BellaOnline Forums Career Job Search Retrenchment

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have any advice on dealing with retrenchment when interviewing for a new job? Has anyone found that the company hiring thinks that the person who has been retrenched is somehow not 'up to par'? That somehow it is their fault that they were retrenched?

I have read in other places that having to retrench workers or make positions redundant is often a way of dealing with inadequate management decisions and other corporate nonsense.

What do you think?

What job search issues connected to these can you tell of? If you were retrenched, what did you do to find a new position? How did you cope in the meantime?

I am mixing up things here and probably asking too much in one post but whatever you have to say on this topic of retrenchment and/or redundancy and job search will be useful.

Thanks

When my husband's job was axed, along with 25% of the other jobs at the company, he took a temporary to permanent position at minimum wage, in a nearby town. He had a 45 minute commute each way. This led to him being hired permanently in this entry-level job. He could bid on better jobs. He became a technical writer, then went into engineering, which was what his degree was in. It was a roundabout way to get into the company, but they wouldn't even talk to him through usual channels.

Hi Connie,

That sounds smart - and it all started with taking a realistic view and taking necessary action accordingly.

Not many people would do that, others might have rejected any chance of accepting another entry level style job because they didn't accept the hard work and personal sacrifice required or and long term potential in taking that step back.

I am doing some career counselling for a company at the moment (people who have been retrenched) and it is very obvious that many of these retrenchments should not have taken place - it was just poor planning and dreadful management. But it is a reality and so people just have to work with it.

Sadly, new companies are hesitant to listen to retrenchment reasons or even partake in 'intelligent' conversations on the topic. It seems they just want to avoid 'getting involved' and would prefer not to hire what a couple of client companies have said to me "someone else's rejects."

I am amazed at the short sightedness of this and the lack of understanding and compassion.

Anyway, this loss of skill and under utilization of sound skills and experience can only harm commerce and industry and the workplace as a whole.

On the other hand, I have just one company (marketing) who scoops up these people when they can. I can call them anytime if I think I find a retrenchee I think they should talk to. Smart moves.

Thanks