Losing a job is one of life's more difficult events. No matter how prepared you are or how much support family and friends give you, underneath your bravado is worry and self-doubt about your future. It's common to think, "I'll never get a job as good as I had" or, "This is awful -- I'll never make that kind of money again."

You'll experience a myriad of thoughts and feelings, from anger and depression to loss and resolve. But you can stage a rebound by landing a higher paying job in perhaps less time than you imagine.

An exit poll of 1,600 employees laid off by Seattle-based Boeing Corp. starting in 1998 confirms this assumption. "Eighty percent of our laid-off engineers and tech workers report that they move on to a new job at a higher salary," says Stan Sorscher, a labor representative for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), the company's engineering/tech union. The union conducted the survey, which was released in 2001. "Most said it was much faster than they thought."

After the layoff notices were issued, the union offered seminars to teach its members job-search, interviewing and salary-negotiation skills. "We [also] had pretty high attrition from engineers and techs who decided not to wait for a layoff notice," says Mr. Sorscher. "Most moved on to much better paying jobs, too."

Salary-Negotiation Strategies

There's an art to negotiating a new salary, particularly if you're unemployed. This may surprise jobless candidates, who feel they lack leverage to bargain with employers.

"A laid-off worker can be in a very strong position to negotiate," says Tom Washington, an outplacement consultant and author of "Interview Power" (Mount Vernon Press, 2000). "Your challenge is to be heads and shoulders above the competition. When you're clearly the No. 1 choice, even your initial offer will be better."

The SPEEA union exit polls showed:

• 80% of employees landed jobs that paid more, while only 9% ended up making less in new positions.

• The most commonly cited salary increase was 30% to 40%. Some employees doubled their salaries.

Here are the tips the Boeing employees used to negotiate pay in their new positions.

Know your real value.

Start by finding out your true worth in the marketplace. Employees often worry that they're overpaid, only to learn they're actually underpaid.

One Boeing computer programmer who was laid off from his job at an Everett, Wash., plant didn't know what his skills were worth in the marketplace. By working with a career counselor, he learned that on-the-job training had qualified him to become a software engineer. After marketing himself for this position, he landed a software-engineering job at Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, Calif., that paid $20,000 more than his prior salary.

You, too, may have acquired skills that move you on to a new level. An informal survey of more than 200 managers, executives and professionals attending a job-search skills seminar I gave last year showed only five knew what they could earn at another employer. Don't guess what you're worth -- know. Not being informed about your market rate when you talk with employers is a costly mistake. Know what you should be paid by researching job content and pay surveys conducted by professional associations, magazines, business and professional journals and Web sites for your desired job title or responsibility level and the corresponding range of pay.

Also ask colleagues and friends for input. Start with a nonthreatening question such as, "If I were to become the head of marketing for your firm, how much would I likely be paid?" You can vary your inquiry by saying, "Is expecting a salary of $95,000 too high, low or about right?"

Excel in interview preparation.

Besides researching the prospective employer and hiring manager, be ready for interview questions that ask you to describe your past performance on the basis that it's the best predictor of your future performance.

"To rise to be the No. 1 choice, you need to prepare answers that share examples of past successes and problem solving in areas needed to excel at the new job," says Mr. Washington, principal of Career Management Resources in Bellevue, Wash.

Networking with insiders will help you learn the company's needs and how the position fits them. This knowledge will help you convince interviewers you can successfully handle the job requirements.

Handle tricky salary questions like a pro.

To maintain an advantage during pay negotiations, don't disclose your former or current salary or what you hope to make. Many job candidates mishandle this point of the interview and it literally costs them thousands of dollars.

The best way to answer questions about your earnings is to deflect them by asking, "What's the salary range for this job?" If employers insist on knowing a salary figure, provide a range, Mr. Washington recommends. You might say $80,000 to $90,000 depending on the responsibilities, benefits and other factors, such as overtime, travel or relocation issues. You haven't sold the employer yet, so focus on becoming the No. 1 choice before discussing pay details, Mr. Washington says.

A merger forced a chief financial officer (CFO) who had spent 10 years with a start-up that became a large Seattle managed-care organization to begin job hunting. She received several job offers, but her research indicated she should be paid more for her experience and skills. A career counselor found that the CFO had been telling prospective employers what she had earned in her prior job. Once she began handling the question differently, she sailed on to a major raise as CFO of a national health-care hospital and nursing-home chain in Seattle.

Remember, whoever mentions money first, loses. Even if the interviewer is persistent, continue to state a range of pay, adding that you need to know more about the job and its responsibilities to be more specific about your desired earnings.

Another way to respond is to cite a survey source, saying, for instance, "American Marketing Association surveys indicate that a brand manager at my level of experience makes $65,000 to $80,000 and that's the range of pay I expect to be paid. You do pay competitive salaries here, don't you?" By asking this question, you'll get the interviewer to respond and move on. Your highest increases in pay will come after the employer decides it wants to hire you.

Don't forget perks.

Such perks as extra vacation time, a company-leased car, expense account, laptop computer and a cellular phone should be negotiated also. For instance, it's possible to receive more vacation time by asking for it.

A facilities manager for a federal planning office in Washington, D.C., accepted a voluntary layoff package to relocate and seek a new job. A large medical-research center offered him a position as director of engineering along with a market-rate salary, but only a week's vacation to start. The manager had received six weeks' vacation at his prior job and was concerned about taking only a week off because of the overtime and stress involved in the new job. By negotiating, he was able to increase his time off to 18 days during the first year.

Become knowledgeable about the company's medical-insurance plan and whether it covers other family members. If you're leaving a company with a plan that provided 100% coverage for all family members and going to one with a less generous plan, ask to have your extra cost (which can run $5,000 to $6,000 annually) added to your base salary or paid in the form of a hiring bonus.

As the dot-com blowout has shown, stock options are speculative and may never pay the rent, so negotiate hard for cash elements up front and view any stock-option gains as icing on the cake.

Moreover, determining the value of stock options isn't easy, since their worth is based on the future value of the company, says Mr. Washington. "You'll need to assess the three- to five-year value of the company, performing due diligence on risk and potential up-and-down value," he says. "Too many employees have counted on riches worth [hundreds of thousands of dollars] at one point and now [own stock] valued at less than 25 cents a share."

The greatest salary jumps almost always come from quitting a job and taking a new one. Examine your skills, abilities and goals to determine if you've acquired highly marketable skills at a past employer. A layoff can be just the push you need to advance your career.