Redundancy may be a scary word. If you’ve been made redundant you may be concerned that this may put off future employers.
However, if you’ve been made redundant in your career, you shouldn’t be afraid to talk about this experience, both on your resume, and in any future job interviews. While redundancy may be a challenging experience, it is something that will happen to most people at least once in their career. It can also be a good opportunity to showcase your character and mindset to potential new employers.
Here, Kingston Human Capital reveals tips on how you can explain a redundancy on your resume and use it to your advantage.
How to explain redundancy on a resume?
When it comes to resumes, it’s vital that you remain as open and honest as possible. As a result, you should include the start and end date of your employment in an accurate manner.
You should avoid vague answers, hiring managers can see that vague answers are used as smokescreens to hide uncomfortable truths.
Address the reason why your employment ended and give the context surrounding the redundancy. There’s no need to go into detail, but in one or two sentences you should be able to explain the relevant background information.
While it’s good to be open about your redundancy, it's important to make sure the conversation isn't only about redundancy. Use this moment as an opening to transition the conversation forward and highlight your key achievements in your former role. Talk about some of the outcomes that you delivered that might be of interest to the hiring manager. Think about the problems that the hiring manager has, and talk about how you solved them at your former company.
It can also be a good idea to explain what you’ve been doing since your redundancy. If you’ve been upskilling in this time, say so; if you’ve been volunteering, or even if you’ve been focussing on yourself and your family, explain this on your resume.
How to explain redundancy in an interview.
The first thing you should know is that you shouldn’t feel ashamed to have been made redundant. After all, it will happen to most people at least once in their career. Take the opportunity and share what was happening for your company at the time. Were they in rationalisation or a restructuring phase? Was there a market downturn? Was there a merger? Whatever the case it can be useful to add context to why you were made redundant for your interviewer. Anticipate this question beforehand and prepare a succinct answer.
Again use this moment in the conversation to talk about your achievements and successes in the role, that are relevant to the role you are interviewing for.
Use positive language to showcase your character here. Highlighting how you've grown as a person, even though you were disappointed to be made redundant, can make you an even stronger candidate for the role.
Being made redundant is tough. Keep this in mind.
- Almost everyone will be made redundant at least once in their career. It's normal and there is no shame in it.
- It is normal to feel down about it. Our jobs are a big part of our identities, and it's reasonable to feel down for a period of time.
- Take some time. After being provided notice of redundancy you might cycle through a series of emotions. That's part of the process. Give yourself time and space to do that.
- Stay the course, you will find a new role. And it might even be better than the one you had.
If you are experiencing anxiety or depression - reach out to Beyond Blue. They provide information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health.
Kingston Human Capital has been hiring perfect candidates for decades, so we understand how job seekers can truly stand out in the eyes of employers. For more job seeker tips, check out our resource bank below.