I've just been listening to BBC Radio 4's iPM programme, where today, several people who had been made redundant talked about the stigma, the loss of confidence and self-esteem, and the unhelpful behaviour of others. There are some more comments on the iPM blog.
Over the years I've been through a couple of job loss experiences, including a bullying episode many years ago, and a redundancy in the early 1990s. So I know how it feels. Over my time coaching people whose confidence has disappeared because of work-related issues, I've come to realise that building your self-esteem from the inside-out is really important.
My experience of 'outplacement' - the help that companies buy in for their redundant employees, is that it doesn't give sufficient space to the sense of bereavement that losing a job can trigger. It was to help people find a way through such experiences that I wrote Getting Back on Track. The book offers a framework for individuals to reconnect with their values, strengths, sense of purpose and self-esteem, and to prepare for the next stage of their lives in a structured yet flexible way. It doesn't replace practical help from the experts, but it does fill the gap left by the 'pull yourself together' message they sometimes convey.
The iPM contributors were especially sensitive to the responses of others to their new circumstances. But hard though it is to swallow, Eleanor Roosevelt's assertion that 'no-one can make you feel inferior without your consent' does hold true. If you're newly redundant, be kind to yourself, and do take steps to remember who you are, because you'll need all your confidence and self-belief to go forward and find what is right for you now.
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