What I've learnt: looking for a job post redundancy

Six months ago I published a post on Linkedin called “What I've learnt so far: looking for a job on Maternity Leave”. I shared my thoughts on looking for a new role whilst I was still on maternity leave. The post had a much bigger and wider reach than I expected. I received a lot of messages and had some great conversations off the back of it.?

Yet as months went on, my job search became far harder than I had anticipated. The talent market was (and still is) flooded with fantastic candidates, whilst job opportunities were (and still are) few and far between.

Rightly or wrongly, I was convinced showing vulnerability at having been made redundant paired with being on maternity leave had put me in the firing line for unconscious bias by recruiters and hiring managers. I?subsequently took the Linkedin post down and whilst I never lied about redundancy in recruitment processes, I was hesitant to share that it had happened whilst on maternity leave. Bringing my 'whole self' to work just didn't feel possible or helpful.

Fast forward a few more months and I am extremely excited and grateful to have accepted a new role with an amazing start up from January (having been open about redundancy and having a child). I now feel able to re-share my thoughts, with some updates along the way. I hope they are helpful and serve as food for thought for job seekers (parents and non parents alike), hiring managers and recruiters.?

1. Justifying my commitment to a new role

‘Is this your first baby?’ was a question asked by several recruiters and hiring managers. A very subtle yet at the same time loaded question, which regularly left me lost for words. Friends and mentors told me to respond by pointing out that it’s not appropriate to ask, but I worried I’d come across confrontational before the conversation had even started. In many situations, I simply didn't mention maternity leave, believing (rightly or wrongly) it would only put me at a disadvantage at getting the job.

Advice to recruiters and hiring managers: don’t ask this question, or if you are genuinely making conversation, ask the child’s name, if they are crawling, their favourite food… anything apart from a question which implies another baby is coming in the near future.?

Advice to job seekers: Ask yourself - if having a child is something you feel the need to hide in a recruitment process, do you really want to work there anyway??

2. Proving my worth

One recruiter told me ‘it must have been pretty bad to have been redundant on maternity leave’.? Whilst redundancy was beyond my control, I felt immense? pressure to prove I wasn’t at fault, as many are shocked that it could even happen to me (redundancy on maternity leave is more common than you think). Whilst in the past I had felt confident in my abilities, self doubt and a lack of confidence definitely crept in the longer I had been away from work.?

Advice to job seekers: believe in yourself, your skills and your ability to succeed. Most importantly, be proud of your career achievements to date.? Redundancy is rarely the fault of the employee, particularly in the current tech market. Don’t get caught up having to justify your situation and instead focus on you and what you want to do next.

3. Finding time

In the first few months job hunting, guaranteed times in the day for calls around my son's naps were few, meaning ‘putting myself out there’ was logistically difficult. One call a day meant I was stretching out conversations and processes far longer than I should have been. Meeting people or teams in person was even more difficult, requiring a lot of notice, and either my husband to step in or a reliance on my fantastic family for babysitting.

Advice to job seekers: be really clear and upfront with when you are available. Don’t promise or commit to times and meetings you can’t attend or don’t have time to prepare for, you will only feel more stressed. Push back on unrealistic processes or timelines for case studies too, more often than not the hiring manager or recruiter just hasn't thought it through.?

Advice to recruiters and hiring managers: be flexible where you can, try not to be late (if a baby wakes and starts screaming, you can’t push the call five minutes) and try not to make last minute changes to the plan.

4. Knowing my values and non negotiables

I have been lucky enough to be able to take a step back and spend time with a fantastic career coach over the past few months. As part of that journey, I had to really think about my personal values, what I enjoy and what my strengths are. I was also encouraged to make a list of my non negotiables - i.e. the things which would make me walk away from a role if I could not have them. For me, flexibility in working hours to enable me to do nursery pick up was a must. Doing this was fundamental to my job hunt. It made sure I was focussed on the right role and company for me. Earlier in my job hunt, I hadn’t taken the time to do this and I spent far too long in processes for roles which were fundamentally the wrong fit for me and for them.

Advice to job hunters: Make sure you are aware of your values, your career aspirations and your non negotiables. Does your prospective employer align with your values? Will they support your non negotiables? Will the job play to your strengths and will you enjoy it?

5. Growing and using your network

Whilst I hate the word network, I cant emphasise enough how important it is in this market. I have been incredibly lucky to have known, be connected to or to have simply reached out to some amazing people. Founders, operators, business and career coaches, recruiters, peers and ex-colleagues gave up so much time to provide counsel and offer advice to help me on my search.?I also had the most traction with a warm intros into a company, whether directly or by someone else who could vouch for me - reach wide here, you'll be amazed how much people who believe in you are willing to support you.

Advice to job seekers: people are far more generous with their time than you might think - reach out and ask for a call, the worst that can happen is they ghost you (but you are used to that right ;) or say no. Make sure you are well prepared for the meetings with thoughts and questions prepared, don’t waste people's time.?

Advice for everyone: be generous with your time. We have all be supported along the way in our careers - if someone reaches out for a chat, try and give them some time.?

6. Resilience and humility

My job search was far harder and longer than I had anticipated. The market is extremely competitive and tough at the moment. This wasn’t helped by a lot of disjointed and slow recruitment processes, and bad or frankly completely lacking communications from both hiring managers and recruiters. I lost an incredible amount of confidence as the months went by, at times having so much self doubt that I simply thought I was unemployable. You absolutely need resilience to succeed in this job market, however good you and your CV are. It has also taught me the power of humility, and I have learnt so much about candidate and employee experience that I know I will be taking into my new role.?

Advice to job seekers: Keep your head up high and don’t let self doubt creep in. Also be true to yourself and walk away where there are clear red flags which don't align with your values - a bad recruitment process is a telling sign of what working somewhere could be like.

Advice to hiring managers and recruiters: The market is brutal for candidates right now. Don’t underestimate how your processes and communications have an impact on people. Be kind, transparent, communicative and respectful of peoples time.