Chapter 3: Managing the Transition: Mindset and Resilience
Why this comes before the tactics
Redundancy or career change is rarely only a practical event. It is common to move through a sequence of reactions, including shock, frustration, a period of low motivation, and eventually acceptance and forward momentum. There is no fixed timetable for this, and it is not a straight line. What matters is recognising that these reactions are a normal response to genuine loss, not a sign of weakness or a reason to delay your search.
Losing a role is not a verdict on your worth or your ability. It is very often a decision driven by cost, structure or strategy at a level well above any individual's control. Several of the larger outplacement providers now treat wellbeing as a standalone part of their programmes rather than an afterthought folded into other content, which reflects how central this stage has become to a successful transition.
Building resilience deliberately
Resilience is not simply a matter of temperament. It can be built through specific, repeatable habits: maintaining a daily structure, staying physically active, protecting sleep, and limiting exposure to sources of stress that add nothing constructive to your search, including excessive news consumption or unhelpful comparison with others' progress on social media.
What the research tells us
Academic research, including a well known study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University College London, has found that job loss causes a measurable and significant reduction in psychological wellbeing, and that moving back into work does improve wellbeing again, though usually not all the way back to where it was before, at least not immediately. That is not a discouraging finding. It is a useful one, because it means whatever you are feeling right now has a well documented basis, and is not a sign that you are coping unusually badly.
Practitioners working directly with people going through redundancy commonly describe two specific effects worth naming. The first is a loss of identity, particularly where a job title or professional role had become closely tied to a sense of self. The second is a drop in self-esteem, often accompanied by guilt, shame or a sense of having failed, even when the redundancy decision had nothing to do with individual performance. Naming these effects for what they are, a normal and well recognised response to a genuine loss, is often the first step in loosening their grip.
If low mood, disrupted sleep or a loss of motivation continues for an extended period, or begins to feel unmanageable, this is worth raising with your GP or a qualified counsellor alongside the support of your coach. Coaching is an excellent source of practical and motivational support through a transition, but it is not a substitute for clinical help if you need it, and there is no weakness whatsoever in seeking that help directly.
In practice: David, Finance Director
David had spent eighteen years working towards the title of Finance Director. When his role was made redundant as part of a restructure, he found that the loss of the title affected him more than the loss of income. Establishing a simple daily structure, keeping regular hours, dressing for the day, and setting one small achievable task each morning gave him back a sense of control while the rest of his search took shape.
In practice: Angela, senior HR business partner
Angela, a senior HR business partner, found the first two weeks after redundancy the hardest, marked by disrupted sleep and a loss of appetite that surprised her, given how composed she had felt in the meeting itself. Naming this to her coach early, rather than pushing through it alone, meant her first sessions focused on rebuilding basic stability before any CV work began. By week four, with a routine back in place, she was ready to move into the practical chapters with far more energy than if she had forced herself to start immediately.
- Moving straight into CV writing and applications before addressing how the transition has genuinely affected you.
- Treating a difficult emotional reaction as a personal failing rather than a normal response.
- Isolating yourself rather than telling a small number of trusted people what has happened.
- Letting an unstructured day become the new normal for weeks at a time.
- Write down what you are feeling honestly, without judging it.
- Set a simple daily structure for the weeks ahead, including a clear start and finish to your working day.
- Identify two or three people you can talk to honestly about how the transition is affecting you.
- Raise anything you are finding genuinely difficult with your coach early, rather than waiting until it feels resolved on its own.
This programme gives you frameworks and actions. Your coach is where they become genuinely yours. Rather than arriving with answers, consider bringing these open questions into your next session and exploring them together:
- What have you noticed about how you are processing this transition so far?
- What would genuine support from the people around you actually look like right now?
- Is there anything you are not yet ready to talk about, and what might help you get there?