5 minutes to clear your desk
An all too often occurrence in the City nowadays; so what do you do to ensure that you are not out of work for too long?
First of all it is essential that you are always prepared for this eventuality, remember no one is indispensable and once you have left your company you are as forgotten as the person you sat next to on the train this morning.
The wise employee will always keep a copy of all their contacts on a memory stick, on line (Linked In, Plaxo) or on a personally owned PC at home, the wise person will have a private email address and a personal mobile phone (pay as you go is fine). The better prepared individual will always have an up to date copy of their CV, kept away form the office and preferably not on line. The more experienced employee will also have good relationships with 3 recruitment firms that they can entrust to handle them professionally. These simple measures will help to soften the blow of redundancy and be a starting point to get back into work.
Once the dust has settled and negotiations have been agreed it is time for you to move on; to do so there are a few things you must do to ease the job search and keep your sanity.
- Tell your family and friends
- Leave in a professional manner
- Accept the outplacement if offered, even if only to get a decent CV prepared.
- If outplacement is not offered it may be beneficial to invest some of your settlement money and seek help (www.unlockurpotential.co.uk )
- Finally move on, do not hold a grudge about your redundancy or your previous employer, any bad feelings will become evident at an interview.
We are seeing more and more people being made redundant, many with no idea as to what to do next or who to ask. The desperate ones send their CV out to every agency possible and post their CV on line to every job board, and then they feel happy that an agency has phoned them; the agency does not have a job but they are populating their database to blanket the market with the CV to ensure that they can earn some money if you are placed. The better recruiters will only send you CV out to specific jobs or opportunities and they will be more select; which is why I say only deal with 2 or 3 recruiters.
Be prepared to change direction in your career; a good recruiter will discuss other ways to use your transferable skills, and not just put you back into the same role you had before. Look at your skills and not just work related, look at what you like to do in your spare time, is there a way your hobby can get you work. Be innovative there are opportunities.
To fully understand the implications of getting back into work ask others to help you or talk to us, there is plenty of life out there after redundancy, and normally a better life than before.
