How To Approach A Job Hunt When You’ve Been Made Redundant

Ah, redundancy; a word we are all too familiar with, especially in recent times.

From the first wave of the pandemic to today’s talk of recession, companies left, right and centre are cutting back their teams and battening down the hatches to weather the storm. In just the past few months, Microsoft announced 10,000 redundancies (5% of its workforce); Meta made the news with 10,000 layoffs, and Stripe lost 1,000 of its team (14% of staff). And these are just a few of the headlines - the reality is redundancies are affecting giant corporations down to small impact organisations. 

One thing’s for certain, if you are facing redundancy right now, you are not alone. Redundancy can bring with it feelings of confusion and panic, but in times like these it helps to remind ourselves that this is a symptom of a wider trend, and is nothing to be ashamed of.

Redundancy, with all its negatives, can also be a window to see things from a different perspective. What’s that secret thing that you’ve been wanting to work on but never dared to venture into? Was there anything you didn’t like about your last job? If you could design your next job, how would it look? Now is a great moment to take stock of where you are, and what you want from your career.

Whether you’re struggling with motivation, need some tips for job searching, or are wondering how to manage talking about redundancy with potential new employers, we got you!

1. Take your time (don’t rush, even if it feels scary)

Giving yourself time to process is important, to make sure that you don’t panic. Rushing into the wrong job can be a bad decision both for you, and your career. 

While it’s tempting to have a knee-jerk reaction and find a new job starting next week, hopefully the time and money from your redundancy package will offer the chance to stop, think about what’s best, and make a purposeful next step. It might allow you to take a job that you’ve been aiming for, or make a bold decision like a career change or return to education.

2. Reflect on what you liked (and didn’t like) about your last job 

Redundancy is difficult, but it’s also a moment to make positive changes for both you and your career. Take some time to ask yourself questions about your last job and the jobs prior, and whether they match with what you want for the future. This can focus on practical aspects like how the team was organised or your working hours, or what kinds of tasks you did.

For example:

• Which tasks did I like most? 
• Which tasks did I dislike most?
• Did I like working from home, from the office, or hybrid?
• Do I want more flexibility?
• Did the team structure/hierarchy work for me?
• Do I want more responsibility?

3. Take a broader approach

It’s common to start looking for jobs that exactly match your skill set, or mirror those from your previous job. But this can limit your options - it’s much better to cast a wider net and give yourself more opportunities.

Here you can think about the ‘dreamier’ aspects of what you want from your career, and your future life.

• What have you been wishing you could work on? Is there something that fascinates you? That drives you crazy that you wish you could fix?
• Is re-training an option? Can you take a drop in salary, or use some of your redundancy package?
• What are you really good at?
• What makes you happy, and makes time feel like it’s passing faster?
• Who can you talk to about these aspects? Do you know anyone on LinkedIn, in your social circle, your previous teams?

4. Don’t be afraid of speaking to others

Being made redundant can feel surreal, even if you know that others in your organisation, or wider society, are going through the same thing. For this reason it’s important to talk to others about it, especially if it feels taboo. 

Whether that means having a coffee with someone else in your team who was made redundant, posting on LinkedIn reaching out to share experiences, or with a friend, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Managing redundancies and selecting employees is hard for employers too - they’d much rather see their team and business thriving, than making cuts. It’s a strange situation, and it’s okay to talk about it.

5. Jazz up your CV

Take a moment to make a nice pot of tea/coffee, find a quiet spot, light a candle or put on some music, and take a fresh look at your CV. 

Going through the experiences that you list currently, have a think about whether the details you’ve highlighted match your answers in points (2) and (3) of this article. What can you remove, and what can you emphasise more?

If you’d like to have a career change and work in a new sector, but don’t yet have the training,, is there something you missed out from your previous experience that you could put in? Is there something that you’ve been dumbing down but could bring front and centre? For example, say you’d like to work in HR for an ocean conservation organisation, but you’ve so far worked mainly in HR for tech startups. Did you do an ocean-themed course back at University? Did you do any relevant volunteer work for the environment? Do you know every David Attingborough ocean-themed documentary by heart? Do you have a scuba diving qualification? Get creative and think about how you could show a budding interest, even if you’re not an expert in the field.

Giving your CV a visual makeover can also be fun and make you feel more confident when applying for jobs. There are many free and easy-to-use examples online; for example, try Canva’s diverse CV templates. 

6. Address the elephant in the room 

As we’ve hopefully hammered home by now, there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in being made redundant. For this reason, it’s best practice to leave it out of your CV and cover letter, because there’s no reason to ‘defend’ yourself, and leave it for any questions at interview. 

Only if you’re asked, you can be open about the redundancy and communicate it with confidence, without any need to apologise. Try writing out your reply, and practising saying it so that you feel comfortable saying it naturally - the more confidence the better!

7. Tap into your network

They say that we’re only ever 6 degrees of separation from every other person on the planet. Who do you know in your network that works in a field you’d like to move into, or who knows someone in that career? Is there anyone you would enjoy having a coffee with to talk about the trials of redundancy? 

Your network is a powerful tool for both processing the present, and also moving forwards. Whether it's professional (LinkedIn, previous colleagues), or personal (social media, local community, friends and family circles), the more you talk about where you’d like to go career-wise, the more chances there are for a magic connection, a whisper of a job opening, or a foot in the door.. And then you can do the same for someone else in the future! 

Already pondered what you’d like to do next, and ready to get searching post-redundancy? Take a look at our Job Board to find your next exciting career move!