Recovering from the shock of redundancy can be difficult; not to mention trying to get past this whilst looking for another job at the same time. Careers and business psychologist Paula Gardner, founder of The Redundancy Recovery Hub explains how journaling can not only help you move on, but also aid in your job-hunting.

1. Work it through 💪

Redundancy can bring up many emotions: it is, after all, a form of bereavement. You may well be grieving not only the loss of your job and security, but also your daily structure and the relationships your role brought you. Even if you stay in touch with your colleagues, things will never be the same again. Using some form of journaling, whether it is writing things down, or using an App like Journify, can help you spill out all these feelings. This can be especially helpful if you’re conscious that you don’t want to burden a partner who may already be stressed or worried.  Friends can be great, but you don’t want to be that person who bangs on about themselves all the time!

Any form of bereavement is likely to trigger feelings like denial, anger, depression, sadness, bargaining or even confusion. You may also be feeling anxiety about the future too. This is a lot to contend with, and getting these feelings out on a daily basis can be cathartic. It may also help you see patterns (why am I always imagining the worst?) or bring to light alternative ways of looking at the situation.

Of course, this is no substitute for a therapist if you really are struggling, but journaling can really help you navigate these feelings and come out the other side.

2. Plan your strategy 🗺

One thing I always say to my coaching clients is “don’t panic”. What you don’t want to do is throw yourself into sending out a load of CVs and end up with a job you don’t really want.  Use this time as a way to step back and think about what comes next. There are many, many stories of people who have been redundant and gone on to different careers, exciting new roles, or even started a business, and then reported that redundancy was one of the best things to happen to them. It’s tough, and you may not feel like it right now, but it’s important to decide that you are going to use this opportunity, even if it doesn’t feel like one. 

Use journaling to plan your future. Questions you could ask yourself are:

• What would you really want next? 

• How much do you need to bring in each month?

• Who would be good to reconnect with right now?

• What would it look like for you if you went back into education or took up an apprenticeship? 

• Is there something I’ve always wanted to do job-wise but been putting it off…up until now?

• How would X (your role model, favourite uncle, old boss) have dealt with this situation? 

3. Envision your future 🔮

Once you have your plan, you can move on to imagining the results. Visioning is a lovely habit that really helps when it comes to reaching your goals. Using your Journify app, you can conjure up just how great that future is going to be. Describe it as though you are already there – that rich cup of coffee from the coffee maker at home in the morning, the stimulating chat over a morning meeting on Zoom, the ability to work from the garden, hearing the birds singing, that bank account regularly increasing. Don’t just think about these things: really feel them too. Visioning your future on a daily basis will keep you focused and motivated at a time when that could easily wane.

4. Organising your Job-Search 🗂

There’s a lot of organisation that goes into a job search and it can be hard to keep track of who you’ve spoken to, what jobs have caught your eye and what you said to whom. You can journal as a way to stay on top of all this. 

Had a great idea for something that you should mention on LinkedIn? Heard some gossip from a friend about an upcoming position in a good company? These are the sorts of things you can capture on Journify, then access and act on later. 

Record how you feel about the job-spec for each job as you apply, your thoughts on what went well and what didn’t in the interviews, or any notes about the company, location and people you want to capture. No notebooks needed!

About the Author:

The Redundancy Recovery Hub is a curation of redundancy support in the form of articles, interviews with experts to get you back to work, and psychology-based tutorials to help you keep up your mojo! 

It was founded by career psychologist and coach, Paula Gardner. Paula is the author of The Career Pause and Pivot, Get Noticed and Do Your Own PR. An ex-PR company owner, she has a Masters in Business Psychology, is a qualified coach, and now works with clients on mid-life career change, finding careers with more meaning and building a profile within your industry or organisation.

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