Redundancy, Job Centre, Job Seeking and Interviews

I've not done an update for a little while now. That's not because I couldn't be bothered, but because I have been otherwise occupied. About a month ago, I was made redundant. The credit crunch has hit harder than the Government would like us to believe. There are lots of businesses just about keeping their heads above water. I was working in recruitment for a while when my boss sold his Pitman franchise and transferred me to his Recruitment firm.

Because businesses are reluctant to employ new staff at a time when they're trying to cut costs and also because Recruitment Agencies charge between 10 and 20 % of the annual salary for introducing new staff members, the recruitment business has taken a sharp downturn. Larger, more well-established companies aren't feeling the pinch so much right now, but there are lots of self-employed people setting up recruitment firms, so the competition has become even greater.

The long and the short of it is that I got made redundant. This prompted me to contact the Job Centre and register as unemployed. What a joke! I understand the need to have processes, but whoever designed these processes should be taken out at dawn and shot! Whilst going through the laborious processes, I asked whether there was an improvement group I could join to help better the customer experience, however there is no such thing.

Whilst signing on, I was lucky enough to be offered a week's temp work, which I duly accepted, as a good little unemployed person. The hassle I had to go through as a result of doing a week's paid work was ridiculous. I had to fill in the same information three times, on different forms. The computer system is a joke, and I've not even bothered to claim housing benefit council tax relief because I'd probably end up having a breakdown.

Luckily enough, last week I found a job (actually advertised on www.JobCentrePlus.gov.uk, which, if you know how to use it, is okay). I'm now editing web pages for a plumbing company, but I'll tell you more about that another day. For now, I'm just having an opinionated blast.

So, what should you do if you are advised you are being made redundant? First-off, don't panic. Secondly, expect some hassles. Thirdly, just keep trying. Consider things outside your usual sphere of comfort. Reduce your costs wherever you can. For advice on how to do this, go to www.MoneySavingExpert.com.

Download and print as many shopping vouchers as you can and use them wherever they save you money. Even if you haven't bought the product, ask the supermarket if they are willing to accept the coupon. If you ask officially, the answer is no, but many do it unofficially. Not that I'd try and pass vouchers for things I haven't bought. ;-)

Whatever else you do money-saving-wise, keep your internet connection. Without this, your chances of getting a new job are greatly reduced.

If you're offered free re-training, or CV advice, take it!!! Anything and everything you do will help you become more employable.

If you've been in a job for a number of years, you'll need to write down everything you do, and identify readily-transferable skills. Dig out your old CV and dust it off.

Rather than start from the original, use the information, but type out a fresh one. If you're saving your CV, make sure you save it in a Word format, as many recruiters can't open Microsoft Works documents (that free pared-down version of Office that is often shipped free with budget PCs).

Sign up to every online CV company that doesn't charge you money. For example: www.monster.co.uk, www.totaljobs.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk, www.hays.co.uk, www.cv-library.co.uk There are more, but many of the job search engines just take feeds from these sites, so try not to waste your time, if at all possible.

Also, print your CV and go on a high-street agency crawl. Make sure you look presentable when you go there, as this will greatly affect whether the agency is willing to put you forward for a position. They're out to make money. They service their clients, not the applicants. They get hundreds of CVs a week and aren't likely to remember you.

Be willing to go do temp work as this keeps your CV fresh.

There's loads more advice to come on this subject, so keep watching this space. If you're out of work at the moment, best of luck to you. Ask me questions using the comment box and I'll happily answer your questions.