What do you do if you are told you are being made redundant, and how might employers best manage such a traumatic situation?
People cope better when they know what's going on. "From the employer's point of view, the single most important point is how they communicate the message. The organisation should have a very clear, concise and truthful message. Once you open the communication channel, keep the dialogue going. Keep it simple and keep it truthful," says Ms Lillian Bissett-Farrell, managing director of PHI Transition, Ireland, which provides career change and outplacement programmes to organisations.
If companies don't know what's going to happen, they should tell workers what they know, she urges. They could say: "We know there's going to be a reduction of 10 per cent. We don't know if it's going to be done voluntarily or forced. Our best guess is it's going to be the end of November. We intend to provide a redundancy package. Right now, we cannot say what that is going to look like."
If you are going to be made redundant, accept that you will have an emotional reaction and that you will need to manage it. Surround yourself with your support network. But "choose that network very carefully", she advises. Inform your family what is going on "because whatever information we have as the individual, our families or those close to us will have less. But it impacts them equally."
If you are losing your job you should stand back, take stock and, above all, don't panic. See it as an opportunity to review your career or, in some cases, your life. Key factors include your financial requirements, confidence in your ability and your key attributes - your skills, capabilities and experience, she suggests.
Harness your energy into doing something to help yourself. Ask: "What do I have to offer? What jobs have I held? What skills have I acquired and where can those skills be used externally in the marketplace?"
"Just because you're a full-time planner now doesn't mean you have to be a full-time planner somewhere else. It's an opportunity to say 'Well, maybe I don't want to be a planner anymore. I want to do something else. Or I might want to work part-time, for contract or become self-employed.' "
Choose your target very carefully, she exhorts. Resist the temptation to "get out there and get any job". That's acting out of fear. Instead, take a structured approach to finding the right job for you, appropriate to your skills, interests and personality. Know your target - the level and type of job, the type and size of organisation, preferred location and your personal expectations, and then take a dedicated job search approach. "Work at it like anything else. You have to work at getting the job. Spend dedicated hours every day," she advises.
Recruitment or executive search agencies will be very supportive if you approach the market in a structured way. "What they don't like is people coming to them saying 'I'll take anything or wherever you can fit me in.' They can't have the confidence in selling you on to an organisation.
"When people lose their job, one of the things that happens is they see their value as having been the company. What they don't realise is that they are the company. So whatever value is attached to them, they still have that value because they're taking it with them," she says.
Mr Liam Doherty, divisional director of IBEC, says that many companies initiating redundancy programmes consider the services of specialist outplacement or career counselling organisations. Companies in a position to do so "provide an infrastructure of assistance dealing with the different aspects of advice" such as about pensions, investments, interview skills, and personal presentation and grooming assistance. "People may not have attended interviews for a number of years. They might also need assistance in identifying their personal skill set because they may not be in a position to fully and accurately capture the full range of skills that they have developed within a workplace."
Mr Pat Shortt of ETC Consult offers an outplacement service in career consultancy for individuals and companies, exploring people's interests, aptitudes and personalities. The process includes a one-to-one interview, and a comprehensive report and recommendations for future options.
The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) has recently produced the eighth edition of its publication Working for Work, a comprehensive handbook for people trying to move from unemployment into work. It covers all aspects of social welfare payments and guidelines, surviving on social welfare payments, looking for work, and training and education programmes. It is available free from the INOU.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
