You’ve been made redundant

What to do in the next four weeks, and how to use what your employer has set aside.

The conversation has happened. Depending on the hour, that lands as a shock, an insult, a quiet relief, or all three in the same afternoon.

Whatever else it is, it was not your decision. That makes this different from almost every other reason people come to us, and it is worth saying plainly: you do not have to feel positive about it yet in order to start doing something useful.


First, find out what you are entitled to

The allowance is often there. It is very often unspent.

Ask what is included

Many executive redundancy packages include an allowance for career transition support, held separately from the severance payment. It is not always volunteered. If you have an HR contact or a letter setting out your package, ask whether outplacement support is included and what it covers — before you sign anything, if you still can.

We invoice your employer

Where an allowance exists you generally do not need to pay us and claim it back. We invoice your employer or their HR provider directly and supply whatever documentation their finance team requires. What we discuss with you stays between us — your employer sees an invoice, not your file.

If there is no allowance

Plenty of people engage us privately and the service is identical. If cost is a consideration, say so on the call and we will tell you honestly which parts of the work will make the most difference to you first, and which can wait.

The first fortnight

The order matters more than the speed.


  • Decide what you will say, before you say it anywhere

    The most common mistake is improvising the explanation. You will be asked why you left, in different forms, perhaps forty times. It needs to be one sentence, true, unembarrassed, and identical every time. Restructures are ordinary at executive level. The account of it should sound ordinary too.

  • Do not change your LinkedIn profile in the first week

    An abrupt open-to-work banner announces the situation before you have decided how you want it framed. Update the profile properly, once, when the narrative and the documents are ready.

  • Get the documents current before you tell your network

    Goodwill after a redundancy has a short half life. When former colleagues offer to pass your details on, you want something worth passing on that day, not in three weeks.

  • Then decide targeting, not volume

    The instinct is to apply for everything immediately. Forty-one people apply for every advertised role in Australia. Volume without targeting is what produces silence, and silence at this particular moment is corrosive.

A conversation first

Twenty minutes, confidential, and explicitly not a sales call.


Book a confidential call

What this leads to

You did not choose the timing. This is how quickly you can be back in control of it.


5 daysFirst draft, after your branding sessionDelivery
2 weeksFinalised, polished documents in your handsDelivery
6 weeksMost clients report being in a new role, from receiving their documentsClient reported
Under 3%Clients who have invoked the rework guarantee or asked for a refundFive years, measured

Clients self-report salary increases ranging from $12,000 to $160,000 a year. They also tell us interview invitations pick up noticeably — we have not measured that comprehensively, so we will not put a number on it. The guarantee figure covers five years of engagements and is counted directly; the rest is what clients report back to us.

What one client said afterwards


Well l have some good news. I am now employed. I would like to thank you and your team for all your efforts and your support.

I really appreciated all your assistance, and will recommend your services to one and all.

Hopefully l will not be needing your services anytime soon.

Or start without speaking to anyone

Some people would rather have a document looked at first. That is fine too.


Tell us what happened, what the package includes, and what you were doing before. We will tell you what we would do first, whether your allowance covers it, and whether you need us at all. Some people leave that call and do it themselves, which is a perfectly good outcome.

If you would rather not speak to anyone yet, the free review does the same job on paper — a senior Australian writer scores your resume against ten criteria and sends you a scorecard within three business days.


Get a free resume review