Jobseekers are taking too long to accept their redundancy and the market conditions - and it’s affecting their chances of finding employment, say job market experts

• Underestimating how long it might take to find a role in the current job market.
• Assuming that a similar role to their previous one is available.
• Not understanding ‘transferable’ skills that another company would value.
• Believing that going to 5 interviews with recruitment agencies is going to 5 interviews for actual jobs.
• Falling into a home-life or ‘school run’ routine and not working hard to find work.

Tor Macleod, co-founder of www.careerplan4.me, says: “It’s well documented that people who’ve been made redundant go through three emotional stages. The first stage is shock and denial, the second slips to anger and depression. The third stage is acceptance and with that, the ability to move on. The problem is that many people get stuck in the first stage, not thinking about how serious the problem is and how much the job market has changed.

“My advice to anyone who has been made redundant or is at risk of losing their job, is to move to the third stage of acceptance as soon as possible. This is where people move ahead and start solving problems. Jobs are hard to come by, but to get a job, the faster you move, the better”.
Richard Banks, also co-founder of www.careerplan4.me, adds: “Self deception is a major problem in several ways. We’ve seen so many people who receive a redundancy package, giving them say 6 months’ salary, and with that decide to have some time off to relax, not least because the redundancy was so bruising. They might play a few games of golf, spend some time with the kids, walk the dog, and so on.

"But the trouble with this is that after a few months, they are not the IT, Sales or Finance Director of a large well-known corporation any more - or any one from any company. They’ve been unemployed for 6 months and that gap on a CV can speak volumes. It’s ironic that the recent ‘war for talent’ has become the war for jobs”.

It is recommended that jobseekers:

• Start career planning to finding a new job as quickly as possible.
• Evaluate themselves and the market. Don’t believe that their job role is always going to exist. They may need to redefine how they work.
• Learn how to be their own recruitment consultant. Understand and work the system.
• Don’t let things they used to do in spare time become their every full-day activity.
• Go to recruitment consultancies, but don’t expect the earth. It’s one route of many to get back to work.
• Get involved in voluntary work, not least as it is good for motivation and looks good on a CV.
• Join a local job club for networking. The support is important, plus people help each other back into work through shared contacts.
• Keep active and motivated. This positive mindset shows in an interview and can help convince interviewers that they’re the right candidate.