Careers & workplace advice from Hays

Made redundant? Here’s what to do next

Jane McNeill

Director, Hays Australia

18 Jan 2016

When you’re being made redundant, it’s normal to feel anxious, and that your sense of normality and security has been taken away. After all, redundancy can often come out of the blue and lead to uncertainty over what the future holds for you.

Reacting to redundancy in the right way can lessen the impact on your mental well-being and your financial situation, while providing you with a platform for career success in the short- and long-term future. As such, having a plan in place makes sense.

Redundancy is of course often stressful and upsetting – however, it’s very possible to come out a stronger and more capable person for the experience. With this in mind, let’s look at the steps you can take if you find yourself being made redundant so that you’re in the best position to move forward in your career.

Six steps to help you with being made redundant

1. Sort things immediately with your employer

Immediately upon being made redundant, your focus should be on obtaining three things:

  • Written details of your redundancy package
  • Contact details for both your line manager and the HR department
  • Confirmation of your notice period

It’s only once you’ve acquired these three things that you can start to think ahead to the future. In spite of how frustrated you may be feeling, remind yourself that this is a business decision, never a personal one. Excoriating your boss for something they never wanted to do in the first place will sever working relationships at a time that you need them most.

2. Take a step back

Being made redundant can happen for a number of reasons, none of which are to do with your ability. Falling profits, advances in technology, poor management and so on – these in no way reflect on you, but are indicative of wider faults within the business itself. 

Unless financially desperate, I don’t advise rushing straight into another job immediately after being made redundant. This is a rare pause in your career which could be used as a period of reflection and future planning.

3. Budget

Ensure that you’re available across all professional online networks

If you’ve just been made redundant, then unfortunately you’re going to need to curtail your spending, as you never know how long you are going to be out of the game. We’re often so preoccupied with the nine to five that we’re never afforded a proper opportunity to review our finances – well here you go. 

4. Refresh your CV and professional networking profiles

If you’ve been at your company for a few years, then you probably haven’t updated your CV or professional networking profiles in a while, even though you’ve likely achieved quite a lot in this time.

There are Viewpoint blogs that provide advice on both optimising your LinkedIn profile and your CV. Ensure that you’re available and easily found across all professional online networks such as LinkedIn – these are so often the places that recruiters and employers go first to source candidates.

5. Use your professional and support networks

There is no shame in being referred for a role by a friend or associate

Being made redundant is often difficult emotionally so, besides reaching out to family and friends for support, try and get a range of opinions to help you construct a robust career plan. The chances are that most people will probably be very sympathetic to your predicament, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

There is no shame in being referred for a role by a friend or associate. In fact, it’s often a useful means of validation – after all, if somebody believes in you enough to put their own reputation on the line by referring you, then they’re probably recommending a quality candidate. Hays’ Yvonne Smyth has some practical advice on effective networking.

6. Upskill – or even reskill

You may indeed have to upgrade your skillset in order to stay relevant within your sector, but it might be time to try something new. Is this just the opportunity you needed to launch that great business idea that you’ve been sitting on? Or to test yourself in that specialism which you’ve always had a passion for? As addressed in our Learning Mindset report, it’s people who have the attitude and aptitude to learn that employers want in today’s world.

The silver lining

Being made redundant isn’t the end of the road, but as a bridge to a new beginning. What positives might you take from the experience? Maybe your finances need reviewing, or it’s time to switch industries or dive into a new project.

It might seem like rudimentary advice, but the hardest thing to remember in these sorts of situations is to focus on the bigger picture. Are you likely to still be reeling with frustration in five or ten years’ time? We all experience setbacks in our careers, it’s how you react to them that counts.

Been made redundant? Here are some more blogs that might be useful: 

Listen to our careers advice podcast, ‘How to transform your mindset during a redundancy’ below:

If you enjoyed the above blog then you might also appreciate these other articles on the oil and gas industry:

Author

Jane McNeill

Director, Hays Australia

Jane McNeill joined Hays in 1987 as a graduate trainee in their London head office after graduating with an MA (Hons) in Psychology from Edinburgh University. She began her career recruiting accountancy & finance professionals, before spending 11 years recruiting senior permanent professionals for London’s banking & finance sector. During this time she quickly progressed through management roles and in 1992 she was appointed Director after leading the London city business to a phenomenal post-recession recovery.

Jane transferred to Perth, Western Australia, in 2001. Over the next decade she grew Hays’ business in that state from a team of 15 to nearly 250 staff. She also established and managed Hays’ banking & financial services business.

She was appointed to the Hays Australia & New Zealand management board in 2007. Now based in Sydney, Jane oversees Hays’ operations in both NSW and WA. She is responsible for 400 staff located in two states that are separated by a five-hour flight and a three-hour time difference. At the same time, she retains her keen interest and passion in banking & financial services recruitment by adding national responsibility for Hays Banking and Hays Insurance to her remit.

Career advice, Managing Your Career
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