Navigating Your Way Through Redundancy

Oh Sh#*t it has actually happened.

Looking back the warning signs are all there, knowing something is not quite right but you can’t quite pin it down. And then it happens, the announcement is made that you, your friends and colleagues are all being made redundant…

So what happens next, where do you even begin in what seems like a mad scramble, every ‘man’ for themselves scenario?!

Over the last year I can’t quite believe how many how many companies have fallen into administration, or the number teams that have been made redundant, replaced for a cheaper outsourced alternative. It seems to be increasingly more common and never too far away.

Whilst the immediate knee jerk reaction might be one of frustration, aimed at the people near the top of the organisation. You never know what position you might find yourself in one day. You might be the one making challenging decisions for the ‘greater good’ of the company. When those decisions have potentially life changing implications for people below, no human being wants to be in that position and who knows what effect that kind of stress and pressure may have when those responsibilities land on your doorstep!

Having previously been let go from a company that eventually fell into administration and seeing it time and time again over the last year, I have put together an action plan. Tips and advice for you and your colleagues which will increase the chance of taking a bad situation and steering yourself and teammates towards a positive outcome. Hopfully contributing to you landing a better role than the one that has disappeared into thin air!

I know will not seem like it at the time but based on previous friends and colleagues experience it usually ends up being the best thing that could have happened everyone involved. Through all the chaos and out the other side, the number of people I have spoken to in the last year who have been through a similar situation, most if not all are in agreement that their new jobs have a far greater work life balance, are better paid and feel their careers have taken a step forward.

Without knowing it, you will have gained an abundance of experience and qualities that you can showcase to potential employers and should be seen as a generally exciting time to explore the opportunities out there. Take the time to think about all the positives attributes you have shown, the experience you have gained and what you brought to your role each day. If anything, at least now you will be able to recognise what warning signs to look out for in your next role and what qualities and values are important to you when finding your next employer.

The main takeaways whilst I have been watching things unravel from the other side of the fence have been:

• A strong sense of community amongst colleagues who are all in the same position as you
• The importance of a well-crafted CV
• The immense power of social media and networking
• The number of opportunities out there and value of speaking with quality recruitment agencies

Where to begin!?

First port of call, your CV! A self-marketing tool used to attract potential employers and recruitment consultants who have numerous relationships with potential employers.

If you can nail down the CV you are half way to a new job.

My role as Resource Manager at Evolve-IT is all about working with candidates in their search for a new role and I scroll through CV after CV and it is rare to come across a CV that really stands out. CV’s that do, are simple, personal, easy to read and clearly outline your career path whilst highlighting the experience and attributes gained along the way.

Before getting in to structure of your CV, a lot of my time is spent looking through job descriptions, understanding the role and then search through different CV databases or LinkedIn, using Boolean searches. Taking out key words, phrases and skills from a job description and searching with any number of filters, which will bring up a number of potential candidates that ‘should’ be qualified for any particular role. I would make a shortlist of people to reach out to and share the current opportunities that myself or the wider team are working on. When you are putting together the content for your CV, the more information/ skills you can list, the more chance someone’s Boolean search will bring up your profile or CV on various databases on LinkedIn.

ALWAYS BE HONEST when adding skills experience! The general rule of thumb to go by is; if you can talk about different examples in an interview scenario add the skill in. If you can’t leave it out! You don’t want someone on the other side of the table at an interview doubting your credibility or claims made whilst talking throughout the rest of your CV… things could get very awkward very fast!

The biggest stumbling block when putting together a CV is getting the right structure. From my own experience, if you find yourself having a brain fart when it comes to thinking about your experience gained or what else you can add to your CV, the issue is the structure so you need to start from scratch. Once you have nailed down a structure that works the experience and skills you are wanting to get across will follow.

If you can get across the points outlined below you should be able to highlight everything you need to. It keeps it plain and simple for people reading, or skimming through, a pile of CV’s and will increase the chance of yours being shortlisted for interview stage.

Depending on what industry you are working in, CV’s length, format and design can all be different, recruitment agencies usually have their preferred format and will no doubt play about with it too, so the most important element is the content. I work within IT recruitment and generally follow the structure below: 

1. Name, Mobile and email are essential.

Too many times I read a CV and cannot find any contact details for the candidate

2. Personal Profile.

A section about yourself, ambitions and why you would be good for a particular position.

3. Education.

Can include qualifications and training, even if you are currently on a course add it in with an expected completion date.

4. Skills Summary.

A great way to highlight or bullet point everything you have learned across all your previous experience. It could be listing personal qualities, or highlighting the different technologies you have worked with. 

5. Career History (repeat step 5 for each role starting with most recent employment at the top)

• Company, Job title and Date
• A bit about the company, and how your role fits in with the ‘bigger picture’
• Responsibilities. Outline your day to day
• Key achievements. It’s always good to highlight what you have learned from the role, any recognition you have received or interesting projects you were a part of. After all your CV is your marketing tool so its always good to big yourself up and highlight what you bring to a new role.
• Technologies used. If you’re working in IT, it’s always handy when someone outlines what technologies they have been using recently and gives an accurate picture for potential employers of your current strengths and depth of experience.

6.      If you are at the beginning of you career and looking to bulk out your CV a little, one thing I always find that helps is to talk about different projects and teams that you have been part of. Size of the team, your function within that team, outcomes of the projects.

Do’s and Don’ts

My PE teacher liked to hammer this one home all the time and this is the only time where I think he might be on to something:

"There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance" – Mr Lacon, PE Teacher

I’m not saying this is true across the board, but I have definitely noticed a big difference between male and female candidate CV’s; One being a modest, humble approach to marketing their achievements whereas on the other end of the scale you see CV’s claiming to have completed the world of business, 60% of the time every time and all within their first two months of starting… sounds impressive but will not going to get very far in an interview scenario… I wander who is male and who is female in that scenario?!

There is a perfect balance and the line falls between the two. Don't be afraid of being a little bold when writing the content. If you can come across honestly confident in your capabilities whilst showcasing your achievements and why you are qualified for a certain role you will be on to a winner.

The power of Social media and online platforms

In my role, the main difference between a CV database and LinkedIn is I can see what job people are currently in. On a CV database often, you are reading a CV that was uploaded years ago, so you are half guessing what role and where that person may be now, but people tend to update their LinkedIn on day 1 in a new position.

Highlight the fact you are available immediately in your profile

Change the settings to ‘open to opportunities’

Fill out your profile with content similar to your CV.

This is not to say that job boards do not have their place, there are so many job boards out there, it can be hard to keep track of where you have applied too and through which platform. But once your CV is uploaded, whenever a recruiter might be using Boolean searching and the more job boards you are on, the more likely your CV will appear and be the perfect match for a role someone is recruiting for.

I was amazed when everyone was let go at my old company by the immense power of social media! The positive response from so many ex colleagues, contacts and companies out there looking to show support and help in any way possible.

One thing I have noticed, which I see time and time again when redundancies happen which I think is phenomenal, is a strong sense of community and all the higher ups immediately jumping on the networking, speaking to contacts, creating a buzz online asking if anyone knows of any opportunities out there to get in touch colleagues if they can. Within days, everyone’s LinkedIn profiles are updated with the latest Experience, Job titles and Personal Profiles… But the best takeaway for me is everyone endorsing colleagues’ skills and recommendations you can leave someone.

If you and your team are going through a redundancy and you have not done this yet, be ‘that person’! Be the team motivator that gets everyone to group together, recommending and endorsing each other and extend this to people you have worked with in the past… Ultimately if you are the one championing a positive spin on the whole situation, you will have friends and colleagues for life and leave a positive lasting impression!

Who knows where it may lead to or who might be looking through your profile one day. It is one thing I find myself guilty of not doing enough of, after this I will be playing catch up

 Good vs bad agencies:

There are so many recruitment agencies out there these days and the market is becoming increasingly saturated. If your profile online is well documented, I am positive your inbox will be filled with messages from different recruiters looking to speak to you, especially if you are working in an IT related role. Even though the majority of these messages will promise an amazing opportunity with bonuses and benefits that you could not even think possible. It is always good to have someone keeping you in mind for potential opportunities they might be working on. Go back through messages and get back to recruiters and let them know your situation has changed! If you do have hundreds of messages you are in a lucky enough position to be selective about choosing the right agency to engage with.

Set up a calls with a few recruitment agencies, if anything they might be able to give you some pointers on where you could improve your CV, or where you can apply… but added to this, if you make a good impression, they are going to want to put you forward as a strong candidate because at the end of the day they will be making a few quid on a successful placement as well! Finding an agency or recruiter that keeps you updated and is genuinely interested in your career is a very useful connection to have.

Benefits of finding a quality recruiter:

• Tips and advice on improving your CV
• Job hunting is a full-time job in itself - for your own sanity and mental well-being, even the thought that someone else is looking for you/ helping in your search makes taking a break from scrolling through job boards much more guilt free!
• Guidance through the interview process, sending additional company information, interview tips, highlighting qualities the hiring team are looking for and in general will find out as much as they can on your behalf so you are confident going in to interview stage.
• When it comes to offer stage, it is in a recruiter’s best interest to get the best deal possible and can manage the whole process on your behalf. You have already pitched yourself at the right level and nailed the interview process and now you may even be in a position to weigh up two options!

There is a lot to be said for a quality agency helping on your search! But then again, I would say that because I am in the recruitment industry. However, have your wits about you and work with a recruiter you can trust and one that is genuinely interested in finding you the right role.

If you are in Scotland looking for assistance, let us know if we can help at Evolve-IT we. We are generally working on IT roles, but are happy to point you in the right direction/ give advice any way we can and pride ourselves on doing recruitment the right way!