Try as best you can to set aside your anger and fear over having been terminated. Focus instead on the facts of your situation. You have all the power now, since they have wielded their ultimate weapon and you are still alive. There is nothing more they can do to you. Yet, there’s a lot more you can do to them.

The company wants you to leave as quietly and quickly as possible. Everything they are and will be doing is designed to speed you out the door. Do not read this pressure as being a threat to give you no severance, unless they specifically say it is a take-it-or-leave-it offer. And even if they do that, don’t let it lead you to surrender. Instead, bypass the rest of the problem-solving checklist and move immediately to the appeal process.

Having been told that you’re terminated, you’ll be pushed to immediately agree to a package that’s offered and pack up your office and leave. Refuse to sign anything, saying that you’re in no mental or emotional state to rationally go over the papers being shoved in front of you. Agree to leave only after you have an appointment to speak about the severance package two or three days later.

In the two or three days available to you prior to the next meeting you need to become an expert on the job market. Contact headhunters, peers, employment agencies, industry journalists, and your professional association. Ascertain how long it takes, on average, for someone of your age, experience, and salary to find a new position comparable to the one you’ve left.

Employers will always cite the booming economy as a reason to offer little severance. However, you’re not going to be looking for a job stuffing tacos at Taco Bell; you want an upper-level executive job at PepsiCo’s corporate headquarters. Fairness requires you to get enough severance to keep you afloat long enough to find a comparable job, not just any job.

In addition, if there is any possibility that your termination is tainted by discrimination based on gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, marital status, or national origin, add a professional’s expertise to your arsenal. For better or worse, the knowledge that you, as a protected minority, have hired legal counsel to examine the circumstances of your termination will set off alarm bells all over your company’s offices. Your severance package, never etched in stone to begin with, has just become as malleable as water.

If you’re not a member of a protected minority you’ll have to rely on the issue of fairness. Rather than letting your quick job market survey stand on its own, look to create an advocate.

Turn to the person who was your mentor in the company . . . even if she was the one who wielded the ax. Contact her at home, if possible. Explain how you’ve always looked to her as more than just a business mentor. Solidify the bond of personal trust that has developed between you over your tenure at the company. If she was the one who fired you, say that you know that was strictly business. This conversation, on the other hand, is personal. Then, tell her the results of your research, explain that you’ll need more severance to bridge the gap in your employment, and ask her, as a friend, to put in a good word for you.

Personnel offices will do all they can to stick to company policy. Unless some other executive gives them a reason to make a break with policy. Basically, they need to have someone else to blame for the exception they’ll be making. The expertise you’ve acquired, and the prodding from an advocate, should be enough to boost your severance package.

But if you’re still faced with a no, or if you’re originally confronted by a take-it-or-leave-it offer, you’ll need to move up the ladder. Your appeal needs to be in writing, either by letter, fax, or even E-mail, sent to the highest executive in the company you can approach. Don’t feel uncomfortable going over others’ heads . . . what can they do to you? Describe the situation as clearly and concisely as possible, and ask for a reconsideration based on the facts that you’ve uncovered about the job market. State that you know the company would never knowingly act unfairly, and that you hope these new facts will shed light on the matter.