When somebody suddenly pulls your personal rug out from under you and you end up 'redundant' (for want of a better word!) a structured existence makes it easier to stay motivated and positive and focused, so the best thing to do is to continue to live your life much as you used to do, or as most other people do - working 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, and taking Saturday and Sunday off - until you get another regular job.Don't worry about filling in the 'working hours' part of the plan, by the way. You're about to become a self-employed financial advisor to yourself, do a lot of research, write a new CV, do some self-advertisement, head-hunt a new employer, and spend some time staying mentally and physically fit. You could find yourself working overtime.
In a couple of days someone else is going to be talking about beginning to get organised on the work front, but what I want to talk about now is your attitude to yourself and your situation and the fact that you might need to view what's happened to you in a different light, and begin to think about yourself a lot more positively than perhaps you've been doing lately.
The trouble with asking yourself the question 'Why me?' - and nearly everybody does when they become 'redundant' - is that it can lead a person to develop some really weird ideas. You can begin to believe, for example, that being 'redundant' is your own fault - that you somehow fell short of some unknown but vital criteria, and consequently got thrown out on your ear.
After my last horrendous brush with redundancy I had a really hard time getting to grips with the fact that I hadn't done anything wrong. I hadn't, actually. I wasn't 'let go' through any fault of my own. The firm I was working for was merging with another firm; they didn't have space for everyone, and so two people had to go. I was one of them because I was 'last in' at my level, and therefore had to be 'first out'. It was as simple as that, and on an intellectual level I knew it - but that didn't stop me wondering whether I hadn't been compared unfavourably with other people, or whether there hadn't been something lacking in my performance, my ability, my personality or my appearance. It took me quite a long time to accept, on an emotional level, that my 'redundancy' was due to the fact that there were too many bums for too few chairs, and that IT WASN'T MY FAULT.
Once I came to that realisation I was able to feel confident enough to get organised, get motivated, stay positive, and have enough faith in myself and my own abilities to move on. So here's a couple of things to think about and take on board:
- Redundancy is impersonal. It implies no adverse criticism of anyone's performance, ability, personality or appearance.
- A 'redundant' person is not 'surplus to requirements' in any meaningful way; he or she is simply unaffordable in a specific place at a specific time.
- The situation you are in is not your fault. To pinch a phrase frequently used by a famous person: 'It's the economy, stupid'.
Thanks for this article. I am currently going through this phase;so needless to say, in a lot of mental turmoil.I started developing the exact same feelings - that its my fault for being made redundant.
ReplyDeleteI am also facing the same predicament as you did - "Last in - first out". my ex employer hired me to let go of me in about 5 months! talk about foresight. Its scary that our economy and what not is in the hands of such people who cannot even do a thing as basic as planning!