Bouncing Back From Redundancy - Practical tips on job hunting

Currently one New Zealand adult in twenty is unemployed. As of  July some 115,000 Kiwis were out of work, and in the current bleak economic climate the number of those facing job losses looks set to increase, especially in the public sector.

Redundancy is ranked as one of the top five most stressful life experiences, alongside divorce, moving house, and the death of a spouse or parent, and those who are made redundant may face  not only the financial pressures and related worry of losing their job, but also emotional and spiritual concerns. So how can we practically respond to redundancy?

1. Think and pray

When your job is made redundant, it’s easy to feel as if you are redundant. But nothing could be further from the truth. Our identity as Christians is secure in Jesus Christ and is not affected by our job or salary. There are no accidents with a sovereign God. In fact, redundancy can be an opportunity to take stock of your career and perhaps to do something completely different.

Take some time to ask yourself and pray through the following questions:

• What did I like or not like about my last job? What does that mean I’m looking for?

• What are my skills, experience, and preferences? What am I really good at and what can I offer a new employer?

• What are my constraints? For example, is there a particular location that I am limited to, are there limits to the hours or days I can work, and what is the minimum salary that I need?

• What are the alternatives? Options might include setting up your own business, interim work, studying for a new qualification, early retirement, or entering a completely new field.

Having thought and prayed about these areas, develop a plan for the future. If you’re married, talk and pray it through with your spouse. Use a trusted friend in the church as a sounding board, asking them to tell you if your plans are realistic, or if you have missed some of the options open to you.

2. Prepare

Thorough preparation is essential to finding a new job. Therefore, some questions to ask yourself at this stage are:

• What do I need to do to make my plan happen?

• Who do I know who can help me to find out more?

• What further research should I do?

• What steps might I need to take to give me a better chance? For example, further training, unpaid work experience if you are entering a new field, or more information about a business sector or profession.

An up-to-date CV that fully reflects your skills, experience and qualifications is essential. You may even want to prepare several versions with slightly different emphases in order to respond to different employers. Ask a number of trusted friends to review it for you. And don’t overlook what you may think are the run-of-the-mill activities you help with at church. Helping in Sunday School is evidence to an employer of leadership, creativity, and dedication. Sorting out the coffee roster shows organisational ability.

3. Find opportunities

As you start to look and apply for positions, the sheer volume of places to look for jobs can seem overwhelming. And yet the number of positions that match your requirements can seem depressingly small. God is still sovereign, however. He is still in control of your life. But this may be a testing time, and it is not unusual to have to make literally hundreds of applications, and for it to take many months to find a new job. If this means you need to make financial contingency plans, get these in place now. You will need the support and prayer of your church.

Steps at this stage include:

• Finding vacancies through websites, recruitment consultants, local and national newspapers and professional publications.

• Networking, for example through trade or professional groups, your local Business Link, or colleagues. The church is a great network too.

• Speculative applications — if you have a clear idea of what you want and can offer, you can approach organisations directly. Such an application will be taken more seriously if it is addressed to a named person, even more so if it is somebody you have had contact with, so do your research and be prepared to phone up to make enquiries.