Step1
First things first: Keep your head during the leaving process so you can properly assess what you've got.
Before you leave your job you should know--find out if you don't--the compensation package you'll leave with. Will there be severance? And how much?
Step2
You need to find out about all aspects of you situation before you walk out the door. Those lovely people in HR, who were so nice to you when you worked there, can sometimes be very difficult to reach by phone when you're no longer an employee they'll want to be bothered with. Ask all your questions before you walk out the door.
Step3
Sign nothing. If your employer, or the HR department, produces a bunch of papers and says your final check can't be cut until you sign, don't be too greedy to grab and make off with check. Tell your employer politely you'll need to take the papers home with you so you can get legal advice before you sign.
The reason for this is you may have some rights that are not immediately apparent to you, and you may even be able to pursue a legal claim against your employer. Those kind of rights equals welcome money in your current position. So you don't want to begin your new unemployed status by signing away all your rights for access to a paycheck when you might be able to come away with more. (More about this later in other steps in the series.)
Step4
Now is the time to find out too if you have vacation time you haven't taken. Does your company intend to compensate you for those days?
Legally they're obliged to give you money for the time -- or give you the option to take the vacation days on their payroll.
Doing the latter will lengthen your time on the employer's health plan which may be something you will have to consider.
Step5
If you have a 401k with the company find out about that too. Get the proper forms from HR, or the company's accounts department, so you can roll it over into an IRA, or cash it out. Be clear that if you do the latter, you will end up paying a tax penalty, so don't do it unless you have to.
Step6
Find out about a reference. Is your employer going to give you one. If so get them to write it there and then and take it with you. It may not be worth the paper it's written on but it may turn out to be handy to have.
Step7
If there is any suspicion on your part that your termination may be for reasons you're not being told, make sure you get a letter stating the reasons you are being fired/laid off/terminated from HR or your manager. You want them on the record on this. They may say now that you are losing your job because of downsizing, but after you throw, say, an age discrimination suit their way, they may come back saying you were an unreliable employee and hint that what happened was they fired you. It will be nice to have a letter stating the former reason when you go to court and try to get play loose with the facts.
Step8
Above all, it is very important at this stage that you stay calm, accept the fact that you're in the job market again (and perhaps a pretty lousy one), but that you have the smarts, survival instincts and experience to come out the other end without experiencing economic ruin. In these first days after your job disappears, be prepared to really raise your game. A lot depends on it.
Step9
This article is one in a series of 8 dealing with different aspects of the Job Loss aftermath.
Subsequent articles will deal with Health Insurance, your legal rights, taking legal action against your former employer, making your savings stretch, getting unemployment and other issues.
If you've just been laid off and are preparing a plan to cope, you will find them helpful.
Take the right information with you
Novice 
