Work It Podcast: Finding work after being retrenched
Balance your daily job search with exercise and hobbies. Take a short holiday if necessary to avoid burnout, advises our guest.
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Looking for a job or trying to nail it at your current one? Host Tiffany Ang and career counsellor Gerald Tan help navigate your important - and sometimes thorny - work life questions.
It’s normal to feel emotional and at a loss after being retrenched. But after taking a break to recover, it’s now time to start looking for a job.
Sean Tong, head of Asia for Frazer Jones, tells Tiffany Ang and Gerald Tan what immediate steps to take to bounce back from retrenchment.
Here's an excerpt from the conversation:
Tiffany Ang, host:
What are immediate steps we can take, maybe in the first month after we've been retrenched?
Sean Tong, Frazer Jones:
This is a very common question we get this year, particularly in the market where it's quite volatile.
I think the first thing is to acknowledge the situation. For many, they have never been retrenched before, so take a few days to process the news. It's difficult, but not (an) uncommon experience.
Focus on the fact that retrenchment often reflects business decision, not personal failure. I think the mindset is very important.
The next is to refresh your resume. Look at (your) LinkedIn profile. Look at updating your LinkedIn profile, your cover letter. That is critical, because to ... many, they have not done any work on their resume.
They could have been in the company for 10, 15 years, right? They don't know where to begin. So search for professional help. There's a lot of tools out there that can help individuals with their resumes.
Gerald Tan, host:
From my own experiences, this year, I have had five friends who lost their jobs, five friends. And the thing is, they know what I'm doing, right? Career counselling. And they still come to me and they tell me: "I just want to let you know that I've just been let go, and I wish you keep this private."
Tiffany:
Why?
Gerald:
Yeah, because like what Sean was saying, right? It's like stigma, shame, taboo, it's like, you don't want people to know that you've been let go.
But I feel like this is the time to tell people that: 'Hey, I'm on the lookout for opportunities. I'm available now, and this is my value add. This is my skill set. Help me, tell me, where can I go? Is it someone that you know that's looking for work?'
This is part of the acknowledgement process.
Tiffany:
At least now you have more sources to help you to hunt, in that sense.
Gerald:
It's not just the hunting part, right? It's also the support that you get from knowing that there are five people out there who you trust and who also knows about you and are willing to back you up and support you a little bit more.
I think it just makes you feel like you're not alone in the journey.
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