Bouncing back from Redundancy 1: Action & Attitude
How to bounce back from redundancy – A practical guide.
Article 1 in a series of 5 which offers a few simple hints and tips to help you cope with redundancy if it happens to you. Hopefully it won’t, but unfortunately it seems to happen rather indiscriminately, so better prepared than not. After all, when is the best time to dig a well, before or after the drought?
1.1: Typical Responses To Redundancy
The latest recession has shown that nobody is safe when it comes to job losses. Today, we begin a new series of articles called How To Bounce Back From Redundancy on how to cope if the unthinkable happens to YOU.
Unfortunately redundancy is like the common cold. It can strike anywhere at any time. It is no respecter of age, occupation or sex. But remember, with the right actions and the right attitudes it is only temporary.
Redundancy usually produces what we call a SAD reaction:
S Shock. Denial that a problem exists: random non-directed action of the headless chicken variety takes over if you are not careful: physical and mental anguish are quite common.
A Anger. How dare they do this to me? Don’t they realize I’ve given my life to this company?
D Depression. Bitterness sets in: problems seem totally insurmountable: inactivity and lethargy raise their heads.
1.2: Survive Redundancy with PROMPT Action
If it happens to you, you may well feel these emotions. If you do, you are not alone and neither are you unusual, but the feelings these emotions generate need to be dealt with and need to be channelled into regaining control of the situation. To do this you must come up with a quick response in terms of both action and attitude.
Firstly PROMPT action:
P Plan your approach to the job market.
R Review where you are and where you want to go to decide on the direction in which to travel.
O Organize your time and effort. Keep a log of your activities. Write things down: don’t rely solely on memory. Establish a routine.
M Market yourself. An essential element of the job search is the implementation of a well thought out self-marketing strategy.
P Prepare for interviews by analysing the skills they are looking for and matching these to your own abilities.
T Talk to other people. These activity concepts only work if you seek advice and guidance from others. This is perhaps the most critical element.
1.3: You Also Need A PROMPT Attitude
P Positive mental attitude is critical. Don’t look for sympathy. It’s easy to find but it’s not what you want.
R Realistic assessment of the problems and professional advice as to the solutions available are vital.
O Optimism is essential. Recognise that pessimists rarely succeed. It isn’t how many times they knock you down it’s the number of times you get up that counts.
M Motivate yourself by concentrating on activity rather than on reflective self pity and remember “action cures fear”.
P Professionalism has to be your watchword in everything you do.
T Tenacious persistence in the pursuit of your new job pays dividends. Don’t give up and don’t take rejection personally.
1.4: To Get A Job You Must Market Yourself
To be able to market yourself, you first need to understand the market you are addressing, the needs of that market and above all you need to know your product (you) and how to deliver it in an acceptable package.
Treat the problem as an opportunity. Concentrate on where you want to be, not on where you are and remember, if you have a large boulder of granite and a hammer it’s quite easy to make stumbling blocks, but it requires the right tools, more skill and a deal of persistence if you are going to carve something more useful such as a few stepping stones.
Watch this space for the next article on “Define Your Career Objective”: and if you found this article useful, then save it against possible future need and please feel free to share it with your connections.
