Career Clinic: Will voluntary redundancy look bad on my CV?

Take the money and run. No-one will judge you.

Anonymous -20 Jan 2012 | 13:18

I sympathise and the other poster is right; you will not be judged adversely for redundancy.
However, why are you proposing to volunteer? I am under threat of redundancy too but I am not volunteering. I think there are better candidates for redundancy than me where I am so if they must make redundancies, then I think I should make them make a proper choice and come up with sensible criteria to justify that choice. The same should very much apply to you.

Personally I would not volunteer to be made redundant unless there is a payout better than the statutory figure and a good reference on the table. Or you think the position is so serious that you really should take the money and run.

Another issue you may not have thought about and perhaps it may not be important to you. You can't receive JSA immediately if you take voluntary redundancy as you will be considered to be voluntarily unemployed. You will not be able to claim on most income or payment protection products either. Good luck; it is no fun sitting waiting for a P45.

high street solicitor -20 Jan 2012 | 18:50

When I look through CVs I automatically filter out anyone who has been made redundant at any point in their career. It's just one of a lot of signs that the person in question is not a credible candidate.

Anon -23 Jan 2012 | 14:01

I really hope that the anonymous poster who rejects people out of hand who have been made redundant, gets made redundant at some point in his/her career. Only then will he/she realise the blindingly stupid stance they are taking.

Anon -23 Jan 2012 | 15:30

I really hope that the anon poster who hopes that the anon poster who won't hire people who get made redundant gets made redundant too.

Anon -23 Jan 2012 | 15:44

No-one says they've been made redundant on their CV. Obviously Anon has never hired anyone.

Anon -23 Jan 2012 | 15:52

I agree with the second poster almost entirely.

I was made redundant, which I add in this market is not extraordinary at all and sensible employers will not take issue with it; certainly, I have had no problems receiving offers from national firms.

I chose to take six months off and travel. The first six months were bliss; the three that followed when I wanted to return to work were awful. Make sure before you go that it is definitely the right choice for you.

Best of luck.

Dr. Who -23 Jan 2012 | 15:55

The economy is heading for a complete meltdown and hopefully Anon @ 14:01 will be one of those losing their job as a result.

Anon -23 Jan 2012 | 16:12

The sad truth is that firms just don't let their best people go.

Most redundancy rounds are an opportunity for firms to let go of the people who aren't pulling their weight.

Realist -23 Jan 2012 | 16:20

Realist

I am afraid I cannot agree with Realist.

It is true that firms retain their best staff, but in this market, it is not unusual at all to see firms getting rid of staff they do not want to lose for financial reasons. I would not have thought that to be a contentious statement.

Dr. Who -23 Jan 2012 | 16:24

"Most redundancy rounds are an opportunity for firms to let go of the people who aren't pulling their weight."

Or people who are PERCEIVED not to be pulling their weight (eg don't want to work twelve hours a day because they have a life outside work). Or indeed people who've been unfortunate enough to have more sick days than usual in the months leading up to the redundancy round.

Of course firms will try to keep their "best" people. But one firm's idea of "best" may be very different to another's. Therefore to consider all people who've been made redundant as second class is really blindingly stupid.

For example, my definition of "best" is not the person who's in the office 12+ hours a day and has no sense of proportion when it comes to work. I'd rather work with people who do a good eight-hour day and with whom I can have fun.

And of course in some cases firms and departments just close down and everyone loses their job, regardless of their perceived value to the employer.

Helen H -24 Jan 2012 | 12:40

Might do....

If voluntary redundancy is the only question mark on your CV, it’s probably not a barrier to a new job, if it’s the latest on a long list it won’t help. It will definitely put some people off as earlier responses show, some will consider it an actual redundancy in all but name or that you’d jumped before being pushed. Even then it might not stop them hiring you.

You need to account for it properly. If you can explain (by example) why your long-term objectives weren’t suited to your old firm but align very well with a new one, that would help. Or that you have been actively looking for a new role anyway and took the voluntary package confident you would find another one quickly. At worst you might want to paint yourself as a innocent victim of a firm hitting the rocks.

Any CV raises questions over a candidate's suitability for a new role. Why weren’t you kept on after qualifying? Why are you apparently so interested in this type of work but haven’t done any of it? If you are so highly rated by your current firm, why do you want to leave? Why are your A Level results so poor? If you have spent your entire career in London why are you so keen to work for us in Bristol? You seem too good to be true, what’s the catch? To interview well you need to anticipate those questions and be prepared to deal with them. Good luck.

Young Fogey -24 Jan 2012 | 14:27

sad

It is sad that people who are made redundant voluntarily are looked down on. I hope the people who do this get made redundant in due course.

I left my job as I could not stand for even a second because the boss was a bully, but I found a new job. Hard work and persistence pay off.

cathy -25 Jan 2012 | 13:51

I was made redundant in the last downturn and am now working at a top-tier firm. I also know of someone who took voluntary redundancy from a magic circle firm and had no problems securing roles at a number of other firms and could take their pick.

noname -25 Jan 2012 | 15:52

No and it shouldn't be on your CV

1. If the payoff is good, it is a fantastic opportunity to get a lump sum of this nature. Great for house deposits, etc.

2. Some excellent candidates come onto the market by way of redundancy. Ignore the ignorant comments of some above.

3. Preferable not to quit without a job to go to, or at least a fair idea of how you will re-enter employment. Quitting to "go travelling" with no longer term plan is not a good strategy. So, explore the market first. What are you trying to achieve? How long are you willing to be out of employment?

4. No one filters CVs by way of redundancy, as it won't be on there. The comment above is nonsense.

5. Employers they will want to know why you left the firm. This only matters for your first hire after redundancy or if you have a significant time out post-redundancy. A job or two down the line and no one cares. This is explainable in interview, but a sensible mitigant you can seek from your current employer is a personal reference or two. Scan this, send it in with your CV and make sure the recruiter sends it in prior to any interviews.

Hope this helps. The main advice I would give you is not to fear redundancy. It can be an excellent stimulus for positive change.

S

Stupot -26 Jan 2012 | 15:42

Ignorance

I read in disbelief some of the comments (from well-educated lawyers) about people who have been made redundant especially the ones where apparently only the "best" people are retained during a redundancy programme. You must be very ignorant to think that the only reason someone is made redundant is because they aren't one of the "best". I am a lawyer turned recruiter and I come across some excellent candidates who have been made redundant for one reason or another and trust me when I say this, they are far better than many of the lawyers who haven't.

Anonymous -31 Jan 2012 | 13:59

Can only agree.

It's 99% politics.

Perceptions of quality within the firm and which clients you have snared really do feed into that, but politics is the main game. Very average lawyers will be kept because they are aligned with the right person.

I say this as someone not made redundant.

Yes -09 Feb 2012 | 23:31

Positive Redundancy

Dress this up positively when asked at interview. You chose to move on and took the redundancy package so that you could focus your energy on finding a good new role.

Simon Broomer -16 Feb 2012 | 17:13

There is a sad truth in the legal industry, at least in the City, that many of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for the money. It is therefore a commercial decision whether to work for a certain salary and similarly whether to take the risk of not having a salary for a while on the basis that you will receive a lump sum as part of a voluntary redundancy package. I'm sure there are many people out there who will respect that you understand that this is the basic decision you are making and that you have the confidence to actively decide to take a path involving risk. However, lawyers are notoriously risk adverse and you should be aware that, for every person who might be impressed by your decision, there will be another who is intimidated by it and may see your independence as a management risk.

I say go for it, and make sure you surround yourself with the right people, who can appreciate your decision, in your next role.

Anonymous -22 Feb 2012 | 22:18

Do redundancies mean something more?

To the Anon who said they'd refuse hiring someone who previously took voluntary redundancy. You have a very narrow-minded view. Who's to say that restructures leading to redundancies aren't the result of management's strategic failures? Meaning innocent bystanders like employees suffer at the incorrect decisions of top organisational echelons.

Or worse still, a new ‘head of’ enters the organisation and makes changes just to stamp their authority. It’s never too late to awaken to reality.

Eddie Van Halen -01 Mar 2012 | 01:22

@EDV - clearly some good people may end up redundant but it seems human nature that, where possible, you're not going to let the axe fall on the best (didn't one of the Big 4 tactfully issue a press release a few years ago about clearing out their dead wood just before swinging the axe?). But ultimately, in an employer's market, why take the chance?

Dave Lee Roth -01 Mar 2012 | 15:02