Hi,I have recently been made redundant by my company. I have been with them for 6 months and I will be on garden leave till the 15th Feb.1. When I am searching for jobs and if I speak to someone BEFORE 15th Feb, should I tell recruiters/future employers that I have been made redundant or should I give another reason why I am looking to move on, which in effect tells them that I am still employed. I will officially be the company employee till 15th.Will telling that I have been made redundant look negative ?2. If I am applying after 15th Feb, should I tell that I have been made redundant ? Or should I say that I was on a 6 month contract and now looking for new positions as that one has expired. My employer has confirmed that they will not disclose that I have been made redundant.3. How is redundancy perceived when looking for new roles. Does it make difficult to find new job ?Thanks

It is fine to tell recruiters - and MCs for that matter - that you have been made redundant. There is no stigma in redundancy, and you should not see it as reflecting on you personally. What you must do though is to place that redundancy into context - if possible explain how many (rough numbers would be fine) were made redundant, what areas of the business were affected, and if you can explain what happened which necessitated the redundancies. This last point doesnt need to be in great depth unless you are very senior in which case a business failure which you were paid to prevent does have some bearing. If revenues were down and it was simply about cutting headcount say so. If there was a restructure, your company decided to pull out of x market, you were acquired and they are cutting out overlaps etc, say so. It wasn't you that was made redundant, it was the job you were doing. Not matter how good you were, the job was/is not going to be there any more.

Tough break. I second the advice from Mars. In a way it almost helps that you have not been there long as it makes you a natural target. I always feel its best to show that while you are disappointed that it came to this, you understand the need, and have no ill-feeling towards the firm. Bitterness, even when merited, is usually a turn-off in an interview.If I was interviewing you, I’d press you on how it felt to be offered a job by a firm who only six months later had to cut you adrift? What kind of mickey mouse firm does that? Were you desperate for the job? Did you not know they were in trouble? I’d want to see if you could be tempted into slagging them off or would remain cool.In terms of how to answer that sort of question, it depends on the size of the firm. Either….“Yes, it’s disappointing for the situation to change so quickly, but with small firms, even a small change in income can have a big impact on cashflow and the owners obviously felt they needed to minimise expense”.OR“Yes, it’s disappointing for the situation to change so quickly, but with large firms, there is only so much due diligence that you can carry out in the interview stage and I suspect that even then there were financial aspects that I couldn’t expect to know about that took a turn for the worse and made them change their mind about expanding”Good luck in the job hunting.

Mars and Mr.CoolThanks for your valuable advice as always. In this case it is a IB and there are large number of redundancies. In my case, I have been told it is the role that has been made redundant.I understand being honest about being made redundant, but was wary about mentioning it as I had only been there for 6 months.

If it's IB then there is always a subtext (well known) that they will reduce headcount just before bonus time. Be positive, and as Mr Cool points out, keep your cool in interviews - be generous to your previous employer and dont allow yourself to be tripped into slating them.Good luck with the job hunt.

MarsThank You

I usually agree with both Mars and Mr Cool and today is no exception.But from a different perspective, as an interviewer and potential hirer, here's what I would do to dig and find out more.1. I would question WHY YOU? You've only been there six months, was redundancy a kind way of saying 'You're not good enough'.2. I would ask about what work you were hired to do, why there was suddenly no future in it and what did you do to contribute to it in the short time you were there.3. I'd want to know why you picked that firm and with the financial sector is in the turmoil its in, why didn't you see this coming?Keep your cool, stay confident and positive in your answers (but not too sickly) and you'd sail through. Show me nerves or any sign that you were sacked for lack of potential and guess what, not for me.I actually hire all sorts of misfits, waifs and strays and we have had great success in taking IB and Big4 cast offs; tell the truth, be strong and you'll be fine.If you try and mask redunancy as a stigma, I'd wonder what you were really ashamed of.

Thanks ^^If I am offered an alternate role within the bank in another department but at a lower grade, should I bite the bait and accept it ? Looks like I am going to be in that situation if I apply. I know the person whose hiring so I could be offered it.If I am offered and I reject it then I wont be offered any redundancy pay. The role is similar to what I was doing but at a lower grade and hence I believe lower pay.Or should I not apply and only look at roles equal to my exp level inside or outside my company.

In you know the hiring manager, could you have a quiet chat, get an indication of what would be offered, and your potential suitability for the role? This would also serve to indicate your interest and flag up your application ahead of any others.Generally I would suggest you are better off working, and if that happens to be in a more junior position at least you have a rationale to explain to future employers why you took the step down. If your redundancy payment is likely to be generous you may want to just take it and leave. The market IS picking up - but how fast? Fast enough for you to get back in the market before your redundancy/savings run out? You also have to consider whether you will be out for any length of time - 6 months you can write off as a career break, did some travelling, took a course in something (languages, PM etc). More than that and you are moving into that duration of time which could see you having to come back in at a more junior level anyway.Swings and roundabouts.If it was me I would apply for the more junior role (never know what doors it will open anyway) and if offered negotiate hard. Let them be the ones to try and pull out not you. Leaving you in line for redundancy anyway. But better to negotiate for every penny and benefit they can stomach to give you, then look for your next big gig while employed.

MarsThanks for the great advice again.I know the manager but dont know him very well. Will apply and then try to negotiate.What you said is very true, that I will have to go down that route if I find myself in this situation even after 6 months.