Redundancy Diary - reflections on the whole journey

Now that I have signed a contract and am looking forward to starting a new job next week, I have taken the time to look back at my journey over the last 2 months since I was made redundant before I move on. Many of you have been following my experiences; you have shared your own experiences of being made redundant, given me great advice, and kept me positive. One thing I haven’t felt is lonely, so thank you to you all for helping me and others to get through this together.

The hardest part of being made redundant was, without a doubt, struggling to keep my self-confidence and learning about myself (what I enjoy doing and what I am good at). When you are in a job, you get into a fairly mechanical way of doing things and you don’t tend to take time out to reflect on these things. When, all of a sudden, the security of employment is taken away from you, the feelings of loss and helplessness take over and it takes a lot of effort to go through the learning curve in order to move on to something new and different. Old friends and new contacts were key in helping me to appreciate the skills I have and to understand what it is I am good at, giving me the guts to apply for new jobs and sound confident about my abilities. I guess, as a result, I do now feel more in control than ever over my career.

A great life skill I have developed is learning how to control feelings of anxiety, panic and stress. I have a Chinese proverb stuck on the side of a photo frame in my bedroom that reads: “A problem will never be as bad as it seems”.How true. I have had to learn to live with a high level of uncertainty, not knowing what I am doing day to day, which for me has been hard as I like to be organized and have plans in place for everything! I have dealt with this by keeping healthy, improving my diet and fitness, and not being afraid to sit down and have a good cry every now and then to release the pressure. My friends have been great at distracting me from things by taking me out for coffee and just listening to me when I need to share my frustrations and worries – you all know who you are, and I thank you.

I have had to learn to stand on my own two feet and make my own luck rather than relying on a company to give me opportunities. This has been empowering, and I have learnt how to ask for help from both friends and professional experts more assertively than I could before. I’ve also had to be far more resourceful in finding out information and getting support – a friend put his finger on it when he said that you could spend your whole day knocking on the same door but if the people inside can’t hear you, you will never get an answer. Instead of banging on the same door all day, go and look for another entrance or way to get to the people you need. Another skill that has been important is being able to ‘wing it’ – you may be in a situation that you don’t feel 100% confident as you don’t have all the answers or experience, but by coming across as confident and assertive you will be able to give a great impression.

I guess the obvious final conclusion is that there are no jobs for life anymore. None of us really know how long we will be doing the jobs we are doing now, so the key thing is to keep your skills up to date and keep up with technology. Before I was made redundant I had no idea what a blog was, how to set up a website or manage multiple email accounts. A business colleague helped me to see how vital it is to keep up with new technology and, more importantly, how easy it is to do as software has become far more user friendly and there is a huge amount of free support available on the web.

I hope that all of you who are facing changes in your employment situations manage to find a solution that works for you. I don’t know how my new job will work out but I can only give it my best shot and have the confidence to face whatever challenges I get given in the future. I will try to remember to glance back, but look ahead.

I will continue writing about my experiences on my blog, so please do continue to share your experiences with me.

Redundancy Diary - Week 8

This week has taught me that employment is just like buses – you wait for ages for one to come along and then you get two arriving at the same time! Within the space of a few hours this last Tuesday I received my first job offer and got my first client for my consultancy business. It did wonders for my self-esteem, but played havoc with my decision making capabilities!

You will remember I wrote last week about my indecision over whether to follow my head (search for a job) or my heart (set up my own consultancy business). And here I was, faced with the prospect of doing either, and having to make that decision. I agonized for hours, picked up the phone to anyone who could give me an honest opinion on what they thought could be best for me, then sat alone to think it through.

The head won. I am not by nature a big risk taker, I need to provide a stable home environment for my children, and the security of employment is an increasingly rare commodity and one not to be passed over in the current economic climate.

I was surprised by my own reaction after I had put the phone down after accepting the job offer. I should have felt elated, pumped up and excited. I guess those feelings were there, but they were overshadowed by an overwhelming sense of relief and numbness. My brain was telling my body that I could relax now, that I had got what I had been driving for for the last 8 weeks, but my body didn’t know how to deal with that. 3 days later, I still can’t quite find that 2nd or 3rd gear, because I have been so used to driving in 5th gear for so long! I am so relieved and, once the contract is signed, I will allow myself the luxury of switching off, maybe even watching TV or reading a good novel in the evening.

A colleague once told me how important it is to mark beginnings and endings in order to move on from one situation to a new one. I did manage to have an evening out – going to see ‘Death of a Salesman’ of all things (highly topical and a bit ominous for my profession!) and having a great curry in Warwick, which helped.

I have also realised that I can fit in some consultancy days before I start my new job in April, so my heart does get a small voice after all. After that I will ‘hibernate’ my consultancy business, keeping it ready for whenever I may need to make another change. It is comforting to know that I have something there to fall back on if I should need it.

I’ll be co-hosting the ‘Facing Change – Taking Control’ event at the Trident Centre next Friday 27th March, 9am – 12pm, and hope to see as many of you there as we can fit it! Please email me or Helen Cooney to secure a place: clareshuttlewood@hotmail.co.uk or hcooney@fuelhrservices.co.uk.

I’ll be writing next week on my reflections of the whole redundancy and job search process I have been through.

Redundancy Diary - Week 7

My 1st April deadline is fast approaching – that is the date by which, if I haven’t accepted a job offer, I will set up my own business – and I still neither have a job offer nor have I quite finished setting up my business. I lie in bed at night trying to think through the reasons as to why I should go 100% for employment and why I should go 100% for self-employment; I have even written lists of pros and cons for each, but all the lists are exactly the same length! I have had detailed conversations with 3 of my ex-business colleagues this week and they have all suggested that, with the economic climate as it is, setting up my own business would be even more of an uphill struggle than normal. My heart says I want to be self-employed and my head tells me that I should get a job.

I have had a 4th round interview with one company and still have a couple more hoops to jump through before I am in with a chance of receiving a job offer. The recruitment agency I am using have suggested that this amount of due diligence, particularly in the high number of interviews / meetings required before a job offer is secured, is common at the moment. They have a client who is on their 7th round interview for one job! The explanation given to me is that there are many more applicants for each job, fewer jobs, and recruiting managers can’t afford to make poor decisions as business’s bottom lines don’t have any slack in them.

My self-employment option still motivates me, and only the design of 4 web pages remain to be done – I even have a bank account set up (balance = £0!) in its name. I am determined to complete that this week so that I can either get starting in April or be able to put it into ‘hibernation’ until I need it in the future.

I got a great boost yesterday when, in the post, I received confirmation of my election as a Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, reflecting the 10+ years’ experience I have. I am hoping that may be a small help in giving me the ‘edge’ over other candidates in the employment market.

In the meantime, in order to keep my brain working and my skills current, I have been helping an ex-colleague by with his Sales Team, offering advice and giving him a report with recommendations on how he could increase his sales and make the most of his resources. It’s been like a breath of fresh air to be in a working environment! I would thoroughly recommend it – I know that we (i.e. workers out of work after redundancy) have to spend all our time on job searching, but keeping your hand in by doing voluntary and informal work can make sure you don’t get detached from your profession and demonstrates a desire to be working.

It has been a real rollercoaster of a week. On the positive side, I have been able to have some more time with my children, and I have moved one step closer towards receiving a job offer. On the downside, I received an electricity and gas bill that alarmed me so much that I have stopped putting the heating on during the day and just put on an extra jumper! I am also feeling incredibly tired again: 7 weeks of driving for something that I still haven’t gained is having an impact. I am finding it hard to make all kinds of decisions because of the uncertainty that I am still facing.

However, as I said 5 weeks ago, I have to focus on what I have, not what I don’t have! I am organizing the Change Event (see below for full details) for 27th March, which is a great motivator. I have had another load of emails this week from readers, which are also a great source of support – thank you to you all!

Redundancy Diary - Week 6

Two weeks ago I put all my efforts into making job applications, which got me 3 interviews. I have a second interview lined up next week, so I’m hopeful that I may get a job offer soon. The background work I did last week on researching and planning for my own business is ongoing. I have set myself a deadline of 1st April: if I haven’t accepted a job offer by then, I will set up my business and accept that I will be earning less (hopefully only temporarily!) until I can increase my customer base. I guess it would be a case of living with short term pain to get long term gain.

I did get a bit carried away in making job applications, applying for anything that seemed to have a tenuous link with my skills and experience. That was good as it generated a flurry of phone calls from agencies, but I did spend a lot of time preparing for jobs that I just couldn’t accept even if they were offered to me, for example because the job was based too far away.

I had forgotten how exhausting job interviews are! Thinking back over the 3 interviews, this is my summary of what I have learnt:

1. Research the company and products. I rang up one company anonymously to enquire about their products, a mystery shopping exercise, so that I could get a good feeling for what the products were – this helped me to demonstrate my knowledge in the interview.
2. Take time to think through the detail behind your CV. I was asked in one interview for very detailed financial figures from a job I did 10 years ago, and it threw me when I had to ‘guess’ them.
3. Don’t try to prepare a script for your answers. I think I over-prepared for one interview and instead of giving answers from my head, I tried to remember ones I had written down. As a result I came across as giving well-rehearsed answers rather than genuine ones.
4. Write your questions down. Although I thought I would remember the key questions I wanted to ask, I did forget one and regretted it afterwards.
5. Catch up on sleep. I stayed up till 2am one morning preparing for an interview but my tiredness meant I wasn’t as good at giving clear answers
6. Don’t go to an interview on an empty stomach. I didn’t feel like eating before one interview, but I am sure that I didn’t concentrate as well with my stomach rumbling!

I have got hold of a great crib sheet with some suggested answers to frequently asked questions in interviews – do contact me if you would like a copy.

The hardest part of searching for a job after redundancy to me seems to be that you never get a break or switch off from it. It’s not a 9 – 5 occupation; you think and worry about it all the time as you can’t switch off from the pressure of the need to get an income. I have found myself making dinner for my children and looking for the latest jobs on the internet at the same time. I feel I can’t afford to read for pleasure, only to read to find a job. Last weekend I decided I had to get away from it, and I can really recommend it. Do what you need to do to relax, which for me is fresh air, exercise, visiting new places and spending time with my friends. When I came back to the job search from 2 days off I had far more energy and a much more positive attitude.

I have found that writing this diary at the end of every week has been really helpful. It forces me to review everything I have done each week, think about what went well and what didn’t, and to plan for the week ahead. I sometimes feel like I haven’t achieved much in the week, but when I think through all my activities I feel pleased with the progress I am making and driven to do more!

I genuinely have no idea what next week’s work will involve, so watch this space! I’m guessing that I may have to make some tough decisions, so will share that.

We have postponed the Change Event I mentioned 2 weeks ago – we have had more interest than we anticipated so will be taking more time to plan and will announce full details when they are available. Thanks to everyone who has offered their support. We are inviting anyone who is facing a change in their job situation and providing free support and advice from experts and local services. Full details will be in next week’s column.

Redundancy Diary - Week 5

After spending last week making job applications and working to get interviews, this week I have been looking at whether I could earn a living out of setting up my own business. This is something I have never thought of before but I had to explore it otherwise I might always regret that I didn’t take advantage of my redundancy to do something different: be my own boss!

I have 3 friends who are self-employed, so the first thing I did was to speak to each of them and find out how they set up their own businesses. They gave me some great advice: make sure I take the time to really understand what it is I am good at, what I enjoy, and what I could potentially make money out of. That was harder than it seemed, and going back to the personal recommendations that I had gathered from my work colleagues just after I was made redundant really helped. Jayne Sharples, a local Personal Coach, has given me some great exercises to do – see www.js-coaching.co.uk for more info and contact.

Once I got an idea for what business I could set up – a sales management consultancy - I got completely carried away with the creative side of it! I came up with a company name, some ideas of graphics and logos, searched for and bought a domain name, and set up a business email package. Buying the domain name was easy (and cheap), but I found selecting a web hosting package a nightmare – they all looked the same in some respects, but I didn’t understand all the acronyms and couldn’t work out the difference between a £3.99 package and a £10 package! I still haven’t managed to solve that one, so any advice would be very welcome!

I then spent a day researching on the internet what other businesses in this area offer, which really helped me to think through what it was that I could offer that was unique and different. In these challenging economic times it seems very risky on the one hand to be setting up my own business, but on the other hand my business is aimed at helping support small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to maintain and grow their sales in a cost effective way, which is needed more now than ever, so I reckon I could make it work.

I ran my ideas past anyone I could. I was impressed by how much support there is out there for people setting up their own business. I got an appointment really quickly to see a Business Link advisor in Coventry, who asked me lots of questions that helped me to see the gaps in my plans, and he gave me some great advice on the implications of setting up a business, the legal and financial requirements, and what free courses I could attend to fill in those gaps in my knowledge. The Business Link website had lots of free information and guides: www.BusinessLink.gov.uk.

I have tackled my own Business Plan, getting a great template from the web (opting for a 9 page one rather than the 28 page version!), took a business planning guide out from the library and have pulled a rough marketing plan together. I then went to a friend who owns his own medium sized business, and did a practice ‘pitch’ on him; he really helped me to adapt my approach according to the needs of an SME. It was very hard selling myself without the backing of a company behind me. To fill that gap I have applied for membership of my industry’s professional association, so that I can show that I have the necessary skills and experience.

This has been a great week! It hasn’t been hard at all to focus and follow things through, because I feel that this could be something that could support my and my family’s future and I feel in control. I still have lots more to do, but at the very least, I have a back-up plan of a financially viable business to fall back on if I can’t get a job soon.

My increased confidence is definitely bringing me more opportunities: I’ve got 2 more job interviews lined up for next week and am more hopeful that I may be successful.
Next week: What worked and what didn’t work in my job interviews: will I get a job offer?