Last in, first out

I was made redundant at the end of November last year. I am in the last stages of training as an Architect and was working for a small practice in London. I was the last to arrive and so the first to leave. My gut reaction was of hurt and rejection; I had so often considered quitting my job during the year I had worked there and felt cheated that I had been beaten in making the call to leave. I also felt proud and self conscious not wanting anyone to know and those who did know had to promise me that they wouldn't tell anyone. I even made by boss promise that he would be honest in explaining that I had been made redundant and not fired, somehow the distinction between the two was really important. Pretty quickly though you realise that the reactions you receive aren't all that dramatic and you are in the same boat as lots of people where it is dog eat dog and there is no time or point in being proud or self conscious.

I wasn't given any pay off, only a month's notice which I worked. It wasn't compulsory for me to stay, but I felt it was a good idea to get me out of bed in the morning and to stop me moping around. My first plan of action was to contact people I had previously worked with to see if they could help. I don't know whether it is specific to my line of work or not, but I decided that you have to network and be resourceful contacting and connecting with anyone who might be able to assist you in getting an interview. I managed to cobble together my portfolio and CV within two days and attended an interview at a friend of a friend's office within the first week. If nothing else the experience was good to just get the juices flowing with all sorts to remember about interview techniques.

It is really important that your CV is perfect; no typos, no bad punctuation, no scary graphics or wordy descriptions. There are a lot of people going for every job, and you have to compete with this, there is no point in leaving anything to chance. I got several people to read my covering letter and CV ensuring that I was to the point and suitably determined in my wording. I was also really selective about who I sent my CV to, I didn't want to make the process any more disheartening and was sure the majority of my applications would go straight in the bin. I managed to line up five interviews within my months notice, attended 3 of them accepting a job with the second firm.

The interviews were different to previous times. There was less chit-chat, with a more aggressive process in conducting the interview, the questions were direct and there wasn't much time for long answers. The employers know what they want and know that they are in a fabulous position to get exactly that, so you need to be ready to rise to this.

There is absolutely no need to be embarrassed or insecure about your circumstances and I felt the best discussions were those when I was totally frank in my description of what happened. It's strange though, because you feel you are recounting a failed relationship each time you tell the story. But somehow you rise to the challenge in a way you didn't think you would, you learn from it and you grow from it. It's really important to remain positive, and it really pays off in an interview.

The only bad thing I have experienced in my new job is that my new colleague, who has worked with the practice for a year, has now been made redundant and I have suddenly witnessed the whole event from the other side of the fence. What I had seen as smugness in my old colleagues was the emotion I was suddenly faced with and it's not smugness, it's guilt and counting your lucky stars.

The whole experience has been hard but in all I am really glad it happened. The redundancy gave me the necessary kick to move on, a move that would have taken months if I had made the decision myself.