What are my career options now I’ve been made redundant?

Once you’ve had time to adjust to being made redundant, it is important to start making plans for your future. You may find that you want to launch into something completely new, or you may just want get back to finding a job like your old one - as soon as you can. Whatever your ideas, you need to take steps to get you where you want to go.

Get back into work

Take the time to think through what skills and knowledge you possess. Over the course of your career and life you will have developed an array of skills useful for many different roles. You should also think which of those skills you most enjoy using.

This can open you up to look for work in new areas.

Know yourself activities - review your skills, interests, qualities and values

Update your CV with these skills, or create several CVs depending on the type of work for which you’re applying.

"The upside of this is that it’s forced me to think about what else I can do. I’ve gone through a list of my strengths and skills and it’s been a good way of looking at the different options available to me.

"I’ve always worked in a specialised area [IT]. This redundancy has forced me to start thinking about what other skills I can offer and how I can take the specialised knowledge that I do have and sell it."

Pete Gallen, IT Specialist

Move into a new stage of your career

You may decide that now is the perfect time to move into a new area of work – an area where job security is better, or where there is greater demand for workers. Consider:

Do you need to do more training to work in this area?
Will this career pay as well as your past job, and how will you manage if it does not?
How will the new career fit in with your life outside work – your family, hobbies and other commitments?
Is this the perfect opportunity for a lifestyle change – downsizing, moving, travelling, doing what you’ve always wanted to do?

What do you value in a career? - Understand what you value in your career before making your next step.

Helen Galbraith had been a broadcasting producer for 12 years when she was made redundant. She chose to stick with the industry she loved, but move into a role with better job security. “I thought, 'I've been made redundant a couple of times now. Nobody makes the admin manager redundant - usually. But I did think at the time, even before the economic crisis came along, hopefully you'd be the one turning out the lights if it all turned to custard.”

Helen Galbraith, Administration Manager

Take time out to train or retrain

Redundancy can give you an unexpected opportunity to pursue a career path that has always interested you, but that you had avoided because it meant returning to full-time study.

However, training need not be a huge time commitment - you can also take short courses, picking up new skills or knowledge to add to your CV. This can help improve your chances of finding a job, or allow you to apply for a broader range of jobs.

You can pursue any of a variety of training options – from short, part-time courses that will allow you to also work part time, to longer, degree programmes.

When his job as a supermarket manager was restructured, Alan Parkes took the chance to change his career focus.

“When the supermarket restructured I decided to take a forestry and logging course. I had always been keen on the outdoors and did a lot of fishing and hunting. I had some mates in the logging industry so I thought I’d give it a go.”

Alan Parkes, Forest Mensuration Worker

Start your own business

For some people, being made redundant may provide the push needed to start their own business. You may have built up a lot of knowledge in your area over your career, but you also need to ask yourself:

Do you have the ability to motivate yourself and schedule and complete work on time?
Can you take the inevitable knock-backs in business, and then go back out there and keep trying?
Do you have enough money behind you to start a business? What are the start-up costs?
How will running your own business impact on your personal life? How will it affect your family and whānau, your sporting commitments or any other interests and hobbies?
Can you co-ordinate a range of business functions such as sales and marketing, production, accounting and clerical work?

Business.govt.nz website - resources, tools and information to help people start and manage their own businesses
Homebizbuzz website - advice, tools and resources for the self-employed and small business owners

Insurance loss adjuster Peter Webb was made redundant in 2001. Undaunted, he decided to use his knowledge to set up his own online loss adjusting company.

“I like the fact that I had to re-educate myself at the age of 47. That was a step up that I never thought I would achieve. I am creative in the way that I’ve designed the systems that I work to, and that gives me a sense of achievement.”