Job Loss: 5 Ways to Cope with Redundancy

Losing your job is tough. Even those who for whom redundancy comes as no surprise, and who receive a good package, tend to feel a sense of loss and at least a small hit to their self-esteem. For those who are laid off at short notice and have little to fall back on it can be much harder. Aside from the self-doubt this situation can bring, there is the obvious pressure of money.

While nothing can magically make things better, there are some things you can do to make the situation more manageable.

Acknowledge the frustration

Psychologists tell us that denying our feelings and emotions has a negative effect and is more likely to lead to those feelings lasting longer. It is quite normal to feel angry, negative, disheartened, undervalued and generally rotten after losing your job. Given time, these feelings will usually diminish as you turn your attention to the future.

If you are feeling worse than you expected, or you’re looking back with regret continues to stop you looking forward, get some help. Seek out a counselor or psychologist who can help you: your doctor should be able to refer you to someone. There is no shame in seeking this sort of help as the feelings you are experiencing are quite normal.

Plan your finances

Even if you have received a good pay-out, and especially if you haven’t, it is worth thinking about your financial situation early on. Adjusting your standard of living can be hard to do: we condition ourselves to spending at a certain level. At the very least this usually means creating some sort of budget.

In my years as a recruitment consultant I met a number of people who had been made redundant on good packages, but who had allowed those packages to be completely spent before they started looking for a new job. It is for this reason that I often suggest that people in this situation look for some financial advice early on in order to make best use of their pay-out.

Reassess your goals

When I was made redundant for the first time (it has happened to me twice), I found myself being surprisingly upbeat. I realised later that I had been wanting to reassess the direction of my career but being ‘stuck’ in my job was holding that reassessment back.

Being ‘between jobs’ is one of the best times - usually one of the few times you will get - to rethink where your career is heading. Is it time to work towards a change? Do you want more balance in the next job, or less travel? What are your family, spiritual, learning, social, financial and physical goals and how can your next job help you meet them better?

Plan your time off

Similarly, being between jobs can be a valuable time to do some of the things you’ve long wanted to do, money-permitting of course. I’ve met people who have travelled, renovated their house and taken up a new sport during a period of unemployment. Take advantage of the fact that you don’t need to worry about how things are going at work while you’re away. You won’t get that chance very often.

If you are actively job hunting, it’s a good idea to balance the ‘job’ of job hunting with some other activities. I don’t agree with the common saying that ‘finding a job is a full time job’. The reality is that there are only so many jobs you can apply for and in between there is a lot of waiting time as well. At best, finding a job is a part time job. Better to dedicate, say, your mornings to the task and then take the afternoons for yourself - or whatever combination suits you and your circumstances.

Stay in touch with others

Finally, don’t lock yourself away after losing your job. It is important to keep talking to people, whether recruitment consultants, fellow unemployed people, your friends and family.

There is no denying that losing a job and the subsequent job search often tests the mettle of even the strongest personality. But you aren’t the only one: in fact in the current climate you are far from being the only one. Stay as positive as you can but don’t fail to seek help if you need it.