The grieving process of job loss

The past year has seen employment across the UK (and everywhere) impacted on so many different levels, and of course as an employment support project we fully expected to see this impact reflected in the needs of people who approached HeadsUp. Our Peer Support Workers (PSW) hear the stories of those who need our help, and recently, many of our new referrals were in (pre COVID) what they considered long term, committed job roles and had been working at their company for many years. Now finding themselves unemployed they understandably felt a sense of loss and confusion, several having originally been furloughed but then finding themselves being made redundant
Working with our PSW’s participants are offered space and time to reflect and allow almost a grieving process before they are able to realistically look to their future.
We then offer opportunity to talk about expectations of the interview process, as for many it has been some time since they went through application processes or attended an interview. Of course lockdown also causes a new and different way of interviewing that is new to most and can cause a real sense of anxiety about the whole process.
There are so many ways that PSW’s can help participants who find themselves in this situations, but the headline is really always around self confidence, making sure that people take time to think through everything that they have to offer, transferable skills along with the practical work experience. Motivation is also often something to work on especially when things are feeling pretty tough out there.
Getting back out there – it’s not as simple as it sounds but we are here to help make that happen!