When Alice Winn got her real estate license and bought her Volvo in 2006, it was supposed to signal the beginning of a brilliant career in a booming industry.

The stock market was soaring. Homes were selling quickly, their values rising at a pace to match. And mortgages were plentiful.

So, Winn — then 26 — bought her first suit and landed her first professional job as an assistant at an Austin escrow company, a place she hoped to lay the foundation for a long and successful career in real estate.

Less than a year later, the University of Texas at San Antonio graduate found herself facing something she had not foreseen: a layoff.

The real estate market had cooled. Stories of soaring home values were replaced with tales of foreclosures and a sub prime mortgage crisis. In an uncomfortable meeting with her boss, Winn was told she was being let go. Her severance package: two weeks' pay.

It's a situation becoming increasingly common now that the nation's economic boom seems to have gone bust. So what do you do if it happens to you?

Don't panic. Plan for a transition, and start looking for a new job.

Eva Esquivel, spokeswoman for Alamo WorkSource, the local branch of the state's workforce development agency, recommends anyone who is laid off start with applying for unemployment insurance.

In Texas, it will pay between $57 and $378 a week for up to a year — cash that could come in handy should you suddenly be living paycheck to severance package.

Unemployment doesn't come with a health plan, but if you have a medical condition or are preparing to travel abroad, consider COBRA, a law that gives employees the option of staying on their employer's medical plan for up to 18 months after leaving a position. But beware — COBRA can cost several hundred dollars a month.

For a cheaper alternative, consider temporary health insurance plans offered for about $100 a month through companies such as Unicare, Humana and BlueCross BlueShield. You might have to pass a physical or be willing to accept high deductibles with the plans, however.

You could go without insurance until you find a new job, but it's a risk that could end up costing you a lot more.

After you decide on insurance and figure out how much money you have to get to that next steady paycheck, start figuring out where those checks will come from. Call your university's career services office. Surf the job boards. Ask friends if they know of open positions, scour newspaper ads and seek help from employment agencies.

Even if those organizations can't place you in a position, they might be able to teach you how to use your skills for positions for which you might never have thought to apply.

As for Winn, she is working as a bartender in Austin — something she had done during college in San Antonio. It's not ideal, but it is a paycheck until something else comes along. And that is survival.