Being made redundant sucks. Just ask 1700 or so British Airways staff who are about to be canned from their jobs as the flagship airline ‘shrinks’ its Heathrow operations. That’ll be 1700 or so pretty pissed off people about to go through a range of emotions we can safely guess to include anger, betrayal and panic. And yet as legitimate as those feelings of injustice may be, they’re unlikely to change the outcome. And if ran unchecked may prove as great a problem to the jobseeker as the redundancy itself. The solution to the threat of redundancy is practical measures. Here are 5 things to do if you find your name on the ‘to go’ list.
1) You’re entitled to be aggrieved.
Vent. Get angry. And get over it. Its important to get things off your chest so that you can move forward with only positive emotions in your next step. As you will see in the points below, those next steps include dealing with those very people with whom you may have reason to feel emotional about – soon to be ex colleagues and, yes, those very bosses who made the decision to get rid of your job. It is essential that you are not carrying around emotional baggage before you talk to them. So shout, let it out and then get on with it.
2) Make full use of whats on offer.
Businesses who make mass redundancies know that bad press is coming their way and they will bend over backwards for affected staff to minimise the PR fallout. You need to make full use of the services HR provide – it hasn’t come for free and might actually be quite useful. Outplacement companies make a living out of helping the soon-to-unemployed get ship shape for the jobsearch ahead. Get CV writing tips and interview practice, engage with the recruitment agencies they promote and learn as much as you can about the jobsearch process and best practice as you can. Then cross reference with the material you find on this site, and others I recommend 
. Between all that, there’s a good chance you’ll pick up some tips on how to maximise your chances of finding the next gig.
3) Network. And I mean like on a speed date.
Have a game-plan, be disciplined, keep it time bound and get the numbers. Strange as it may sound, but being part of the mass redundancy is actually a great time to expand your network and make some very useful connections, often with people you otherwise would not have had ready access to. Surviving employees are likely to be sympathetic to your position and you will find senior managers (you know, the guys that made the decision to can you in the first place) surprisingly available for contact, advice and promises for future favours. Make sure that you secure contact details (personal numbers, personal email addresses), connect on LinkedIn and commit them to an action point in the near to middle future.
4) Secure references and recommendations – before you leave.
This is a great time to ask for references – not only to get commitment from referees to act on future requests, but actually to secure written recommendations about your work before you go. Somehow, its much easier to come away with the written reference when you are asking for it face to face. This will put you in a much stronger position with a future employer if you can already provide written endorsements of work from relevant managers and colleagues at your last place of work. Don’t stop at the standard two either – keep going until you comfortably close the reference issue down once on for all.
5) Join the support group, or build one yourself if you don’t see it happening.
A mass redundancy should create a culture of easy camaraderie between soon-to-be-ex-employees and this can be an outstanding resource for you in your job search. Encourage group activities, share tips and techniques, pass on relevant market information, business intelligence and leads. The jobsearch project can bewildering experience but each member of this support group could an additional set of eyes and ears on the job market looking for potential opportunities. As ever, the rule of thumb is to give without expectation of reciprocation. Contribute freely – you will feel better for it, you’re helping a fellow colleague along the way and you will get it back 10 times over.
Being made redundant can seem like one of the hardest challenges work can give you; however feeling bad about it will only get you so far. Its OK to vent. In fact, it’s down as the first thing you are going to do when you hear the news. Just do it soon, get it out of the way and get on with making the most of the new situation you have – it’ll be the best way of making sure your stay in employment limbo is a short one.
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