Motivation After Being Made Redundant

Redundancy can be a very distressing time. Apart from the financial worries it can cause, it can have a devastating effect on your self-confidence too. If you’re not careful, redundancy can lead you into a spiral of self-doubt and depression whereby you can begin to lack motivation and lose hope in ever finding suitable alternative employment.

It’s important, therefore, to firstly accept that being made redundant is not your fault. This isn’t going to stop you feeling any better about the predicament you find yourself in but by accepting that you’ve not done anything wrong and that you’ve just been a casualty of a company’s own circumstances, you’ll not be drawn into apportioning blame on yourself.

Seek The Support of Others

You’re likely to experience many emotions once you’ve been told you’re being made redundant. Therefore, it’s important that you discuss your feelings with family and friends and fellow work colleagues too if any of them are going through the same shared experience with you. By getting your feelings out in this way, the sooner you’ll find that you have the motivation to move on with the rest of your life.

Getting Organised

Most redundancy notices will usually allow you some time to get prepared for the future. Whilst you’re still with the company and serving out your notice, make sure you seek out redundancy advice from your HR department with regards to things like the arrangement of any redundancy payment and other entitlements such as holiday pay.

The important thing here is to remember that, in spite of the situation, your HR department will want to do all that they can to help you so you should try to avoid harbouring any negative feelings you may now have towards the company and to any of the staff that will remain after you’ve gone.

Motivating Yourself To Start Again

Once your redundancy payment and any other paperwork have been sorted out and you’ve served out your final day, it’s important that you’ve formulated some kind of plan for what you’re going to do next. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be firing off CVs here, there and everywhere the day you leave.

In fact, some people often go on a short holiday to recharge their batteries before trying to find their next job. Whatever you decide is going to be your next step, however, do ensure that you’ve worked out some kind of strategy as to how you’re going to be moving forward next as this will help with motivation.

Networking

Even if you’re considering a career change, make a list of useful contacts you have gained whilst you were in your previous job and ask them if they can offer any useful advice or introductions. Remember, many of your contacts might not even be aware of your predicament so let them know what’s happened so that they can keep their eyes and ears open to any possible job opportunity that might be suitable for you.

Contact Recruitment Agencies

Recruitment agencies are always on the lookout for good staff so make appointments with a few to see how they can assist you. They might offer you a similar job to what you had and even temporary work will get you back into employment quickly. This will not only help you with your financial situation but will also keep your mind occupied and put you in a better position to find the job you want.

They can also help with things like reviewing and revamping your CV, discussing possible career changes and offer you redundancy advice and about things like training opportunities. The key is to think of your ‘job hunt’ as a job in itself and maintain a regular schedule as you did when you were at work.

Planning Your Day

Redundancy can be the start of a new beginning, not simply an end, and it’s all about how you approach it mentally. Plan your time each day. It may be you decide to spend the mornings writing job applications and making phone calls regarding possible opportunities and in the afternoons you might decide to go for a swim one day, a jog the next, a spot of gardening the day after and so on but the crucial thing in maintaining your motivation is to do something.

Keeping your body and mind active and healthy and eating healthily is going to be your strongest ally in getting over redundancy and having the physical and mental strength to stay motivated and to keep going. Therefore, although you’ll be keen to get another job, don’t let it totally consume you.

Try to keep a healthy balance each day of setting aside time for job hunting or other job related tasks and some time for hobbies and leisure so that you’ve got something to look forward to each day whilst you await your next job offer.

It’s really all about attitude. Redundancy for many people has been a turning point in their lives. Many will say that it helped with their character building. Others will point to the fact that it allowed them the opportunity to re-evaluate their lives and, in some cases, to embark upon new and more exciting careers. Therefore, how you’re able to cope with redundancy will be down to how determined you are to maintain a positive attitude in your quest to find alternative employment.