However, you are not going to get a new job if you have a king-sized chip on your shoulder, or if you are demoralized, depressed or desperate. After all, would you hire an uninspiring candidate, let alone one who was downright negative?
If you want to make a success of your job search, you are going to have to learn to recognize and deal with any black emotions that are lurking within you; and find ways of lifting yourself out of the downs so that you always feel - or at least appear to others - positive, well motivated and determined to achieve your goal. All of which is, admittedly, easier said than done.
Along with bereavement and moving home, changing your job, even voluntarily, is reckoned to be one of the three most traumatic experiences you can go through in life. Following the process through will illustrate the reasons why. Those who are still in a secure job can skip the earlier stages if they wish.
When the Axe Falls
When people are fired or made redundant their initial reactions vary a great deal depending on the circumstances. If the news was unexpected, shock is understandably the most common first response, leaving the recipient dazed. This is often followed by disbelief and denial. As with news of the sudden death of a friend or relative, it takes time for the message to sink in.
When it does get through, there is usually a very visible emotional reaction: grief in some people, frequently expressed in tears; anger in others. The latter is the more likely when the process is mishandled by the company as, unfortunately, happens in far too many cases. Human resources (HR) professionals are trained in the way to give bad news sensitively, but line managers are often not.
The treatment received from colleagues can also be distressing. Due to embarrassment, they often do not know what to say to someone who has been made redundant. Unable, on the other hand, to carry on as if nothing had happened they frequently chicken out completely and try to avoid their unfortunate workmate, making him or her feel like some kind or pariah.
By complete contrast, in cases where people know that redundancies are in the offing, and believe that their own job is under threat, finally being told can trigger an enormous feeling of relief. In some cases particularly those where the person loathed the job, the boss or the company the feeling of release can, for a while, expand into a sense of pure elation.
Whatever the first reactions may be, it is vital to recognize and understand them, and to let them out rather than bottling them up. Until you have worked through them, you will not be able to progress on to the point at which you are ready to take a balanced and positive approach to rebuilding your career.
What Goes Up...?
In practice, what all too often happens is that people adopt a knee-jerk reaction to being cast out of employment, throwing themselves straight into a frantic assault on the job market. Like many a furious attack in the annals of military history, the energy of such onslaughts tends to burn itself out as quickly as the optimism becomes dissipated. An untargeted approach relying solely on volume is no way to get a new job.
At this point the roller-coaster begins its descent, gaining pace at a frightening rate as it plunges the job hunter into feelings of:
- emptiness, arising from the loss of their
- status symbols (car etc.),
- social interaction with colleagues.
- secretarial and other support,
- structure to their daily life,
- identity.
- direction.
- morale,
- confidence:
- rejection, in respect both of their previous employer and of the recruiters who fail to acknowledge letters or advise as to the outcome of interviews:
- insecurity, both financial and due to uncertainty as to how long it will take to find a new job, if one can be found at all;
- the (perceived) social stigma of not having a job;
- being out of control;
- lowered self-esteem;
- guilt, in respect of the effects on dependants;
- apathy;
- gloom and pessimism.
A Smoother Ride
While a few, if any, people can control their emotions completely, violent mood swings can largely be avoided and periods of depression can be minimized - even when you are out of work. The first thing to do is to acknowledge, without being judgmental, both your current situation and the way you feel about it. Because of the conditioning to which we have been subjected throughout our lives, we often find this recognition and acceptance of our feelings difficult, but it is essential. If you do not know, accurately, where you are now, it is no use trying to plan a route to your ultimate destination, let alone setting off along it.
The best way of overcoming this difficulty is to talk to someone - a friend, relative, former colleague, career counselor; anyone who will not only listen sympathetically but who will also be objective enough to challenge your assumptions and help you to get to grips with your feelings.
Once you have got things off your chest, gained a better understanding of yourself and put your situation into perspective, you should be able to sit down and take a more balanced, and therefore more productive, approach to your job search. Before you get too far along the line, though, there may be one or two major areas that need to be tackled if they are not to sabotage your efforts at a later stage.
Financial Constraints
It is difficult to run a business efficiently if you are constantly being distracted by the need to fend off creditors and to prepare cash flow forecasts for the bank. In the same way, you will not be able to concentrate properly on your job search if your mental energies are being sapped by money worries.
If you are actually out of a job, the first thing you need to do is to work out your financial position. There is no need to waste time compiling a set of schedules fit for a major PLC's published report. All you need to know is how much capital you have, what you owe, how much you need to live on and what income you have now that you no longer have a monthly salary.
The next thing is to talk to the other people who will be affected by the situation: your partner, and any children who are old enough to understand the implications. Quite apart from the fact that they need to know what the position is and how it will affect you all, they may be able to make suggestions as to how to reduce expenditure or increase income.
The third thing is to talk to people who can give advice or help. Depending on your own knowledge of such matters, you may find it useful to consult a financial adviser on how to get the most out of your investments and someone who understands tax to ensure that you get any rebates due to you. If you foresee difficulties in meeting your commitments, it is also better to discuss the matter earlier, rather than later, with your bank manager, building society and any other creditors.
Whether you have immediate financial problems or not, it is important to ensure that you make arrangements to replace insurances which were previously dealt with by your employer such as life and private medical cover. You should also register for unemployment benefit. Although some people consider this degrading, there is absolutely no reason for this. The amount of income may not be much, but every little helps and do not forget that you have been paying in for years so you have a right to get something back. Furthermore, by signing on you get your national insurance contributions kept up to date which means that your state pension will be protected.
Pride and Prejudice
The sense of shame which prevents some people from crossing the threshold of the Job center can be downright dangerous if it extends to the way they behave towards their family and friends. If you are to conduct a well-motivated job hunting campaign, you are going to need the full support of those around you. To get that, you need to be honest with them.
These days, so many people either are or have been out of work that it is no longer a stigma in the mind of anyone but the person involved. Do not try to hide it from your friends. The worry about them finding out, and the dishonesty involved in concealing something from those you like and respect, will have a far more negative effect on you than their knowledge of the true situation could ever produce.
Even more important is to be completely honest, from the start, with your partner and family. Some people's pride is so great that they even attempt to hide the very fact of having been made redundant from those closest to them. Peter, who had worked for the same City firm for over 20 years, was a particularly sad case. When he lost his job, he could not even bring himself to tell his wife. Instead, he caught his normal train every morning, spending his day going round to see people who might be able to help him or, increasingly as the days became weeks, sitting in a public library or a bar. The longer he left it, the more impossible he found it to tell his family what had happened. One morning, instead of boarding his normal commuter train, he went to the platform through which the intercity train roared non-stop, and threw himself into its path.
Peter's case may be exceptional, but any bad news, even if it is only of the need to cancel that exotic family holiday and settle instead for a self-catering cottage in England, is best got out of the way without delay, otherwise it is always there in the back of your mind, distracting you from the vital task of getting on with your job search.
Keeping Your Chin Up
Speaking of which, how far should you change your normal lifestyle? It clearly depends on just how dire your financial straits are. But in general the answer is as little as possible. Avoid extravagances, but try not to make life miserable. It is worth investing, financially and otherwise, in a few things that will boost your morale and, therefore, your chances of getting a job. Remember the following:
- Keep up an active social life. If this previously came largely from your colleagues at work, either continue to see them or take active steps to make new friends. Job hunting can be a lonely business. Maintain a healthy balance between commitment to your job search and carrying on with the rest of your life.
- Keep your mind active without the challenges involved in your job. It is all too easy to get stale. Develop new skills and interests, either by studying something that may help you to get a job, like computer skills, or simply some subject of general interest. An additional benefit of this is that it provides the opportunity to meet new people.
- Keep fit. You need a healthy body as well as a healthy mind if you are going to feel good and project the right impression when you meet people in the course of your marketing campaign. Take regular exercise, get enough sleep and do not cut back on the food budget, unless that means cutting out expensive, unhealthy foods and substituting cheaper but more nutritious ones.
- Keep up appearance. You may not wear a suit when you are at home or in the library, but maintain your pride in your appearance, adopt an upright posture and always have a cheerful smile for people. The image you project outwards onto others reflects itself back on to you.
- Have one or more people to talk to. It may be useful to have one person to discuss your job seeking strategy and progress with, and another you can turn to if you are feeling a bit down or want to get something off your chest. Help of this kind may come from a friend, relative or former colleague, or from some more formal kind of support.
If you are on an outplacement program, you can talk to your counselor either about the job market and your campaign tactics, or about emotional and personal issues. To whom can you turn if you do not have the advantage of outplacement?
The closest alternative is a job club. If you are unemployed you can, after a qualifying period, join a government Job Club. When they were first set up, the job clubs were run directly by the government but they have now been contracted out to private agencies. In Amersham in Buckinghamshire, for example, the Job Club is operated by Enhancement Ltd, a training organization which also runs Job plan Workshops and Job Search, Job Review courses on which the registered unemployed can obtain places at no cost to themselves.
The Amersham Job Club leader is Julian Richards whose 17 years with a leading international photographic company ended when his last post, as a product marketing manager, was made redundant. He now uses his extensive experience and contacts to help unemployed people to market themselves, and believes that the Job club can do all the things that an outplacement firm can, though not perhaps with the advantage of the same resources.
New members join as a group and initially get a concentrated program of coaching on such topics as CV preparation, researching and identifying job leads, speculative approaches, telephone techniques and interviewing skills. Members then attend the Job Club regularly, obtaining further one-to-one coaching when required but also working either on their own or with other Job Club members. Julian regards the teamwork which develops as particularly valuable. Members give each other a great deal of support, both in terms of helping each other to get over emotional lows, and by providing an effective network for news items and job leads.
Job clubs also enable you to access their reference books and newspapers, to use their word processing and photocopying equipment, and to take advantage of free telephone calls, stamps and stationery, the cost of which can certainly mount up as the months go by. While some Job clubs describe themselves as Executive Job clubs, the majority welcome people of all backgrounds, skills and experience.
Perhaps the biggest problem about government Job clubs is that you normally cannot get into one until you have been unemployed for six months. The reason for this is apparently simply the availability of resources. It is, however, worth checking the situation out. If there are more places than people who have been unemployed for six months to fill them, you may be able to get a place at an earlier date. Talk to someone at your Job center. They will also be able to tell you about any relevant courses for which you may be eligible.
Support from the private and voluntary sectors
Not all job clubs are sponsored by the government. Professional institutes are another source. For example, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales spends around a quarter of a million pounds a year on Chartac, a small (five person) unit dedicated solely to helping members to get new jobs. In addition to sponsoring job clubs through the Institute's district societies, Chartac provides a limited amount of one-to-one counseling, runs job hunting seminars, and disseminates job opportunities either through the job club network or by acting as an employment agency to clients who pay it a fee when it succeeds in placing someone.
If you do not belong to an institute or association which provides such services, you can set up your own job club, getting together with former colleagues or people you know through a sports club, church, or such organizations as Lions, Round Table or Rotary clubs.
While these sources can be an excellent substitute for outplacement and even, through the team spirit they generate, provide something that outplacement does not, you may nevertheless sometimes feel the need for one-to-one counseling. If this need is related to an emotional problem, such as depression, a few sessions with a trained practicing counselor or, for a lower financial outlay, an organization such as your local pastoral counseling group, may be the answer. Alternatively, for occasional one-off crises, a listening ear is available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, completely free of charge from the Samaritans -they deal not only with the potentially suicidal but with anyone who needs someone to talk to and unload onto.
If it is one-off career advice you need, there are both firms who will provide just that part of the outplacement service and also, at a lower cost, individuals with extensive experience of the business world and the job market who will ensure that you are on the right track, and who will give advice on any specific part of the process, including the kind of job you should be targeting, research, networking, CV preparation and letter writing, and interview techniques. Although the occasional session can be useful at any stage, job hunters usually find this kind of help most useful either right at the outset or when they have reached a point at which they just do not seem to be getting anywhere and need either objective advice or someone to give them a kick start.
Finally, do not forget your own personal team. appoint yourself manager of your own job search. Take a few moments now to consider who you are going to recruit to support you. Treat your family, friends, former colleagues, network contacts, the reference librarian and others as members of a project team whose aim is to find you a new job. Whether or not you tell them that you have done this is unimportant. Looking at it that way yourself will make you think more positively about them, and that in turn will make you appreciate them more, and, consequently, get them to make an even more valuable contribution to your job hunting campaign.
"Networking is not discrete."
