Losing a job through redundancy (or a general election) is rarely a pleasant experience, no matter how welcome the pay-off. We tend to take it personally, regardless of the logic or the number of other people involved. How can they do this to ME? After all I have done for them? I’ve seen otherwise slick interviewees get tied up in knots explaining why their role ceased to exist. Here are some thoughts on how to explain the R word and get back in control of your career.
- Get your ducks in a row. It sounds harsh but try to get over the redundancy and move forwards. Remind yourself of everything you have achieved in the past and how much you have to offer. Write up some evidence-based case studies to prove how good you are. Do some work on how you differentiate yourself to other candidates and the value you can bring to your next employer. Get a game plan together for what you want to do next. Start with it being an ideal world, then work backwards. Don’t aim low because you feel vulnerable; once you regain your confidence you will want to get back on the career ladder and recruiters are unlikely to take the risk of placing you in a lower level role that won’t challenge you.
- Get the message right. Give them a positive, upbeat narrative. ‘I am just negotiating my compromise agreement with X-CO. To be frank, I have been marking time there for a while but was aware that a redundancy programme was on the horizon and knew I would get a substantial pay-off after all my time there. This was the third wave of redundancies and my division has been lucky to avoid it until now. ’ Explain the numbers, so they know it’s not just you. If it IS just you, then there will be a good reason so get it on the table quickly: ‘I’m probably a victim of my own success. I had achieved the change programme I was brought in to do and now the role is just to keep the plates spinning. That’s not really me. So what I am looking for next is another change programme in a similar context, but this time with a bigger budget and perhaps an international element.’ Reinforce how talented you are by explaining what you would have done if you had remained in the company, and that you would like an opportunity to do this elsewhere. Your message is that you can hit the ground running and make a valuable contribution from Day One in a more progressive organisation.
- Don’t dish the dirt. Stick to the Queen’s mantra of ‘never complain and never explain’. You’ve explained it just enough and emphasised what you want to do next. Don’t ruin the vibe by telling them how protracted the process was, how shocked you were, how useless HR were, how frugal the leaving party was and so on. They don’t care about any of it. They care what you can do for them (or their clients), how tight your restrictive covenants are and if you can take your team and network with you. They wouldn’t waste time interviewing you if they weren’t interested in you, so avoid negativity.
- Talk to your network while your stock is high. The best way to move forward is to start having conversations and suss out opportunities. You’ll get excited about what’s ahead of you (there is new life) and feel more confident as you get back in control. Don’t force yourself to take a long break, i.e. the summer, before you look for a job just because well-meaning people tell you to do it that way round. It is unlikely you can really relax, or spend much money, if you don’t know what’s around the corner. Get a job offer and sign your contract, then take a proper break. They’ll wait for you. You wouldn’t normally be immediately available: you’d have a notice period, or garden leave to take, so a couple of months won’t make a difference, apart from delaying a recruiter’s commission. You can always attend some meetings to look keen, but make it clear that you have holidays booked and can’t start until September. That gives you time to really get some distance between your last job and your next one, so you are raring to go in your crucial first 100 days.
- Manage your emotions. Ignore the advice above if you feel too raw to do yourself justice at interview. Your own network may be more forgiving but you only get one shot with strangers. Questions about why you have left your last employer are inevitable. The interviewer will probe for more information if your answer is vague (‘time for a new challenge’). This could be out of curiosity, to check you out because they are genuinely interested in you, to find out if there are other good candidates on the market as well or to see if you can handle a bit of pressure. If you can’t handle talking about it yet then don’t put yourself in that situation. Take a short break to recharge your batteries. The anticipation of losing your job is always worse than the loss itself. You are not dreading the situation anymore; it’s here and now you can make a strategy to survive it. If you have been stressed for a while, use this time to get a more healthy perspective on your capabilities and prospects. Making a networking plan is a good first step to ease yourself back in the game when you feel less fragile. Don’t over complicate things. Look for opportunities under your nose. Who wants you as a direct consequence of your last job (such as suppliers, competitors, outsourcers, companies who want to do business with your old firm)? Start there and work outwards.