Redundancy and losing your job

If you’re made redundant or unemployed, you might feel anxious about the future. Get advice on how to develop your skills, access free online courses and find help getting a job.

Retrain or upskill

While not having a job can be a very stressful time, it may also be an opportunity to:

  • identify and improve your skills
  • learn a new skill
  • change your career

Find courses

Find a course or apprenticeship to help take your next step, including free:

  • online courses in The Skills Toolkit
  • Level 3 qualifications for adults

You may also be able to enrol on a free Skills Bootcamp, as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs.

Know your skills

You may have transferable skills which you could use in a different job to what you were doing before. If you know what your skills are, it may help you choose the right job and make your application stronger.

You may want to:

Look for work

If you want to find a job as soon as possible, you can improve your chances by:

CVs and cover letters

You may want to update your CV with the reason your employer made you redundant, such as due to COVID-19. This will help make it clear that there was nothing wrong with your performance.

You can describe why your previous employer made you under the job title. For example, “while I worked in this role, I increased the efficiency of my team by 20%. The role was discontinued due to COVID-19.” 

Give examples of any skills or training you’ve learned since becoming unemployed. For example, “since being laid off from my last role due to COVID-19, I have increased my digital skills. I have done this by taking courses in digital content and presentation skills.”

You may also want to include this information in your cover letter to make sure the employer sees it.

Interviews

Many interviews are now remote, either as a phone interview or a video interview. 

You should prepare for your interview as this can help you feel more confident. To prepare:

Bounce back by building resilience

Losing your job can be difficult to deal with.

Learning how to bounce back may help you manage, both now and in the future.

Help with redundancy

You can get more information and guidance on redundancy by reading about:

Related content

How to bounce back

Finding job vacancies

Networking to find a job

Speak to an adviser

You can call 0800 100 900 or use webchat to speak to an adviser.

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