It's important to know what your rights as an employee are when you lose your job.

What to Expect in a Severance Package
Severance package information including what's included in a severance package, typical severance packages, and who may be entitled to severance package after a lay-off.

It’s been said that life isn’t so much in holding a good hand, as playing a poor hand well.  And while you may be out of a job, don’t let difficult circumstances prevent you from negotiating maximum fair severance package from your former employer.

After you’ve been fired and decide not to accept your employer’s typically deficient first offer, professional battle plan is critical to maximizing your fair severance compensation package.  Accordingly, the streetwise employment lawyer not only adds essential credibility to fallback threats of wrongful dismissal proceedings in court, but effective counsel will further advise you on what to ask for, who you’ll talk to, and just what you'll want to achieve before attending a productive negotiation session.  Most importantly, your lawyer will help prioritize critical elements of your severance package as follows.

Maximize your termination pay.

The longer you’ve worked for your employer, the more negotiation leverage you have.  Although many employers will initially offer 1-2 weeks pay for each year worked, courts generally award one-month per year of service adjusted upwards in circumstances of improper employer behaviour, higher level job responsibilities, inducement from other employment, and advanced age of the employee being dismissed.

Layoff Checklist
When you have lost your job, it's important to check on compensation due, benefits, references, and unemployment. Review this checklist to make sure that everything is covered, then focus on your job search.

Five Things Not to Do When You Leave Your Job
Leaving a job is often upsetting, whether you were fired or finally decided to quit. You may have trouble remembering to do the right thing. Here are five things you should avoid doing.

Ten Steps to Find a New Job
Ten steps to find a new job, including where to look for jobs, the top job sites, how to use your connections, how to ace the interview, and how to follow up.