The call you dread. The mystery meeting that appears in your calendar. Finding out you’ve been made redundant can feel very personal, and navigating the emotional experience – as well as practical next steps – is far from easy.
By now, economic shocks, pandemics and disruption from AI have meant most lawyers have felt the impact of redundancy firsthand, either personally or as part of far smaller teams told to ‘do more with less.’ Prior to her role as the College of Law’s National Careers Strategist, Ruth Beran spent years as a career coach, focused on outplacement. This saw her help a number of senior lawyers navigate the fraught emotional waters following redundancy.
With restructures increasingly common – Australians can, on average, expect to experience redundancy up to three times – we spoke to Ruth for her pragmatic insights on how to navigate redundancy.
“Firstly, it’s important to note that it is not the person who has been made redundant, but their role,” clarifies Ruth. “This is why we tend to say ‘someone whose role has been made redundant’, rather than ‘retrenched.’”
Nuances like these can help tackle the immediate emotional turmoil of losing your job.
Make space for your emotional response
While it can be tempting to speed run through your feelings, Ruth cautions against this.
“Some people need a little bit of time to process a redundancy,” Ruth says. “It can come as a shock, but a redundancy can allow you to reflect on your career and determine what your ideal next job will be.”
This can provide space to move forward and take ownership of your career.
“While it can be hard not to feel like a redundancy is personal, when your role is made redundant, it is not about you,” says Ruth. “It is more about the role and how it fitted into the structure of the organisation.”
Knowing this can help you separate the emotional experience of being made redundant from what it actually means for your legal career.
“If the redundancy comes with a package, this can help enormously – particularly if you’re able to secure a new role quickly,” observes Ruth. However, she advises against an anxious rush into a new job.
“The worst thing to do is take your next role without reflecting, as a knee jerk reaction. Often, this will just mean that you are looking for a job again in a few months’ time.”
How to speak about your redundancy with confidence
Once you have processed your feelings around a redundancy, the practical question of how to talk about it looms large, particularly when it comes to job interviews. The good news, according to Ruth, is that the stigma has largely faded.
"These days redundancy is not a bad word and there is less stigma attached," she says. "It is a good idea to work out what your story will be when asked at interview why your last role ended, noting that it is alright to simply say that your organisation went through a restructure."
Having a clear, composed narrative ready can make all the difference in how you are perceived by a prospective employer. One note of caution, however: resist the temptation to vent.
"Try not to bad mouth the employer who made your role redundant in an interview, as this may reflect badly on you — even if you have a real reason to be negative," Ruth advises.
Beyond the interview room, your network is one of your most valuable assets during this period. Ruth recommends using LinkedIn strategically, though with some nuance.
"You can use LinkedIn as a way of reaching out to your network to let people know you are looking for work," she says. "The simple process of looking over your LinkedIn contacts can help you see people you could reach out personally to speak with."
When it comes to visibility settings on the platform, Ruth draws a clear distinction. "I do not advise using the Out of Work green frame around your picture on LinkedIn, but I do recommend sharing that you are Out of Work with recruiters. If any recruiters have contacted you in the past, make sure to let them know you are looking for work too."
Positioning yourself for opportunity
Redundancy creates an unexpected gift: Time. For lawyers in the position to use it intentionally, that time can become the foundation for something better than what came before.
"Use this time to position yourself for your next role, whether that be through further study, volunteering or networking," Ruth says.
The possibilities are broader than many lawyers initially realise, and the outcomes can be career-defining. Some use the time to undertake the Legal Practice Management Course, positioning themselves to run a firm or assume a higher leadership role. Others find their way into advisory or board roles.
Ruth has seen this play out firsthand. "One solicitor I know used his redundancy package to study for the bar exam and become a successful barrister," she recalls. "Without his redundancy package he would not have had this opportunity to make this career defining move."
For others, the priority is maintaining momentum — and income — while the bigger picture comes into focus.
"Another was able to use the time in between roles to do some contracting to bring in income while he worked out what his next role was going to be," Ruth notes.
Whatever path you choose, Ruth emphasises the importance of being able to articulate it.
"Whatever you decide to do, think about how you are going to be able to tell a prospective employer what you used your time in between roles for, in the same way that someone who has taken a career break needs to tell that story when re-entering the workforce."
In other words, a gap in your CV is only an issue if you don’t explain what you did with that time. Framed well, it can reveal a professional who took deliberate steps to position themselves for the right opportunity.
Build your network before you need it
Long gone are the days in which we held one job or stayed in one organisation over a 40-year career. Building career resilience, then, requires careful thought and intentionality.
For Ruth, one of the most underused tools available to lawyers is the informational interview.
"One way to be proactive around networking is to reach out to the profession for informational interviews," she says. "Ask people you admire, or would like to work for, about their careers, how they got to where they are, what they love about their jobs, what keeps them up at night, what advice they would give to you."
The value extends beyond the conversation itself.
"In doing so, you are starting up a conversation and making yourself memorable at the same time," Ruth observes. "This type of networking can set you up for the rest of your career, and some of these people may end up being your mentors."
Visibility, she adds, can also be cultivated closer to home. "Consider joining associations or the young lawyers of your state's law society and go to networking events or sub-committee meetings," Ruth suggests. "Try volunteering at a community legal centre or a non-legal not-for-profit. These are all good ways to network and be visible."
The thread running through all of Ruth's advice is the same: redundancy, when it comes, is far easier to navigate if the groundwork has already been laid. Building your network before you need it means it will be there for you when you do. That’s how having a strong network, a clear professional narrative, and a willingness to use unexpected downtime thoughtfully, can set you up for recovery, and in the long run, a resilient legal career.
