Surviving a Redundancy: 10 Tactics to Get You and Your Career Back on Track - Part Two

Annemarie Cross is a Radio Host on CareerCommuniqueRadio.com, a Career Coach, Personal Branding Strategist, a triple certified multi award-winning Professional Resume Writer and Author of ’10 key steps to Ace that Interview'.
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As we mentioned in our last edition blog post - the world of work has changed. The one-job-for-life principal that our grandparents experienced and their grandparents before them, is no longer a reality. Constantly changing economies, industries and technologies have forced companies to continue evolving and adapting, which regrettably has led to staff redundancies and downsizing.

Here are the next five important strategies to support you in getting your career on track.

6. Understand the rules of networking

Networking is not about meeting as many people as you can and getting your business card into as many hands as possible. It's about developing and building solid relationships with people who know and trust you and who would be happy to share resources/connections with you as well as recommending you. Nurturing and building your network should be an integral part of your overall career management plan and not just a (knee-jerk) activity you are doing because of your current need to find a job.

7. Build and leverage your network - both offline and online

Establishing an online presence (and online network) is just as important as building an offline (face-to-face) presence. In fact, if you can't be found online – you won't be found, period! According to a 2007 survey by Execunet, 83% of recruiters used search engines to research potential candidates. And of those recruiters, 43% admitted to having eliminated a candidate due to the information they found while searching the Internet. What message are you sending as part of your digital footprint? Is your online presence ‘on brand’? Does it confirm your expertise and value to a potential employer?

8. Practice and build powerful interview skills

It's important that you're able to confidently communicate your personal brand and value in person during the interview to continue strengthening your overall candidacy. Remember, the job is seldom given to the person with the most experience and/or qualifications but rather is given to the person who is able to build rapport and market their expertise and overall value with professionalism confirming why they are the best person for the role. So, why should the organisation hire you?

9. Connect with people in your immediate network to inform them how they can help you

Friends, family and colleagues are often only too happy to help you in any way possible but often may avoid you as they don’t know what to say or do. Enable them to support you as best they can by ensuring they are clear on exactly what you are looking for, and what a great lead would be for you.

Recently, one of our CareerCommuniqueRadio.com listeners was given a lead to a job opportunity by former colleagues she had maintained contact with after they had all lost their jobs. She landed the job and was extremely thankful she had continued to maintain and nurture this relationship – otherwise she would never have learned about the job opportunity. Are you nurturing and maintaining contact with your network?

10. Have a strategic job search plan/action steps and follow it/do it

Formulate a written plan with action steps and due dates and follow the plan. Treat looking for a job as a full time job and ensure you are adopting all of the above listed strategies.

To keep you motivated and on track with your plan, consider establishing an accountability partner – someone who will check in with you on a weekly basis to see how you’re tracking. This is a great strategy to keep you accountable and moving forward towards your career goals.

If you’re currently adopting all 10 of these areas in your search – congratulations! If not, then perhaps aim at incorporating a few of these strategies in your overall job search plan to support you in getting your career back on track.

So which of the 10 strategies are you going to begin working on today?