Home > Coping with Redundancy > All About Redundancy Counselling

All About Redundancy Counselling

By: Paul Geraghty - Updated: 18 Mar 2016 | comments*Discuss
 
Counselling Counsellor Redundancy

Good employers often make redundancy counselling services available to their outgoing staff. If that doesn’t happen to you, you can always contact one privately.

So what can you expect from a redundancy counselling service? Modalities differ. Sometimes the counselling is offered at your company site; sometimes elsewhere. The counselling may be focused into a single intensive day or half-day, or may be delivered in smaller sessions over an extended period. Sometimes you can expect one-on-one advice from a counsellor, or even a specialised series of counsellors, each of whom will coach you on one aspect of your future job search; sometimes the counselling will be delivered in group sessions instead.

Counselling You About Your Future Career

Typically, your counsellor will go over your potential future career options with you, including an exploration of some you may not have thought about before. Sometimes psychometric tests are used to evaluate your aptitudes. This can help suggest new job roles which might suit you better than the position you’re just leaving. If you don’t have the skills required to perform in these new roles, the redundancy counsellor will be able to recommend courses and prepare a training plan for you.

Job-hunting Advice

Much of what a redundancy counsellor gives you will be very practical and down-to-earth job-hunting advice. Expect tips on things like how to put together an impressive CV, write a winning cover letter, present yourself to advantage at interviews and so forth. You may have heard this all before, but it never hurts to hear it again, especially if you’ve been with your employer for a long time and so haven’t been job-hunting in a while.

Redundancy counselling services can also prepare special programs for those who face unusually challenging redundancy situations. For example, if an entire sector of the economy, like finance, for example, is massively down-sizing, looking for a similar job to the one you just left may not be very realistic. For those affected, transitioning into new roles may become almost mandatory.

Similar challenges are faced, for example, by those who may have spent their entire lives working in the public sector. Redundancy may force them to compete in the private sector in the first time, where the tempo of work and the pressure of expectations may be wholly different from what they are used to. Experienced counsellors can help ease the burden of these difficult transitions.

Counselling About Redundancy’s Pitfalls

Redundancy clearly can have a potentially grave effect on your finances. To help you cope with this, redundancy counselling will often include some financial advice, which may range from anything such as tips on how to save money to thoughts on where to invest that lump sum you ought to be getting.

You can also expect redundancy counsellors to go over some of the psychological aspects of redundancy. Advice on maintaining your sense of self-esteem, the importance of a positive attitude while engaging in job search and warnings about some of the psychological perils of redundancy – such as the potential for experiencing serious stress, deep depression, and marriage difficulties – should all form part of this. Note that most redundancy counsellors will not be expert psychologists themselves, so if you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, they probably won’t be able to treat you directly, but they should be able to refer you to a specialist who can.

Redundancy Counselling – Conclusion

Redundancy is often confusing and stressful. Third-party support can be very useful in helping you get your bearings, stay calm in the midst of the storm, and, ultimately, map out a positive new future for yourself.

You might also like...
Share Your Story, Join the Discussion or Seek Advice..
tinkerbell - Your Question:
My husband had a business with a partner, all of a sudden things went wrong, ending with my husband walking away after 6 years of solid hard work, and a small pay out for the land that was purchased and for buildings that were built, all in all, a great loss. I grieved for his loss, I commended him on doing such a good job, and working so hard, and how I was so glad to have him back in my life and to be able to be there for our kids. Also I was happy for him as his life had been so out of balance, and now he would have time to surf, sail, swim etc. I said I would be happy to continue with my work, and for him to recover from this loss. He became more and more removed, angry, unhelpful, difficult, - I thought he was depressed, and tried to be as kind and supportive as I could. He told his brothers, he left the business as was tired!!! he became more and more angry with me, he was not pleasant to be around, projected his anger towards me. Until I tiptoed around him. In the end he said he had had enough of my not being loving. and wanted to leave. told me he had seen 30 girls he would like to have an intimate relationship with. that really hurt. We were married for 28 years, I am 54, and have three nearly grown up boys. I felt this could have been the best time of our lives. He did have a tendency to project his bad feelings, onto me at times he did not cope. Its been two years now. I still feel so sad, at this loss. I loved him very much.

Our Response:
I am sorry to hear this. Many people think a mid-life crisis is a fallacy, but it does exist, and has seen many men make such radical changes to their lives, please see NHS link here. This may or may not be the reason/root cause. However, you still have to look after yourself during this adjustment and if you are finding it difficult then your GP can refer for some counselling.
RedundancyExpert - 18-Mar-16 @ 2:39 PM
My husband had a business with a partner, all of a sudden things went wrong, ending with my husband walking away after 6 years of solid hard work, and a small pay out for the land that was purchased and for buildings that were built, all in all, a great loss.I grieved for his loss, I commended him on doing such a good job, and working so hard, and how I was so glad to have him back in my life and to be able to be there for our kids.Also I was happy for him as his life had been so out of balance, and now he would have time to surf, sail, swim etc.I said I would be happy to continue with my work, and for him to recover from this loss.He became more and more removed, angry, unhelpful, difficult, - I thought he was depressed, and tried to be as kind and supportive as I could.He told his brothers, he left the business as was tired!!!he became more and more angry with me, he was not pleasant to be around, projected his anger towards me.Until I tiptoed around him.In the end he said he had had enough of my not being loving.and wanted to leave.told me he had seen 30 girls he would like to have an intimate relationship with.that really hurt.We were married for 28 years, I am 54, and have three nearly grown up boys.I felt this could have been the best time of our lives.He did have a tendency to project his bad feelings, onto me at times he did not cope.Its been two years now.I still feel so sad, at this loss.I loved him very much.
tinkerbell - 18-Mar-16 @ 6:45 AM
For 30 years I worked as a freelancer abstracter for a firm publishing academic journals. The job was a lifeline when I was left to bring up two very young children, as it enabled me to work around their needs, and also to keep up my expertise in 20 languages. Now, after working for this concern for half my life, I was informed at the beginning of this week that our contracts would not be renewed when they expired on the 31st and that the wording stated that they could be terminated by either party at 48 hours' notice (the publisher has relocated its editorial; department to the USA and claims that financial considerations dictated this action). I am lucky enough to have another post but the loss of this income will hit me hard as my rent is going up the following day. As we were freelancers there was no entitlement to any kind of compensation. Coming on top of restructuring at work which led to the abolition of my specialist post and relocation to a completely unrelated department with a very different culture, this has made for a difficult year.I plan to look for more freelance work but it is generally felt that we were not well treated by the firm in question.
Ceska55 - 19-Dec-15 @ 10:04 PM
Share Your Story, Join the Discussion or Seek Advice...
Title:
(never shown)
Firstname:
(never shown)
Surname:
(never shown)
Email:
(never shown)
Nickname:
(shown)
Comment:
Validate:
Enter word:
Topics
Latest Comments