Redundancy gave Sonya Thomas the chance to head in a new direction
"This is the perfect opportunity"
Sonya Thomas was on holiday when she got called in to her boss' office to be told that that her position as a business administrator was being made redundant.
"I had known something was up because I did a lot of financial reporting on sales, and I’d worked out that things weren’t ticking along as they should."
The news was still a shock, but Sonya had already taken steps towards a career change.
"I had started studying graphic design in January 2008 and got told I was being made redundant in June. When I finished up at work, I still had classes to go to and it was a lot easier for me to say, 'I’m thinking of a career change anyway – this is the perfect opportunity'."
Developing a job search strategy
Sonya's employer offered her counselling, which included career counselling. "It was an opportune time for me to get someone to look at my CV and polish my interview skills. It had been a while since I’d had my last interview and I was really rusty."
Sonya then put together her own job search strategy so she "wouldn’t fall into that slump of not doing anything".
"I’d get up the same time as my partner when he was going to work, and spend the first two hours of the day going through the newspapers and Internet job sites, and applying for jobs. I had a target each week of applying for three jobs that I really wanted, and another two that sounded like I could do them."
- Sonya Thomas designing the layout for a work newsletter
Keeping positive, keeping busy and being patient
Though Sonya missed her workmates, she enjoyed having more time to herself.
"I was filling in my days by catching up on things I hadn’t done in the six busy years at work! I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and with my mum and stepfather, who was sick. I also had the cleanest house, did heaps of gardening, and often visited the art gallery."
After four months of job hunting without so much as a bite, the job offers suddenly began to flood in.
"It happened really quickly. I went for three interviews and had two job offers at the same time. I took a marketing and communications assistant role, because I was looking for an admin role with some design work – something in line with my graphic design training."
Sonya admits she had moments of self-doubt when looking for a job, and also got "wound up about not hearing from employers". But she adds: "You’re responsible for how you feel about things. Job hunting can be really discouraging, but you’ve just got to do the things you need to do to keep yourself happy and sane."
Sonya Thomas is of Ngāti Wai descent.
