Redundancy is much more than a personal blow, writes careers expert Eoghan McDermott for JOE.ie.
By Eoghan McDermott
When redundancy happens, it’s more than a personal blow. The demolition of expectations and norms is devastating for individuals. The implicit promise of work hard, get a good degree, put in a good performance on the job and stay there for as long as you like has been broken.
We spend most of our time at work. Our social connectedness starts there. So when the rules of life, as applied to the workplace change so radically and with so little warning, the shock to the individual is enormous. And when people are made redundant the injustice becomes the focus. Not the right thing to spend your time and energy on.
Getting a job should become your number one focus and project. Treat it like a full-time job. You’ll have an eight hour day in front of you. Most job-seekers waste a lot of time worrying about getting a job, but don’t spend time systematically on the tasks that, when properly completed, will guarantee them a new job.
Break down your day and develop a timetable of activities. Don’t cheat yourself by drifting into time-wasting pursuits. The objective of the timetable is to help you allocate time in each of the days coming up to the various challenges that you’re going to tackle in preparing to sell yourself in the jobs market. You should plan how much time to spend on each of your tasks and meetings. Tasks like research (reading ads, searching the internet), preparation of your CV and covering letters, preparation of interview answers and meeting people within your network to keep in touch of any jobs that crop up in those circles.
Competition will be fierce so adopting the Roy Keane attitude of “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is advisable.
If you have a question about your job or career that Eoghan could help you with, why not email JOE at shout@joe.ie?
Eoghan McDermott is Head of The Careers Clinic in The Communications Clinic and is the author of The Career Doctor- How to Get and Keep the Job You Want.
Contact Eoghan at eoghan@communicationsclinic.ie
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