Stephen ReaProduct, design & AI strategy
← Thinking

Lost your job?
You are still a designer.

A personal note for people facing redundancy: take a breath, find your footing and start again.

Getting made redundant sucks.

There isn't any other way of putting it. Not only do you feel a massive sense of rejection, akin to a relationship break up, but it throws lots of worrying unknowns at you that bring unwanted negative thoughts when you least need them.

I know this because, like many of you, I've been laid off before (more than once).But I'm still here (though I'm sure some wish I wasn't πŸ˜‰). What I do want to say is that while things will be sΒ£^t for a while you will bounce back. There will be other roles and other challenges in other companies. New friends to make and maybe some old ones to work with again.

The temptation right now is to jump into looking for the next role straight away. My advice is to take a couple of days for the stress to bleed out. Then start to do some research into what you'd like from your next role, then start with a single-page CV and start sending that out.

A single-page CV gives you a foot in the door - and breathing space to put your portfolio together if required. Just keep it simple. A short personal statement about you. Some detail about your most recent role, a list of your last few roles, and some buzzwords so the AI that's scanning your CV has something to find.

Keep a spreadsheet of where you've applied & how you got on- there's nothing as embarrassing as applying for the same job three times - trust me!

The first couple of conversations you have with recruiters and companies will be awkward. That's fine, you are, after all, out of practice. But they will become easier over time as you find out which phrases tick people's boxes - I'd love to be able to give you a list but it's been different for me every time so you'll just have to use trial & error (just like designing).

And at the end of the day, just remember this - you are amazing -you were picked to work in one of the best design teams in the world! You didn't end up there by accident - you were there because you deserved to be there. And any company will be lucky to have you !!!

A conversation is a good place to start.

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