In this depressed economy, with job creation almost stagnant and company growth sluggish or sputtering, someone in your family or someone you know well is going to be fired. Since 2008, with the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, firing employees has become culturally acceptable. We are all jaded by it, as much as we resist the cruelty of what happens to people who lose their jobs. Employees can take some self-help, however. Most companies are receptive to converting terminations to resignations, for purposes of enhancing a dismissed employee's chances of getting another job. On the other hand, the employee wants to be sure that for purposes of applying for unemployment, the company understands that the employee is still going to say he or she was terminated. Employees who actually resign do not get unemployment. A dismissed employee can also ask that the personnel records be expunged of anything negative and seek a good reference. Most employers will agree to that, too- or, at the least, a neutral reference that does not contradict what the dismissed employee tells a prospective employer why he or she left the former job. Of course, getting severance and subsidized health insurance- what we call the traditional severance package-is harder to negotiate and often requires the intervention of counsel. But if you start with the non-monetary requests, you will be in a lot better position to get the next (and better, we hope) job.