Laid off - Catastrophe or Opportunity?

Visualise the situation, you are called into the Bosses office and told that after 20 years of service, you are no longer required.

Your instant reaction is of devastation. It feels like your world is collapsing around you and the proverbial rug has been pulled from under your feet. The message is shocking, hurtful and everything you thought was safe and secure is now starting to shake.

Losing your job is a daunting prospect for anyone, but it is especially so when you are older and have given the main chunk of your working life to a particular role or Company. However, losing one job, does not mean your working career is over.

It will be a daunting process to start over again, but if you take a step back and remove the emotions from the process, you will be able to recognise this as an opportunity and acknowledge your own skills and experience which will be a distinct advantage to a new employer.

Confidence

There is no avoiding it, the news will have come as a strong blow to your confidence and self esteem. You need to acknowledge these feelings and the concerns that come with them – financial security for you and your family, feelings of failure, fear for the future, why were you selected, a feeling that the Company has been disloyal to you after all those years. . . These are natural reactions and whilst they need to be acknowledged, you cannot dwell on them as the negativity will prevent you from moving on.

Re-building

You need to start looking at yourself and your previous job objectively. What did you enjoy within the role, what did you dislike. What were your true strengths and what were your weaknesses. Ask for feedback from your colleagues or your previous employer. Take the time to re-organise and analyse what you would like to do and where your strengths lie. This is where the redundancy experience can change from a devastating event to an opportunity.

One of the major challenges you will find is changing your mindset. After working for so long in one type of role or with one Company, you may have difficulty with the reorientation needed to shift from safety, security and comfort to ‘putting yourself back out there’.

Put the time into your skills and experience analysis and reconfirm your assessment with feedback from friends and colleagues so you can rebuild your confidence in yourself and what you have to offer. Age and experience are not detractors, in fact they are very valued skills and carry a distinct advantage over younger job seekers.

There are a number of skills you can offer over and above the younger market. For example

> An ability to deal with customers. Older job applicants know what it is like to be a customer having had a range of experiences in being in, and serving in, a multitude of customer situations.

> Reliability – Older job applicants are much more reliable than their younger counterparts as they tend to have a better honed sense of responsibility.

> Experience – You can offer a depth of expertise and experience across an extensive career history, versus your younger counterparts because you have been working for more years.

The older person is definitely most likely to have that customer service ability, reliability and breadth and depth of experience.

However, you do also need to demonstrate that you can learn and that you can offer the flexibility that is assumed from someone younger. For example, retrain or enhance your current skills by doing a course while you are on the job hunt, something that is relevant to the sector that you want to work in. Do also show how flexible and determined you are by seeking work experience or volunteer work in the area you’re keen to get into.

There are also programmes out there for the unemployed that offer support. They are available for people of any age to sign up to, so do take advantage of that help.

It is up to you to take responsibility for getting yourself back out there. Keep in mind what you have to offer and go out and sell it.

Timeframe

The news will have come as a terrible shock and your initial reaction may be to start job hunting immediately, to try to regain the stability and security you have just lost. This is not always a good idea. You need to work through the process of adjusting to the news, dealing with the negative emotions and feelings and re-building your confidence and adjusting your mindset. You may rush out and be very successful in obtaining a new role, only to find that you are unhappy - your sub-conscious expectation could have been that that you were regaining the stability of your old job. Every Company and every job is different and will have different working cultures, values and expectations and you may find yourself in a role or organisation which does not fit with your values and expectations.

Financial stability is, of course, going to play a major part in your mindset, but do use some of the redundancy package to give yourself the time to step back and refocus your career on what you want to be doing moving forward. You can even take this time to change careers completely to do something you had always dreamed of.