It’s not just the money, important though that is (look how often the term ‘breadwinner’ is used to describe those who provide financial income). You no longer have one of the main anchors in your life, if not the main one.

You may feel

• Panic
• Anger or unfairness – “Why me?”
• A weird kind of relief that the suspense is over if you were half expecting it
• Release from a job or workplace atmosphere you didn’t particularly enjoy, so a sense of freedom
• Self-confidence that you’ll find something else swiftly or can now get on with what you really want to do

Your confidence may be well-placed although there are many more people out of work now than there have been for years – you may have to be more flexible and creative than you’ve been in the past.

And meanwhile one of the things you’re probably going to need to do is get to grips with your local Jobcentre Plus – a necessity if you want financial help from the government while you’re looking for work.You may as well find out what you’re entitled to sooner rather than later.

Don’t let any feeling of pride get in the way. Register immediatelywith Jobcentre Plus – that’s the date from which you’re officially in their system and the date any financial help will be calculated from – so even if you feel like curling up in a ball and telling the world to go away, wait till after you’ve registered.

The first stage is either on line or using the free phone number provided on their website (about 20 minutes you giving your details to a machine followed by a further 40 minutes with an operator).  Then you get an appointment to be seen in person.

Once you’ve set those particular wheels in motion you have your backstop in place and can get on with doing everything you can to start earning your own way again.

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That’s fine yet we’ve probably all heard of, or know of, people who’ve had windfalls of various descriptions – lottery wins, cash prizes, unexpected inheritance – and within a year or so all of the money has gone.

Beware The Seduction of Rest

You may feel you don’t need to rush to find income replacement.  And you could well be tempted to take a break.

A break of defined length, a holiday to regroup and think, might be ‘just what the doctor ordered’. Provided you don’t allow yourself to be seduced by rest:

The money alone may make you comfortable enough not to pay too much attention to the fact you may be gradually becoming without purpose – have a ‘bit of a lie-in’ which turns into getting up later and later. Start watching the odd bit of daytime televison but ignore the news (it’s so depressing) and don’t go out much, after all you’re being careful with your money.

Or maybe you’re really feeling ‘gung ho’ and think: “Right – now I can do what I always said I would if I had the money!” You may feel relief, experience a sense of elation and freedom and see this as a wonderful opportunity to do something completely different.

That’s great, yet how often do we hear stories of people who’ve enthusiastically sunk their entire nest egg and energies into a venture with disastrous results?

So a pause for considered thought to evaluate all your “what ifs?” and talking to people who’ve successfully done what you‘re contemplating could well be worth its weight in gold, couldn’t it?

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So what can you do if the threat of redundancy is hanging over you – what options do you have?

The big news is about the corporates: banks, manufacturing and retail chains and chances are if you’re employed by one of those there might not be much you can do to influence the outcome. Yet let’s remember that:

• 95% of UK businesses employ less than ten people

• You won’t know what you could achieve unless you try

We’ve briefly looked at if your situation is decidely shaky and now we’ll suggest a couple of ways to think of how you could have a go at shoring your own position up. And to do that you need to flip it from

“How do I hang on to my job?”

And approach it from thinking of the company first:

“This is how I can help your business succeed.”

Just being seen to be ‘busy’ and being first in and last out each day won’t help if you’re not seen as an essential contributor to the ‘bottom line’ of the business as well.

What else can you bring to your role? What assets do you have that aren’t being fully used?

• Do you have ideas about ways of improving performance that you could share with your boss? 
• Ways that would include your input and you being around to excecute them?
• More efficient processes to achieve the same or better results in less time and at lower cost?
• Better service that would help keep customers and save on sales and marketing spend?

So get creative! Why not share your ideas with others here?

At the very least it should mark you out from all the rest who are saying:

“What about me, me, me?”

And you don’t know what could happen as a result of that…

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