Dear Career Coach

I’ve been told that I’m going to be made redundant but that I can stay on my company’s payroll for three months while I search for a new job.  I am a hard worker and I know I did a good job, so I’m really embarrassed to tell people that I will be unemployed.  How can I go about finding a new job quietly? 

Firstly, I’m sorry to hear about your job and, though it may seem like a small point, remember that it’s the job you were doing that is now redundant to your company, not you! You did a good job and you should remain confident that you can continue to do a great job for another organisation that needs what you can offer.

With so many companies restructuring and cutting costs, redundancies have become extremely commonplace and you should not see this as a stigma or a reflection of your skills or your performance on the job.  There are hundreds of talented employees being let go from their companies every month purely due to business and cost concerns on the part of their employers.

With this in mind, don’t sabotage your chances of finding a new role by letting an unjustified sense of embarrassment hold you back from networking and finding a new and even better job. In fact, it’s precisely at this time that you should be reaching out to those in your network - and others in their networks - to help you find information and contacts that can help you find a new role.

Job hunting quietly is almost a contradiction in terms as you need to be able to tell people about your skills and experience and the type of company and job you are looking for, so they can help. You might be amazed at how helpful people can be once they know what you want – after all, think about how willing you would be to help someone you knew by offering some suggestions or contacts about jobs in your sector.

Finding a new job can be a tough and sometimes dispiriting process, and you need other people to bounce ideas off, practice your interview responses with, and to keep your spirits and energy up.

Statistics show that one is most likely to get a job through contacts – people you already know – and their networks of people you have yet to meet.

So, put aside any feelings of embarrassment and start practicing what you need to say to people about your experience, your achievements, your sectors of interest, and what you are looking for in your next role.

All the best!