How to Deal with Redundancy

Being made redundant from your job is a situation none of us ever want to face throughout our career or working life.

However, if you ever have to deal with the loss of a job it’s important to take the right steps to deal with the situation effectively and appropriately. The important factor to take in from redundancy is that it’s rarely ever your fault or because of your performance. It can be because of numerous reasons, including loss of profits, takeovers, advances in technology and increased competition.

Whatever the situation is, your redundancy isn’t a decision taken lightly and the majority of redundancies come with some form of protection for employees. If you’ve been in the same job for more than two years you will have the right to redundancy pay. Statuary redundancy pay is the legal minimum an employer can pay you and the amount you get can depend on your current salary, age and time you’ve been at the job.

However, no matter what degree of protection or pay that may come from redundancy, the aspect of unemployment can be a very daunting scenario. Many people have had to deal with redundancy so you’re not alone on the matter. Therefore, we've put together a list of tips and advice on what to do when you’ve suddenly been made unemployed.

Control Your Emotions

Losing a job that you rely and depend on can be very difficult to stomach and it’s understandable for your emotions to get the better of you. The important thing to comprehend is that it's not the end of your career and bouncing back can be quicker than you think. 

Therefore, it’s best to remain calm and reassure yourself that everything will eventually work out. It is, of course, easier said than done to be positive when it feels like you’ve hit a major hurdle in your career but a positive mind can often achieve position results.

Take Time to Reflect

This doesn’t necessarily mean you should jump straight onto a job site and start sending out your CV to different recruiters and companies. You should use this time to reflect on your career and ask yourself if it's something you wish to carry on doing or could you possibly see yourself trying something new?

Rather than dwell on the past, focus on the future and review your options to figure out what you want to do with your career. Maybe a job role in IT could be the one for you? You could also use this time to catch up on various activities and tasks you wouldn’t normally get time to do when working full-time.

Learn to Budget

Even if you have been given redundancy pay, it’s important to be realistic about the current situation and understand that a lack of a steady income could mean certain changes in your lifestyle. You will have to work out how to live on a budget and not make any extravagant decisions. Your redundancy pay should only be reserved for monthly bills and other important expenses, i.e food, medicine, travel.

Hopefully this is just temporary but even so, learning how to budget can be useful for even when you get back into employment.

Review your CV and Career Prospects

After taking some time to reflect on your career it’s a good idea to begin reviewing your CV. If you are happy with your profession and want to carry on doing it then simply update the contents of your CV and possibly improve the look, layout and style too.

If you’re looking to change your career and take a step into a new profession then research the job role in question and tailor your CV towards it. You can review our CV section to find tips on tailoring your CV.

Begin your Job Search

If you feel this is the right time to get back into employment then you should begin the process of looking for a new job. Now that you have your tailored CV and cover letter ready, start looking at online job boards like Technojobs to find the ideal job for you.

Most online boards have a simple interface to apply for job roles and to upload your CV so the process should be quite straightforward. 

Keep at it

Don’t sit back and relax. Keep going! Don’t rely on a small number of job placements; apply for as many jobs as you can that best fit your criteria and skillset. Make sure you tailor your cover letter towards each job role too so it doesn’t appear like a generic, template letter to the recruiter.

Turn it into a daily routine and keep going with the job search and hopefully it won’t be long until you’re called up for an interview! You can also apply for job alerts to make sure filtered jobs go straight to your email inbox.

Best of luck with your return to employment and hopefully that ideal job is waiting for you.

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