Top tips for a pain-free redundancy

Always remember it is the “role” that is redundant and not “you” as an individual. It is easy for people to take it personally, but it is never an easy decision for any company to make redundancies.

There are laws that dictate how redundancies should be handled to protect employees, so make sure you know your rights. If there is no alternative job available for you within the company then redundancy may be the only option. You should read your company handbook or speak to an organisation such as the Citizens Advice Bureau to make sure that your employer is following the right procedure.

Here are some important things for you to consider:

• Make sure that your CV is always up to date.

• Before you leave the company, ask Human Resources or your manager for a reference. Take email addresses or telephone numbers of colleagues you worked with – sometimes redundancy happens unexpectedly so it is always good to be prepared.

• Register with recruitment consultancies, the Job Centre and job boards, to maximise your exposure. Check local newspapers, websites of companies you are interested in and speak to friends and family in case they know of any opportunities.

• Consider that you may have to look at alternative positions to the one you were employed in. It might be possible to transfer your skills into another role – for example if you were working on reception and answering calls with some basic administration, perhaps you could work as a customer service operator in the next company.

• Be flexible with your salary expectations – if there are lots of people looking for a fresh challenge it might be necessary to take a lower salary than you were earning before. This may only be a temporary measure but could be essential at this time.

• Make sure you are available for interview. There may be more candidates than vacancies, and there is nothing worse than losing out on a job interview because your phone was switched off or you slept through your alarm. Someone else will snap the position up.

• Try and get temporary experience whilst you are looking for permanent work. This looks great on the CV. It shows you are willing to work whilst looking for the next job and offers you varied experience as well as sometimes opening more doors.

• Make sure you have a clean interview suit/outfit ready to be worn and practice interview techniques with friends or family so that you can answer questions without hesitation.

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