Category: Career Advice

When first notified that your role is at risk for redundancy, your first feelings are an equal mixture of disbelief and panic. This fades into being upset, then angry, then numb.

This is almost identical to breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, though I have to assume a lot less kissing and hugging had been previously involved.

You may even try to work something out with your employer; apply for other jobs internally, write long rambling documents about what you COULD do, and how you could help if you stayed. It’s only natural to try everything.

But you have to ask yourself some VERY hard questions, and you may not like the answers; Did this happen to just you, or was your layoff one of many? Do their reasons make sense? Your introspection will pay off eventually, and allow you to move on much faster than if you hold on to your pain, and/or sense of injustice.

Besides, it may well be redundancy was their way of being NICE, they can always fire you…

The longer you have been in an organisation, the harder this is, and it’s natural to feel a little bitter and resentful. Venting to your friends is one thing, it’s even healthy in small doses, but venting to everyone you talk to, or in writing, or worse, in your next interview, will do nothing but hurt you.

Don’t do it.

You will be asked about why you left your previous employer, and because redundancy is a part of business, don’t raise any red flags by being derogatory or negative. Nor do you have to go the other way and say how much you enjoyed the previous job, that just makes your interviewer feel as though he/she is your second choice.

Be factual, and move on.

Once your redundancy has been finalised, and you have accepted the reality of it, get busy. Revamp your CV (which should always be up to date), revamp your LinkedIn profile, and start calling people. It’s not until something like this happens that you realise just how many people you know out there, and just how many will bend over backwards to help you. Reconnect, find a recruiter you trust, and see what’s out there.

There seems to be equal opinions on whether you should take some time off (if you can afford to), or jump right back on the saddle. Ignore everyone (except your spouse, that’s a bad idea) and do what’s right for you.

You can also try blogging, even if it’s just for a while, there is nothing quite like writing things down to put clarity into your thoughts. You will also find that it helps crystallise in your mind what you want to do next. Have a read of this post again, and bear it in mind when choosing your next adventure; Never Follow The Money

But what happens when your company is in the middle of laying people off, and you think you may be next?

You have to be even more careful, as you may just put yourself in a position to BE laid off that you were not in before! You are worried, so your motivation and morale slip, then your attention slips, closely followed by loss of productivity. This will be noticed, and you have now put yourself firmly in their radar in a negative way.

I’m not saying don’t start looking around for something else, in fact you should ALWAYS be open to opportunity, but you still have a job to do, so do it well.

I don’t know what the statistics are, it’s too nice outside to bother with research, but I’d say over the course of your careers you will be fired once, and laid-off once. So assume it will happen to you at some point and be ready for it.

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One of my favourite quotes from The Dark Knight; “You know what I’ve noticed? Nobody panics when things go “according to plan.” Even if the plan is horrifying!”

A little dramatic perhaps – not to mention some of the best acting of all time – but this directly applies to customer service.

Your clients don’t get anywhere near as angry if you come to them with a potential issue, it’s when they have to constantly chase you for resolution of a KNOWN issue that things go horribly wrong.  If your customer service is only ever reactive, you have failed, and if you can’t even react well, you are out of the game.

From my favourite website ever, www.despair.com;

customerdisservicedemotivator

Type in the phrase ‘customer service’ into Google and you’ll get over 8 BILLION results. There are institutions and college degrees dedicated to it, books by the thousand, and articles and blogs by the million (this one is very good; 8 Rules for Good Customer Service, by Susan Ward), yet how do organisations STILL get it wrong?

That’s easy, blame the CEO (or equivalent).

Just as a lack of a security culture is the CEOs fault, lack of a Customer Service culture is every bit as much on their shoulders.  As I stated incessantly; “Let’s be very clear; The CEO sets the tone for the entire company: its vision, its values, its direction, and its priorities.  If the organisation fails to achieve [enter goal here], its the CEOs fault, and no-one else’s.”

Replace “enter goal here” with “Customer Satisfaction”  and the rest is the same.

The symptoms of the inability of some organisations to provide good customer service (the CEO being the cause) can include;

  1. Poor selling techniques – if salespeople are not trained to sell only what the customer needs (not wants or even asks for), the organisation behind this salesperson will be unable to support the customers questions.  I don’t care how nice you are, or how great your products, if you’ve sold something the client doesn’t need, they will rarely buy from you again;
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  2. Poor products or services – there’s a fairly good chance that if your vendor does not provide good customer service, the other services and products provided by them are suspect, and should be reviewed.  Do your research, and ALWAYS ask for a proof of concept (POC) before you buy.  No POC, no purchase;
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  3. Black-hole communication – No-one wants to be yelled at, so if your calls and emails are going unanswered, there’s a very good chance you aren’t going to like the answer when you finally get them.  This is also an extension of 2.  And finally, forget how quickly the salesperson comes back to you BEFORE the sale, how are they immediately after?;
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  4. No Customer Service SLAs built in – in other words, if you have to ask for SLAs related to communication, or even something as simple as response times, there’s a good chance you won’t get the service you’re looking for;
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  5. Very low renewal rates – include this question in your RFP for new services and products, and have them prove it;
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  6. Limited, or no references – this one is too obvious  to expand on, but ignore industry awards, they are a farce.

An organisation that truly embraces a customer service culture will probably allude to it in their Vision Statement, and almost definitely in their Values.  Do business with only those organisations that take the term ‘partnership’ seriously, especially in security, and ANY company that bandies around the phrase ‘Trusted Partner’ needs to be taking client satisfaction to the next level.  Are they?

Good customer service is even simpler than security, and far less difficult to achieve, you just have to treat it as a foundation of doing business.  Your clients happiness is more important than your profit.  If you don’t believe that, you don’t care enough about them to give them what they need.

In one respect or another, we are ALL customer service reps, and this (to me) is the definitive guide to being a good rep; How To Win Friends And Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.

Yes I’ve read it …twice, and yes, I still have a lot of work to do 🙂

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