Creative approach is best way to survive redundancy

With prospects for the future still bleak, people face a long haul yet which could stretch until early next year. Around 60,000 staff were laid off in the investment banking and securities industry in 2001 and hundreds more are expected to face the axe before conditions improve.

Redundancies en masse tend to be short and brutal, and it is common practice for employees to leave on the same day.

Maureen Holland, principal consultant at Penna Meridian, the career management specialist, says: "When an organisation is faced with a very large downsizing exercise, asking people to leave the office on the day may be the most practical approach, as it may be difficult to carry on with business as usual with a percentage of the staff sitting there feeling very disenfranchised. When it does happen, we say to individuals, brutal though it may appear and feel, you can now focus on yourself."

Consultants say those laid off typically move through a classic emotional "grief curve", with initial reactions ranging from floods of tears to furious silence to noisy anger, yet for others who were perhaps expecting bad news for some time, it can come as a relief. Many also feel sorrow at the separation from colleagues left behind, uncertainty about the future and have difficulty with the loss of routine.

Penna's Holland says: "If an individual is angry or upset, one of the worst things he or she can do is to go straight out into the market. We help people to process and manage negative emotions and to think through carefully what they will say. Many of these emotions are externally focussed and use up a lot of energy; it is so important this energy is used positively on themselves."

It can be a traumatic experience and individuals may require professional support. The outplacement firms are seeing increasing take-up of their services by banks, which generally sign their employees up for three-month programmes.

Philip Beddows, director at BG Careers, a career management and outplacement firm, says: "If individuals have been offered three months by their firm, we try to be as flexible as possible so they get the value of those three months over a longer period, recognising that resettlement times are nearer five months, and enabling them to pace their programmes with the market."

Outplacement support is like time in hospital - the main objective is to get people back on their feet, and improve their self-marketing techniques to allow them to get back into the job market.

Holland says: "We tell them to take off all the company wrapping paper and talk about themselves, what makes them tick, and about their successes. They need to start talking about themselves as a person with a series of skills and achievements rather than just a history of jobs. This process allows individuals to become more articulate and confident about their value.

While two thirds of staff made redundant currently re-enter the banking and finance sector, many from larger banks are forced to review their careers and financial requirements. Some of the more popular strategies have been starting up hedge funds and enrolling at business school.

For those in need of instant cash flow, taking on part-time or contract work as interim managers or consultants has proved useful, although these slots are hard to find as corporate activity levels decline. Others are being snapped up by the smaller advisory and investment boutiques.

Dermot Crean, partner at MMC Advisers, a venture capital boutique, says: "In times like this, you tend to see more high-quality people around than in more bullish times. Our business is set to take advantage of being a boutique versus the large investment banks which have got high overheads and can't remunerate people in the same way."

BG's Beddows says that moving to a smaller firm will not be an option for some: "There are probably a fair number of people who might never work for an investment bank again.

"Some take the view that, depending on their age, it might be difficult to be re-employed and therefore it is the right time for them to go off and carve out a new future for themselves. They are considering a wide range of options and identifying their transferable skills."

Jan Ollis worked most recently within the HR and systems operations department at ABN Amro before being made redundant last September. She is now co-founder of Young Tums, delivering homemade baby food to working parents.

Ollis says: "My immediate reaction was that I had to find a similar job on the same sort of salary level, but as time progressed, it was a case of revisiting my whole thought process with the help of consultants.

"But I don't think I would have given up my job in the City of London to do something new."

The expectation last year was that things would pick up by January 2002, but it could take a while yet before the market improves and people are lengthening their timetables for finding new jobs.

James Thomson, an ex-investment banker from Deutsche Bank who was made redundant in January, is actively pursuing the job search route through networking.

He says: "Most people are resigned to things picking up early next year, but I don't think it would be right to close up shop and head off on holiday for three months. I personally think it's better to keep the job search going, because when the market picks up, it's important to have been proactive.

"One of the most important aspects of the job search process is getting out there, staying in touch with what's going on, talking to people so they can be an extra pair of eyes and trying to identify opportunities, most of which have come my way through networking."

With a quiet summer ahead and further redundancies in the pipeline, headhunters advise jobseekers to remain upbeat and explore as many options as possible. It is also important to have realistic salary expectations so as not to price yourself out of the market.

Linda Jackson, business director at Penna Meridian, says: "We advise people to position themselves not just for the next job, but for the one after.

"You also need to have thought through your options and to have a plan B to look forward to or fall back on. If you have already considered an alternative course of action in some detail, it is far less traumatic should events not turn out as expected."

Headhunters point out that investment banking is a cyclical business - markets seem to be returning to 1998 levels, before the internet and technology boom prompted banks to embark on aggressive mass recruitment with high associated costs.

Crean says: "You make a lot of money in the good times and in the bad times it is a good idea to take a sabbatical and do something else."