Evelyn Oluwole: From Redundancy to Promotion!

It starts with a meeting in the diary from your manager with no subject line. At the meeting an HR staff is present, everyone looks friendly but firm… a little too serious. Your manager says, “As you know, there has been a restructuring of the team” or “as you know, the company is going through some vigorous changes” or “following the merge, your role is now at a risk of redundancy”

I know this well, because I have experienced it; and the truth is that it can have a massive dent on your confidence. Questions flying in my mind at the time were 1) why me? 2) Am I not good enough? 3) How embarrassing 4) I cannot believe it is back to the drawing board! – If you are nodding because this is happening to you right now or it has happened then I am here to tell you this is the best thing that can happen in your career.

These are my tips to moving from redundancy to promotion.

Call your lawyer
Do not sign up to anything until you have met with a solicitor. This is to ensure you negotiate a good package: every redundancy comes with a pay-out. It can range from 1 weeks’ pay to 1 year.

Take a week to reflect
This may be the first time you are experiencing time off so you need to think about what you want to do. Does your pay-out allow for you to take a break from work for a while or do you want to consider a new career? Think carefully.

Explore everything
It’s like starting again so look at all options; from roles outside of your industry, to becoming an entrepreneur.

Register with recruiters
Find four recruiters that specialise in your industry, and meet with them so they understand exactly the kind of jobs you are looking for.

Learn a new skill
Thank God for online courses; they are opening a new world of knowledge right at your fingertips. ‘Udemy’ is brilliant and has over 50,000 courses, so get learning!

Keep reading
Make sure you are in the know. This is not the time to wallow. Make sure you have signed up to all the industry news.

Update your LinkedIn profile
Make sure you are on it daily, liking, sharing and commenting (read my article on building your LinkedIn status). You want your profile to come up in searches.

Invest
Depending on the amount of money you receive from your pay-out you should absolutely invest. Research on Stocks, Real estate, and make the pay-out you got work for you.

Start your side hustle
This is super close to my heart because I decided to create my TV show when I was made redundant. With no job in tow I thought to myself, what do I love and what is lacking? and that’s how Nigerian Top Weddings was born. What do you love doing? Start it now.

Do not stop
You are doing good, keep going. It won’t be easy but when you look back you will realise you have truly been promoted.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime