Your current situation
In some respects, just getting another job is the easiest thing to do – you have expert knowledge and experience, and possibly relevant industry contacts. Get the word out, apply for some jobs, and away you go.
However, it’s not that easy.
News stories like https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55313752 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53819623 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54169687 show that you are not alone in your redundancy journey, and plenty of people are chasing the same jobs as you.
Free resources
There is free generic help “out there” – we suggest you look at one or more of these websites:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
Redundancy Factsheet for employees PDF download
https://www.ucas.com/careers-advice
https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/help-for-young-people/who-else/employment/careers-advice
You definitely need to maximise your chances of getting a job, which means ensuring that your LinkedIn profile presents the best you (including a great professional head shot!), that your CV really sells your skills and experience, a covering letter you send is a great piece of marketing (with you as the product!) and that if you’re working with a recruitment company then you’re working with the right one for you.
And if you get an interview, how well will you perform? Will nerves get the better of you? Will you get across all of your attributes in the course of the interview? When they ask whether you have any questions, what will you ask?
We suggest you search online for free help with whichever of these aspects of your resources is in need of improvement, but beware, plenty of allegedly free help isn’t free – make sure you’re getting what you expect, for the price you expect it.
Chargeable services
Who should you talk to?
There are people out there who offer help as a billable service covering the full range of facets required – LinkedIn profile and headshot, CV, covering letter, interview skills and more.
Your first task is to assess what help you actually need – all of those things, or maybe just one or two. If, for example, you just need to work on your CV , then someone who specialises in that may be a better bet than someone who covers the whole range of services. For more on those services, see below.
If you already know / like / trust one or more advisors with whom you can talk, then you should go that route.
If you don’t know / like / trust people like that, don’t worry, we do! See the details below this section for more on those specialisms.
If you contact us with an outline of your situation and your concerns we can put you in touch with one or more experts who we know / like / trust so that they can contact you to see whether or not they think you need help, what help that might be, and what charges might be incurred.
All of our contacts are very careful to ensure that they do nothing billable until they have your explicit go-ahead to make that happen. If you contact someone you already know, make sure they’re playing by those rules too!”
Service Details
CV & covering letter
Having a CV that stands out and presents the best possible you is an absolute must, as is a quality covering letter to go with it (be that by email or snail mail!)
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/cv-sections and https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/covering-letter are useful free resources, and there are too many free online CV-building websites to list them here – just search online for “free cv help” and pick one that looks good to you.
However, we do believe that there is no substitute for a professional CV writer, someone who does that for a living, who can talk to you about what value you will give to your future employer and how you can best evidence that within your CV, backed up by a first class covering letter. They will work with you to produce thoroughly professional documents which really will help you move forward with your hunt for a job.
If you know such a person, chat with them, ask about their pricing structure, and make a decision whether to run with a DIY version, or get professional help from an expert.
If you don’t know such a person, don’t worry – we do! Contact us to let us know about your situation and your needs and we’ll match you with someone we believe can help you. There’s no charge for that service – if and when you agree terms with them and pay them for their services, they will then pay us a small commission. We don’t charge you anything at any time.
Recruitment companies
There are countless major generic recruitment companies to choose from – you probably know most of their names without us needing to list them for you.
It does make sense to use them – there’s no harm or cost in signing up and registering for alerts for the sort of work you’re seeking. And don’t forget to sign up with the Job Centre via https://www.gov.uk/find-a-job – you never know!
If your chosen job has any sort of specialism, there may well be specialist recruitment companies in that field. If you know such a company, then it’s definitely a good idea to get in touch with them. If not, contact us – we know many such companies in a wide range of professions and will be happy to introduce you with no charges involved.
If you go on their books and they help you get work, your new employer will pay them a fee and they will pay us a small commission – there’s absolutely no cost to you.
Interview technique
So, let’s assume all the above has gone to plan and you’ve been invited to an interview. You might be one of 5, or 50, or more, but however many it is, you’ve made it that far and need to acknowledge the achievement against what was undoubtedly strong competition.
If that’s as far as you get, so be it, but surely having got that far you want to maximise your chances. That means you need to perform at your best at the interview (be that in person or via a video conferencing tool).
The page at https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice#getting-a-job has links to four sections on interviews – they are well worth a read.
Over a quarter of a million people have enrolled for the free course at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/interviews – you might want to join them.
Searching online for other free help is worthwhile, but be careful to ensure that you don’t incur any charges without meaning to do so.
Many people consider group coaching or 1-2-1 coaching to be far more effective than online learning and generic courses. That does of course come at a price, but if it helps you get a job, how long will it take you to earn enough to cover that cost? A week? Less?
If you know someone who does this for a living, who you like, and trust, then chat with them about how they might work with you, what they would charge.
If you don’t know someone like that, don’t worry, we do! If you contact us to outline your needs, we will put you in touch with someone suitable, so you can ask them the same questions, and potentially engage them to help you in this area. There’s no charge for that service – if and when you agree terms with them and pay them for their services, they will then pay us a small commission. We don’t charge you anything at any time.
Your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn is the go to place for employers and jobhunters – your profile needs to be bang on. Pages such as https://business.linkedin.com/en-uk/marketing-solutions/blog/posts/content-marketing/2017/17-steps-to-a-better-LinkedIn-profile-in-2017 offer free advice on how to improve your profile, and therefore improve your chances of securing employment.
If you know a LinkedIn guru, that’s great – chat with them about how they may be able to help you, and at what price.
If you don’t know such a person, don’t worry – we do! Contact us to let us know about your situation and your needs and we’ll match you with someone we believe can help you. There’s no charge for that service – if and when you agree terms with them and pay them for their services, they will then pay us a small commission. And if you want a great headshot, we know people who can make that happen for you.
We don’t charge you anything at any time.
So – might you want some help with this?
Contact us now – there is absolutely no charge to you for our services, but we do make a small commission if you spend money with one of our contacts, which they pay us when you have paid them for their services.
