B is for Breathing Space (A-Z of Redundancy)

Hi Everyone

When you enter into the world of Redundancyland it can be a hard pill to swallow. Emotions that you haven’t experienced for a long time, may rear their ugly head and if it is the first time that you have been made redundant, you may feel bewildered, anxious and all alone and that can be just for starters.

For some of you, the business where you worked may literally have collapsed overnight and redundancy will have happened so fast that you barely had time to think, let alone manage to make plans for your future or indeed for the next day. Whilst others among you, will find that there were rumours spreading that the company you worked for was in trouble over a period of months before you got officially told that there was no longer a need for your role.

Whichever is the path that took you to get here, I am here to tell you, you are not alone. I have been made redundant twice and in general, a job for life is now a thing of the past. No longer are employers looking for a person with years of experience in the same role, they are looking at how adaptable and flexible potential employees are to have been able to hold a variety of jobs and gained many transferable skills.

One of the most important things that you must do, is to allow yourself breathing space, by this I mean, time to take everything in that has happened to you, to process it in your mind and to allow yourself the time to think, what is it that I really want to do with my life? You also need time to settle into the idea of not working in that role anymore. I know some of you will be screaming at me right now, saying “I have got a job to go to, I don’t need breathing space.” To those of you who share that viewpoint, I say good on you but please give yourself time to think and reflect on if the job you have taken to replace the one that you were made redundant from, was the right job choice for you. It can be easier to take a job out of desperation than it is too allow yourself the time to think of redundancy as the opportunity of a lifetime to pursue your dreams.

My top five tips for why you need breathing space:

To give yourself time to get over the initial shock of redundancy.
To allow grief to run it’s course.
To think about what other career you could pursue and research ways to make it happen.
To make a plan of action for your future including how you are going to get your dream job.
To pursue a course needed to improve your chances of getting a job in the role that you want.

When I was made redundant for the second time in 2009, I decided to pursue my dream of being a published writer and of setting up a website to help people who have been made redundant to get back into work. If I can do it, I know you can too.

Reach for the stars. They are yours for the taking.

Remember, always stay positive.

Sandra Bellamy