My Open to Work Journey

This is just an article about some learnings and stories from my own experience of being made redundant in late 2023 and being #OpenToWork. The simple aim is to share how I am managing the process and my job search.? I am positive ??.? It’s always the best route for me, and I am a big believer that for a brighter and better future, a door and chapter must close first before a new one opens.?

I am not claiming to be an expert here. Nor am I saying you should replicate what I do.? We are all different, personalities, situations and circumstances dictate what you need to do.? I am merely sharing my personal story.? Maybe it helps some people, even if just one person that's plenty for me.? It also helps me, as I reflect and write about my journey.

Take from this article what’s useful and for the rest, you know, ye can ignore it!???

Understand your situation?

Acknowledge what’s happening and the situation around you.? Personally, my redundancy wasn’t a complete shock.? Not because I nor my team wasn’t working our socks off and driving the right performance outcomes and sales pipeline. I work in B2B sales, so it’s pretty easy to measure the right momentum e.g. qualified pipeline creation, SQLs with the right type of ICP organisations, opportunities that have clear next steps, with the right stakeholders, that have a timeline and are progressing through the buyers buying process (not your sales process) moving towards closed won etc. It’s also easy to blind yourself and measure the wrong things in sales.? Many, many senior leaders still fall for this trick! Sometimes they are the ones tricking themselves.? That’s a story for another time.? My experience and strong belief is momentum is key in sales and you can measure that when you measure what matters, with data points and being brutally honest. The rest of the fluff, you need to cut the hell out!?

Outside of the variables in my control, there were a zillions things I couldn’t control e.g. economic headwinds, the company's funding, churn rate, burn rate, resources, staff retention and strategic direction set by the board.? Yeah, I can influence and I am always vocal in sharing my 2 cents (sometimes too much so, yet psychological safety is a thing and everyone should share their opinions and these opinions should be sort by leadership. Consult, consider and conclude is a simple mantra I love. Employee engagement and empowerment goes a long way to having a high-performance culture.? So when an organisation needs to make quick, deep, fast cost cuts and save money to get the next round of funding, it’s easy to chop the more expensive people and scale back general operations. For me, I had read between the lines already and started to work out my own future options.??

Acceptance?

Despite the above, it’s still never nice to get that call that “your role is at risk and the formal consultation process is starting now”.??

Once the process has finished and the outcome is clear, it’s important to take stock, talk about it and accept what’s happening.? Therapy is underrated and sometimes misunderstood in life. Having a professional to talk about things is always advisable. This is a process and you do need to grieve.? Remember, we spend most of our awoken life at work! Many models and theories are out there on this.? Yet it isn’t a linear?process. The below model depicts it relativity well in my experience. Yet, it also goes back and forth and up and down and left and right. So it's freaking messy at times. Yet accept it, life is messy, and your emotions are messy too. Go with that and your flow.

Accept the process for what it is and accept you will encounter your own experience of this process.?

Be Grateful ??

This is easy to overlook,? especially being grateful to yourself during this type of time and experience.? Yet it is highly needed and super positive to have this feeling of gratitude flowing in your life, body, and soul.

So, let me do a gratefulness list. I am grateful for all the advice, time, support, care and love from the people below in my professional network. Just by simply making time for me. In no particular order!

Charlotte Goodman Rina Joosten-Rabou Steven Betancourt Dominguez Gina Palermo PhD CPsychol Alan Bourne Reg Singh Martin Stoney Will Goggin Dan Seale Dr Stewart Desson Sarah Mortenson CPsychol, AFBPsS Nicola Tatham CPsychol AFBPsS Marina Vitlina Cathy Watkins CPsychol AFBPsS Christine Higgs Alison Gibbs Iain Purchase Sian Jones Claudia Nuttgens CPsychol Benjamin Mannings Ben Williams Emira Blomberg Dr Amanda Potter CPsychol Sam Birkbeck Emma Stirling Louise Tyzack Simon Lyle Derek Petrie Martin Smith Laura Keith Ben Hatt Jamie Wilcock Nicole Flaherty Amrit Kainth Alka Saxena-Lewis, M.A. Sabina Carchesio Paul Morton David Barrett Phin Naughton David Ringwood Nabil Verdickt Jon Hull Andy Jones Isael Paz Mark Lennox Guy Sage Erika Usher MBA Sarah Callery Nick Adams Helena Sharpe Gavin Mulcahy Rebecca Davies Pag Miles Amber Harris Abi Scott Ross Gardner

THANK YOU ALL ??

If I have missed anyone, my apologies. Do let me know and I will happily add you. And finally, a massive thanks goes to my friends, husband, and family who aren't listed above. Yet they provide immeasurable support, love and care ??

Focus and prioritise your time, efforts and goal

This is always important, yet when unemployment hits for whatever reason, it is important to take control of what you can take control of.

Exercise for your well-being ??♂?????♂????♂???

Whatever the right mix and balance is for you, do that and more than before.? For me, it’s the gym in a more structured way (still working on this), keeping up my love for golf, volleyball-ing and yoga. Yoga for me is great for my overall wellbeing and a thing that helps me retain balance and let go of things and just recapture my energy and focus.

Have a job/career vision and plan - yet stay flexible???

My job search is like my sales process. I have specific targets, defined organisations, with a specific type of buyer, with a defined need and problem, that I solve by offering my commercial expertise. Some people and firms know they need it, and others don't realise they need it and we have a different type of conversation. Just likes selling, in a consultative, partnership lead way. All organisations need commercial expertise to drive success, and achieve sustainable growth.

I plan proactive outreach to these targets, sometimes with warm intros through my network - these help the most, good people do really help other good people. Sometimes I do cold outreach, via emails, LinkedIn, calls and videos. Not everyone gets the same attention. I define my target list and work through it. I also apply for jobs in LinkedIn.

As job opportunities present themselves, I do as I would with my sales opportunity, qualify in and out based on what I want, what I can do and offer, aligned to buyers needs. Then, if qualified they go into my job pipeline and are managed from there. Momentum is key here and having opportunities at different stages is important. Yet constantly building and working on new relevant opportunities to feed the top of the job funnel is critical. Yes, just like sales. Also, like sales be firm yet fair. Say no to the problems you can't solve, and those that don't excite you. Trust your gut. People, values, ethos, the value proposition and the future vision are all important in job searching.

For me, it's about the right opportunity. Not the first opportunity.

I have a clear Plan A and Plan B in terms of what I am seeking in my next career chapter. However, we don’t live in the black and white.? We live and operate in the grey, like all things in life.? So I keep an open mind about what possibilities and opportunities come my way.? Always explore them I say. Maybe you’ll be surprised. I have had a few unexpected opportunities come my way that have been very worthwhile exploring.

Plan A: taking a commercial leadership stretch role, that empowers me to own a revenue function and build a high-performance team.? Coaching the team to be the best version of themselves and win as a team.? Driving commercial change and impact, and building is key for me.? Building a commercial function and high-performance team motivates and excites me.? The key to this is to always and forever be focused on solving client problems and pain points, in partnership.? Doing that, in a consultative way, and challenging positively will always drive growth.?

Sales is 100% a team sport.? Let me say that again, sales in 100% a team sport.

Sales team success is the only sustainable success commercial organisations have.? The whole of the organisation needs to acknowledge this and understand their role within the sales process, individually and as a function and to be involved in it to drive success and solve client pain points.? At the end of the day, that’s all sales is.? Solving client problems with your expertise, IP, and product and simply being paid a fair price for it.? If you do that, you win business and get growth.?

Plan B: is similar to plan A.? I am still driving commercial change and impact, yet as a senior individual contributor. I still want to coach people, sharing my experience, yet my priorities are different here. I continue to solve client problems and engage the market.

In both cases, the type of organisation is key, its values, its vision, its people, its leadership and the product and value proposition it offers the market.?

In some cases, option A & B are blended together - again, we don't live in the black and white, yet the grey.

Network ??

This is the key thing that’s helping drive my job search momentum.? Engaging my network is helping massively.??So it's the number one piece of advice I would give to anyone job hunting. Engage and build your network, ask for help/advice in your search and ask for specific intro's, and give back.

Good people are always happy to connect other good people to their network to share, learn and add value.?

It’s also important to give back.? I am always conscious of this.? I have been saying this to my network "how can I help you"? as I have been engaging them. I am happy that in some cases I have been able to help and add value. Sharing my experience on how people can understand the strategy and tactics of business development to aid their own job search and talking to several founders in the HRTech space on what’s happening in the UK market and offering some food for thought on who to work with and what to expect, and what not to expect.?

All of this sharing is massively rewarding and of course, helps me open doors to my next career chapter.? It’s all the art of sharing the love as I like to call it.?Give, give and give and most people (not all) will help you out in return.

Enjoy life ??????

Don’t stop living because you find your employment situation has changed. Yet plan and make informed decisions on finance and what you will adjust on and what you won’t.? So again, taking control here is good.? I have always been a planner, it helps me have a degree of control and manage my anxiety.??

Quality time with family, friends, loved ones and those that give you energy.?

Having fun and enjoying yourself is an important aspect of having extra time on your hands and it aids your job search. However, not everyone has this luxury.? So I am grateful for the wiggle room I have.? Yet, a simple walk and catching up with a friend doesn’t cost the earth.? Do just wrap up warm as it’s bloody freezing out there! Employers and anyone aiding your job search can feel the positive energy and negative energy flowing from you. So do things to help you stay and be positive.

Trust Yourself?

This was good advice from a recent yoga session and it rings true for me.? Yes, look at data points, yet your instincts are right most of the time. Learn to trust them.?

“There is a lot of advice being thrown out in the world right now, all with good intentions.? Yet the best advice ever, is your own, considered advice. Listen to your instinct, trust yourself and go with that flow”.

So trust yourself and ignore the noise. Yes, take advice, feedback and listen.? Yet it’s your life, and you have to have comfort in your decisions. Be those decisions turn out to be right, less so, or whatever.? It’s the journey that counts.? Making a wrong decision is 100% better than no decision. Accept the bumps in the road for what they are, bumps in the road and learning experiences.?

If you find yourself out of balance, when your wellbeing isn’t doing so well, I’ve been there, no doubt you have also.? Just take time.? You cannot make good decisions if you are suffering from what I call scrambled egg head. When this happens to me, and it does, I need time to reflect and let the phase clear before making any important and big decision in life.? Some things cannot and should not be rushed into.? Yes, it slows me down, yet my pace is the best pace for me.?

Be in tune with your wellbeing?

Self-awareness of your wellbeing dashboard is key here.? You need to know when you have red, amber or green lights on your wellbeing dashboard.? This should constantly be managed.? Not waiting for the red light to take action, yet daily, weekly wellbeing actions to keep you in the right zone.? When it is amber, it’s time to take the right action and step for you to help move the dial in the right direction.? Sometimes I find it won’t bloody move.? Yet accepting this is equally important.? Again for me, sport and being active is key.? Sweating out the negativity is good, talking it over and accepting it all helps me manage the process, emotions and feelings.? And nope, I ain’t got this sorted in my life.? I am still working on it.??

Yoga and the meditation benefits of yoga help me massively.? You have to find the right tools and techniques that help you.? I’ve tried many and gone through the typical trial and error on what works for me.? I have to keep doing this.?

Stay positive, keep going...onwards and upwards

I will share some more experiences again soon.? Again, maybe they are useful for some folks out there on their own journey.?