‘I keep getting made redundant. Is something wrong with me?’

In this newsletter, I'm analysing the situation of a girl called Jasmine. 

Jasmine reached out to me last year via TikTok. She had just been made redundant for the 3rd time in 4 years. 

And her question to me was ‘Is there something wrong with me?’

What’s the challenge?

Jasmine is early in her career - the first 6 years. She graduated just before the Covid Pandemic and since then has been on a Career Rollercoaster.

For anyone that graduated just before, or during, the height of the Covid Pandemic, my heart goes out to you. It was a very very messy market in which to navigate the early years of your career. 

And then when it was ‘over’ you get hit with a recession. 

How did she get here?

Like many graduates, Jasmine took the first job she could get when she graduated back in 2019. It was at a small creative agency and even though it wasn’t her Dream Job, she loved the work. 

But when Covid hit, she lost her job.

With less than a year of working under her belt, it was a challenge to find the next role. 

Eventually she secured a role with a tech start-up, which again, she felt excited about.

But at the back end of 2022, like many of the tech companies, they started to make layoffs and Jasmine lost her job for a second time.

Her most recent experience was agency side again. With the economies of the world in a recession, the agency lost some big clients, and for the third time, Jasmine lost her job.

My Thoughts

Change the narrative 

The first thing I recommended to Jasmine was a vocabulary shift. She kept telling me ‘I was made redundant’. I had to remind her that THE ROLE has been made redundant and that it was very important for her talk about this accurately.

It might seem small but it’s important. There is nothing wrong with you. But if you are constantly telling yourself ‘I was made redundant’, it is very easy to believe something is wrong with you. 

Don’t create poor stories

One of the biggest gifts we have as human beings is our ability to create stories. Our whole society is based on stories created to keep it running smoothly. 

And yet when it comes to ourselves, we often create stories that do not serve us. And are not true. 

In this situation Jasmine has created a story for herself that there is something wrong with HER. When the reality is, between a world-wide pandemic and a global recession, there is nothing wrong with Jasmine. She’s simply graduated into one of the toughest job markets in recent history. It’s bad timing. Nothing more.

Reframe the situation

My practical recommendation for Jasmine was to reframe this situation. Right now her mind defaults to ‘there is something wrong with me’. 

She needs to train her brain to default to the more accurate truth of the situation - she graduated into a tough job market, but there is nothing wrong with her.

This is an exercise I did back in 2014 to reframe the way I felt about getting fired for the 2nd time in my career. 

I recommended it to Jasmine as over time it will start to shift the default of her brain to stop thinking there is something wrong with her. 

I recommended she literally re-writes the story around her redundancies.

Sit down with a piece of paper and write a more accurate account of what happened. One that serves her better and is more positive and kind to part she played in the redundancies. 

Then record it on her phone. And listen back to it everyday.

Until one day, she will realise her new default is this more positive story.

This is an incredibly easy, powerful and effective exercise that I use very often to change the way I think. The power of hearing your own voice every day, telling you a new story, is incredible. You will see a change very quickly. I highly recommend it for any story you need to change.

Love this tactic? It is part of my Creative Career Level Up programme. 

If you would like help finding your next perfect role, the Creative Career Level Up programme might be the right fit for you.