I was one of the lucky ones. I left on my own terms and with a plan, but I’ve seen the anxiety, paranoia, and confidence sapping destruction that the redundancy process can impose on others. There’s the shock of the initial impact and the anger, hurt and recriminations (did they hate me?), followed by the ticking clock time pressure to find another role to pay the bills. At times like this, it’s easy to lose your sense of self and just accept the next role, to repeat the cycle until you crash into the next corporate downsizing.
My story was different. For me redundancy was a release from a job that, in truth, I hadn’t been enjoying for some time, and as the opportunity loomed, I used my time to explore my own motivations, my strengths and my weaknesses and where I really get my spark. I realised that over a period of many years I’d lost control of my career direction and my role had changed fundamentally from the one I’d originally applied for, and not in a good way. When my application for voluntary redundancy was accepted, I’d already chosen a different path, drawn through experience to the people-centric focus of coaching and I was lucky enough to start my training before I left the organisation.
I also benefited from an outplacement programme – that’s HR language for a support package provided by an external company with a series of webinars on useful themes like financial planning, navigating change and starting your own business. But the most useful part was meeting a career coach (well I would say that, wouldn’t I?) who gave me further direction and focus. What sort of a coach did I want to become? Who was my target market? How was I going to market myself?
I’ve seen many different career self-reflection models over the last year, but a simple one which sticks in my mind is ‘what’s my why?’ In other words, why is it that you do what you do? For me, coaching is about helping to make a difference for other people to find that focus and to find fulfilment in their career using my analytical skills. For other people it might be about the adrenaline kick from making a sale. It’s about finding that particular spark, from which everything else flows.
So what’s your why? If you’ve gone through redundancy and lost touch with what your career motivation is, I can help you find it again. We can build up your confidence and resilience and break down some of the barriers which might be holding you back and create a strategy to help you find the next role.
This newsletter has been mostly about me, but I wanted to share some of my own background so you can understand my why. I’ll be using this space to expand on some of these broader themes around redundancy and career progression over the coming months, and I look forward to any comments and feedback you might have. Until next time, Happy New Year and here’s to a happier career journey in 2026.
***A note to my loyal newsletter subscribers. From next month I’m moving this format across to Linkedin as that’s where most of my clients/readers lurk. So if you want to keep receiving these updates, please subscribe to my Linkedin Career with Condidence newsletter channel.