Redundancy is bad enough, but it is even worse for many when they have to reapply for their own jobs. Too often companies decide to restructure or merge and you find that you have to apply for either your own job, or the slightly revised new job.
Many believe that this is to get rid of the older, more experienced and more expensive stuff for those who are younger and cheaper.
It is also so terribly stressful and so different than applying for a job in the normal way. Some recent research from the Keep Britain Working Group have found that two thirds of British workers would rather leave than reapply for their own job.
Satham Sanghera has recently written about this in The Times and there’s a lot of sound comment
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/sathnam_sanghera/article7000701.ece. It is different than applying for a job in a new company and you are already known. This can make it difficult to put a positive spin on your experience when your manager will be likely to comment on what you are actually like.
I’ve personally been involved in this twice, both times used as an external consultant to provide objectivity, and it was a full assessment centre, not ‘just an interview’. I’ve always been carefully to set the scene sensitively but it is stressful – last week you were seen as competent for the job, this week you are having to compete.
You have to go in to thye situation as well prepared as for an expternal assessment, and you can’t make assumptions that the interviewer knows what you have done. Most times the decisions will be made on performance on the day.
I’d be very happy to answer any questions you have on this subject so feel free to post a question below and I’ll get back with a response.
