Redundancy, one of the most stressful experiences you are likely to go through

Redundancy, the fear of redundancy and the affects of redundancy are some of the strongest triggers of stress that you are likely to encounter.

Whilst it is nearly always a shock, the receiving of that notice of redundancy is almost never a total surprise. You have probably been aware of your company's financial problems of some time and have actually been expecting the worst.

So often the initial feeling is relief, but then your brain kicks in, thinking about the possible affects of the redundancy and, then you begin to grieve for your job and your colleagues etc.

What should you do?

• Try and remember the positive, this is a great opportunity to innovate, rejuvenate your career
• Talk to someone, friends, family or there are any number of professional career counsellors that you can talk to
• Take stock of the situation you find yourself in, particularly the financial. The sooner you do this the better you will feel
• Eat and drink healthily and take regular exercise

To change or not to change?

It is very easy after you have been unemployed for a while to start exploring new areas for employment. If you have reached this stage then I would ask you to stop and have a think.

Do you really want to change your area of work? Seriously, think about it. If you are completely sure that you do and this is not a decision taken from desperation then please go ahead. If not then you should continue to apply for positions that play to your strengths and capitalise on the work you have been doing.

Changing direction even in the good times is difficult. You need to be resilient to rejection and show great determination and of course have total conviction that you are doing the right thing.

 

How do you do this?

As with everything, you need to take the time to do the research.

 

Think about:

• What you enjoy doing
• What you are trained to do
• What you can afford in terms of retraining

Read as much as you can about the careers you are interested in and talk to people who are already doing these jobs.

  

Preparation and determination will be the keys to your success.

 

 

 

Gird your loins for 2010

Although in Switzerland the economy has not suffered as much as many developed nations, the economy has still experienced a recession.

Things are picking up, the economy came out of recession in Q3 2009 and things are set for modest if sluggish growth during 2010.
However, job seekers should gird their loins; Seco forecast that the labour market will not see serious growth before 2011.

What to do to improve your chances?
• Network
• Work with a professional recruiter
• Educate yourself
• Innovate

The right career choices

You will be very lucky if you hit the right career choice immediately. For many of us it takes a few attempts before we find a route that gives us the first inkling that we have made the right choice.

What can you do to improve your chances?

Research is the simple answer.

Take the time to sit and think about the simple things that matter. What you enjoy doing, what your motivation for working is and how much you would realistically like to be paid.

The more you prepare for the job search ahead the better you will fare.

Once you have taken the time to prepare, perhaps even worked with an experienced career advisor, you have to take that leap into the unknown. Remember this, it is ok to fail, because without failure there is no success

Playing to your strengths

Now more than ever you need to prepare for the interview and in the process of interviewing upwards of twenty people a week it amazes me that not every one is understanding this.

Surely everyone knows that they will be questioned on personal strengths and yet so few people are prepared.

Admittedly it is often extremely difficult to answer, but even more reason to have thought it through before hand.

If you are finding it difficult to do, talk to the agent who is representing you (if you have one) failing that, talk to friends and ask them what they think your strengths and weaknesses are and practice answering the questions with them so that you come across fluently and articulately in a real interview situation.