How to stay employable despite being made redundant

‘A first from Oxford, an MBA from Harvard, five years in corporate finance at Goldman Sachs and then 10 months on the golf course.’

No matter how perfect your CV, redundancy is not always avoidable. Dealing with ‘time-out’ and knowing how much time out is too much, have become an important part of career management.

Financial services employers are not known for tolerating idleness. Linda Jackson, managing consultant at the outplacement firm Penna Meridian, says investment banks once regarded three months as the longest period someone could be unemployed without damaging their chances of being hired. Beyond that, they were seen as seen as increasingly out of the loop.

Current market conditions are encouraging a rethink. It’s now possible to spend up to a year away from investment banking without adverse effect, says Jackson.

Bruce Lagdon, business development manager at Right Coutts, another outplacement provider agrees: ‘When you’ve been redundant for a year, it becomes critical. Until that point, if you’re financially secure, it’s advisable not to take just anything, but to carry on looking for your ideal job.’

If ideal jobs don’t exist, it may even be acceptable to give up looking altogether until conditions improve. Jackson says that some of Meridian’s outplacement clients have rented out London homes and decamped to the South of France, where they can at least improve their foreign language skills.

Andrew Lowenthal, head of financial services recruitment at Egon Zehnder in London, supports this approach. He says the current employment situation is showing an unprecedented down turn: ‘People are out of work for longer than ever before. The jobs are not there. It doesn’t make much difference what you do. Go and sail a yacht across the Atlantic. Go and study history or fine art.’

Another leading head-hunter agrees: ‘If your track record of achievement is pretty good, there is no reason why you should not spend up to a year away.’

But time out is not advisable in every sector. David Craig, joint managing director at the recruitment firm Walker Hamill, says that an unblemished CV remains crucial for landing jobs at top private equity firms.

Long periods of redundancy are also a danger for specialists in market facing positions. Alfie Noakes, managing director at Mark to Market, which provides outplacement for redundant traders, says spending anything longer than six months away from the trading floor is problematic.

If six months become a year, registration with the UK’s Financial Services Authority lapses, meaning that traders will have to take all relevant exams again before they are eligible for re-employment.

At this point it becomes extremely difficult to get back in, cautions Noakes.

Individuals who do take time out for sailing yachts or renovating French farm houses, are advised to compose their CVs with care.

Lying about long periods of redundancy is not recommended, if only because it will inevitably be found out – employers make rigorous checks these days. In this instance it’s best to come clean in a covering letter or at interview.

Networking is crucial, even if done by telephone from afar. For people close to financial centres, freelance consultancy or interim work provides a valuable method of keeping skills up to date and liaising with industry contacts.

This is particularly important for anyone with experience in client-facing positions. ‘People whose job relies upon connections and contacts will get cold very quickly if they do not stay in touch’, warns one head hunter.

However, working on a freelance basis is a problem for traders, for whom maintaining contacts is crucial. They require employer-sponsored FSA registration if they are to work.

Again there are legitimate ways around this. Mark to Market’s Noakes advises redundant dealers to see freelance work as ‘inter-dealer’ brokers.

In this capacity they will advise other dealers instead of clients and will not require FSA registration, says Noakes.

Finally, throughout any period of redundancy, it’s best to prepare for the worst: the possibility that market conditions will make dream jobs unobtainable for the foreseeable future.

Philip Beddows, a director at outplacement provider BG Careers, says: ‘There should always be a contingency plan. You should consider it at the beginning and know at which point, financially or emotionally, you will switch to it.’

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