Why redundancy isn’t the worst thing in the world
This post was written way back in May 2016 when I recently was made redundant. Though the post is old, I feel that it is still very relevant and hope that it can bring some light and help others who have been faced with redundancy.
If you’re a follower of my Twitter account, Instagram or Facebook you may have gathered that I lost my job at the end of April.
Just to make it clear I wasn’t sacked! Some of my friends say ‘oh sorry hear you got the sack’ this implies I was bad at my job and therefore lost it. This is the last thing you want to be hearing during this tender time.
My redundancy was nothing to do with me or my performance and this generally is the case for many people who have become redundant. This leads me on nicely onto my subject for today — the range of feelings that you encounter when you lose your job.
The lows and highs of job loss
Redundancy is an awful word, the kind of word that makes you wince a little bit when you say or hear it. And I won't lie it’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
Stage 1: Utter grief
When I found out that I no longer had a job, it felt as though someone very close to me had just died, it literally felt like I was grieving. I was overcome with a sense of utter sadness. This could only be but natural when you love your job and the people.
Stage 2: PANIC!!!
Mass anxiety is possibly the best way to describe it. My mind became very cluttered and overwhelmed. There was just so much I had to do; Get my portfolio together, sort out the website that I had neglected for the last 3 years, find a new job. Along with all the other worries such as finances — I’d just bought a brand new motorbike which was my pride and joy, and the thought of having to sell it made me feel ill. As well as putting any thoughts of holidays on hold (sorry New York, you’re gonna have to wait). During this stage, I had plenty of sleepless nights which didn’t help.
Stage 3: Depression / Resentment
I’ll group these two together as they happened quite quickly and overlapped. Luckily for me, this stage was relatively short. In the last 2 years or so I’ve become quite a different person, maybe not different but better. I’m far more positive than I have ever been and my anxiety levels have dropped off massively if not completely so this stage was incredibly uncomfortable and even writing about it makes me feel uneasy.
During this staging, the doubts came flooding in. I felt that it was all my fault, that I wasn’t a good enough designer and that I wouldn’t ever be, that I was incapable of finding another studio let alone a place that I would enjoy. I guess following this is where I became resentful, I was hurt by the fact through no fault of my own that I was even in this situation in the first place.
Stage 3: Acceptance
You probably can see a pattern forming here very similar to Kubler-Ross’ grief cycle. Once I had accepted that being sad and angry wasn’t going to get me anywhere and that only I could change my current situation was when things started to pick up for me.
Instead of thinking about what I had lost I started thinking about this situation as a new opportunity and actually it has done me a favour as I was comfortable and settled. To grow you have to become uncomfortable.
I think getting my website updated was a massive step in the right direction, once I had done this I was able to look forward and that as a step meant I was a step closer to applying for jobs. It was also a wonderful opportunity to reflect and look at how much work I had created over the last year and a half, as well as how much my skills had progressed.
Back on the market
Looking for a job is very time-consuming even when you haven’t got a job, it’s also exhausting and very stressful experience. Initially I began looking for jobs that were advertised on the design jobs board that I felt were exactly what I was looking for; small studio, not Central London and a decent salary. Not picky much… as you can imagine that reduced my options massively.
I gained my first interview after 3 days of applying which naturally filled me with positivity. It was a small studio which was perfect, however, the location wasn’t great for me. It was incredibly busy, everyone was rushing about with a general sense of urgency which didn’t sit well with my already anxious mind.
So that evening I applied for more jobs and tried to remain more flexible, expanding my expectations as well as emailing studios who work I admired.
Amazingly I was offered seven interviews in one week, which can only do wonders for your confidence. Six I had set up by myself and one was organised by a recruiter (something I will go more in-depth about). As wonderful as it is having plenty of interviews, it was a massive juggling nightmare and actually that week of interviews was probably more stressful than actually getting my work together, due to having to research the studio and their work, prepare and practice your portfolio presentation while trying to organise and schedule interviews. It was a fantastic experience to visit so many studios and see how everyone works, their differing ethos and finding out what they look for in a designer but I won’t kid you, I was utterly exhausted and drained by that Friday evening.
Fast working recruiters
The only downside of this experience was having organised one interview with a recruiter. This is something I will steer well clear of in the future. When you deal with a studio direct I find that you have more time between emails and conversations, with a recruiter everything is sped up massively, I assume that this due to their commission based upon you and a job offer. After my interview which was organised by the recruiter I was offered a position within 2 hours and was expected to make a decision the following day.
As exciting as that is, it is not the kind of pressure you need when you have other studios to still interview at. When juggling multiple job interviews you can become stuck between a rock and hard place — you want to see what the other studios have to offer, but you don’t want to hold out so long that you have no offers at all. This entire situation with a recruiter became so stressful with the multiple emails, phone calls and voicemails chasing me that in the end, I rejected the job offer even though I had no other offers. Sounds insane, but that was the stress point I had reached.
Silver lining
You’re probably ‘Er Liz you’ve completely missed the point as to why redundancy isn’t the worst’… Sorry. I’ve taken my time talking through everything that happened, maybe not that interesting for others to read but it’s nice to reflect and take stock for future reference. Now onto why this redundancy was actually one of the best things to happen to me.
I now work at the studio that I have admired throughout university and my design career.
While looking at the studios I admire and adding them to the cold email list, I looked at Why (formally KentLyons). I’ve always loved the work that KentLyons produced and I had previously applied for internships but unfortunately, they already had interns etc.
I saw that Why were recruiting a Middleweight Digital Designer, me being my underselling self, I felt that I wasn’t ready for that kind of title as I still see myself at a junior level, therefore, I emailed asking if any junior roles cropped up may I be considered.
Out of sheer amazement, I was offered an interview, and as they say, the rest is history.
And this is why I can’t take my redundancy as a negative experience. I would have never sent that email enquiring had I been in my previous position, I would have never even been interested in looking for another job as I was comfortable. As they say, everything happens for a reason and I truly believe that. The universe sets us up and constantly gives us opportunities, it just depends on what kind of perspective you have as to whether you will see them.
It also makes me thankful to those I have worked within the last year and a half as by them giving me plenty of responsibly in what I consider my first ‘proper’ design job and by directing and encouraging me as a designer I am now set with a number of wonderful skills that will help me grown and develop within this new studio.
The universe sets us up and constantly gives us opportunities, it just depends what kind of perspective you have as to whether you will see them.
If you are struggling with redundancy in the creative industry and need someone to talk to you can hit me up here or twitter.
