How to talk about redundancy in job applications and interviews

Looking for a new job after you have been made redundant comes with many worries. One of which is how potential employers will look upon the gap in your employment. You might worry that they will imagine that you lost your job due to poor performance, when in fact you were made redundant due to budget cuts or a drop in company revenue. Addressing this on applications and at interviews can be daunting so here are a few tips to help you navigate when and how to discuss your redundancy during your job search.

Be honest about the gap on your CV

Most people use a chronological format on their CV, which lists your experience from your most recent job backwards and includes start and end dates for each job. Recruiters are very familiar with this format and not having dates for your employment can put up red flags so it’s best to have them in there.

With this format, you will need to put in when your last job ended but honesty is always the best policy when it comes to applying for a job. Keeping a ‘to present’ date when you haven’t been working for months, isn’t going to help you get a job any quicker. Your white lie will be easily found out once your references are contacted and you don’t want to come off as dishonest.

Although you really should put the dates in, there is nothing to say that you have to highlight them. Listing them on the right-hand side of your CV and using a smaller or italic font (not bold!) will make them much less noticeable to any recruiter giving your CV a once over.

Give context of the gap in your cover letter

Your cover letter gives you the chance to expand on your CV so you should use it to give some context for the gap in your employment. Space on a cover letter is limited and you want the main focus to be what you can offer so just a brief explanation will do.

For example, “My most recent employer was forced to make budget cuts and I was made redundant in the restructure. However, I am now eager to bring my skills and experience to a new role.”

If you’re making a transition into a new career, mentioning your redundancy can explain why your experiences may come from a different industry than the job you’re applying for. Just be sure to stress that you have plenty of transferrable skills.

Be ready to address your redundancy during interviews

Whether you have or have not directly addressed the gap in your employment on your application, you should expect to have to talk about it in interviews.

You may want to address your redundancy early on, perhaps when asked to tell the interviewer more about yourself. When you do you should try to remain positive and avoid coming across as if you are desperate for any job – even if that’s true. Instead, try to sound enthusiastic about why you want this job. “I’m looking for a new opportunity and your company seems like a great fit for me” sounds much more enthusiastic than “I’m out of work and I need a new job as soon as possible”, even though the latter might be true.

You don’t have to dive straight in like this, but you should still be prepared for it to come up at some point as you may be asked your reason for leaving your last job. If this comes up, just state the facts of your redundancy, and move on to talk about anything you have been doing since then. This could be a training course you have enrolled on, any skills development you’ve worked on or any voluntary work you’ve done.

Don’t worry if you have taken a bit of downtime following your redundancy, you can frame this as taking time to process the loss of your job and having done that you are now ready to focus on your next opportunity.

Searching for a new job following redundancy is challenging but it’s important not to give up hope. The right job for you is out there.

Keep your search going at jobs24.com by signing up for our email job alerts which will keep you one step ahead of the competition as you’ll be the first to know when new jobs are posted.

Posted on March 10, 2021