Having an exit plan will mean you are ready for anything your career throws at you....

“I’m at a payphone trying to call home…”

Well, unlikely, cos we don’t see many payphones around these days.

Although, if you’re a similar age to me, you’ll remember always having 10p in your pocket or down your sock in case you needed to phone home. (or knowing how to reverse the charges, my Mum loved that one lol…)

My 10-year-old was blasting out this song on top note as we were walking around town at the weekend and it really made me stop for a moment and think.

The words from the hit song "Payphone" are a story about some about someone who is paralysed by fear and complacency, someone who didn’t have an exit plan until it was too late.

This is so common when it comes to redundancy.

Because if we think about redundancy, if we plan for redundancy or if we accept that redundancy could be part of our reality – then it will happen to us, right?!

Well, probably tbh, in these current economic times.

There are so many redundancies happening out there right now, that if you’re not planning for it and it happens to you, you’ll be on the back foot and it will take you longer to recover.

The song mentions being "stuck in that time when we called it love," (you won’t get that song out of your head for the rest of the day)

I call it denial.

Harsh – but true!

When you are made redundant or the conversation around redundancy becomes your reality, you will instantly go to those times, when you were doing great work, when you were driving the business forward and you’ll start feeling upset and wondering “why me?” after everything you’ve done for them and after all the hours you’ve put in.

It’s round about now you’ll also start worrying about your next steps, your CV, (the dreaded interviews) the (sh*t) job market and you will (most of the time) become paralysed by fear.

You’ll have probably been working on autopilot, always putting the company first and maybe even coasting in your role. You’ll wish at this point you’d have taken those extra courses and got involved in those digital marketing or transformation projects, but you didn’t. because you were so caught up in the day job that you put your own development to one side.

It’s really common.

As the chorus of this song points out though "even the sun sets in paradise." No dream job, financial security, or successful career is permanently excluded from disruption.

Allowing yourself to become complacent, and lulled into a false sense of stability puts you at major risk.

The lyrics bluntly remind us that "all those fairy tales are full of sh*t" - believing your cozy career is resistant to radical changes is just fantasy-based thinking.

Those who fall into this kind of mindset often spend years "wasting their nights" overcommitted to a singular professional identity that may soon be obsolete. "You turned your back on tomorrow, 'cause you forgot yesterday,"

Worse, "all of our bridges burned down" as professional networks, skills, and career options were put on the back burner because you’ve never created an exit strategy.

When a disruption in the form of redundancy or getting fired, understandably causes paralysing fear: "You can't expect me to be fine,"

An unexpected need to get back into the job market can feel physically exhausting.

Especially when you gave them your all, and they gave you your marching orders - "I gave you my love to borrow, but you just gave it away"

It’s a hard pill to swallow, especially when you feel like you’ve wasted your potential and missed career opportunities because you were trying to do a good job for them.

However, this song is a wake-up call to those able to lean into the warnings about being prepared for redundancy.

Getting yourself prepared for redundancy will actually kill two birds with one stone (that saying has been drilled into me since I was a child, I do actually love animals and would never try to kill any bird with a stone)

1)???? You will build career resilience and give yourself options.

2)???? You will also be in a better position to go for promotions (I mean, this is a completely separate post, but something to start thinking about)

So, rather than succumbing to the mindset of "just one more day", start thinking about how you can start taking ownership of your career today!

"I'm at a payphone, trying to call home" – should now be a metaphor for reassessing whether your current role remains a fruitful "home" for your career hopes and financial security.

I’ll put the link to the song in the comments ??

Start prioritising understanding things like market needs, nurturing your network, and increasing your industry knowledge.

In volatile times, avoiding career paralysis and always having an exit strategy is the key to success. As the song reminds us, any feeling of having achieved a "happy ever after" is merely "one more f*cking love song to be sick of."

The only true paradise is having the resilience and options to get you through any disruption.

Don't be caught wasting your nights away, paralysed by comfort and unprepared for inevitable storms.

Having an exit plan ready ensures you're never just waiting by life's "payphone," dialling regret.

#redundancy #queenofcareers #careerplan #catalystcareers