Everyone who reads this site has heard a thing or two about the importance of having an emergency fund. But when such an emergency comes along, how do you use that money wisely?

Getting fired pretty much always stinks. But there’s something distinctly humbling about being fired from your gig as a workplace advice columnist.

I know, because it happened to me.

It’s been a brutal few weeks in media, as BuzzFeed, the Huffington Post, Vice, Gannett and McClatchy laid off thousands of workers. But it’s not just journalists who have been hurting recently: GM is laying off thousands of workers over the next two weeks, Sears’s bankruptcy has imperiled tens of thousands of jobs, and the U.S. government shutdown left hundreds of thousands of people without a paycheck for weeks.

As a person who recently lost their job, I’ve quickly had to adapt to a routine of unemployment.

Nobody is immune to layoffs. Whether you're an executive or an entry-level hire, layoffs can - and probably will - affect you at some point in your career. Consultants and freelancers have a bit of a buffer thanks to their multiple income streams, but when their industry suffers, they suffer too. (There's nothing like losing four clients in a single month.)

We've told you how to prepare if you think you're going to lose your job, and this tool will even give you a rough idea of what your chances are. But over at Credit.com, writer Nikelle Murphy lists some specific types of employees that are usually the first to go during a layoff.

Microsoft has announced it will gut 1850 more jobs from its smartphone hardware business this year, with the bulk of job losses coming from Microsoft Mobile Oy in Finland. The $950 million business write-off (or "streamlining", as Microsoft calls it) comes a week after the company sold off its feature phone division to Foxconn in a $350 million fire sale. It was nice knowing you, Nokia.