Rebuilding Your Life After Redundancy: The New Life Network Handbook [Paperback]

After receiving the shock of being told I was to be made redundant following 9 years in a company I purchased this book. I have not looked back! It is so motivational I could not put it down and I read it in a day, then went back and re-read it again this time doing all the exercises over the next week. I am so excited to be faced with so many options that I had not thought of. Forget paying £thousands on careers counselling - buy this book instead and save the money. My copy is now filled with sticky notes and highlighted parts and I now realise the world is my oyster!

Janet Davies's book reads like a road map from redundancy to finding a new future. She's done meticulous research, and there are valuable pointers in it on the legal problems, the financial headaches, and the daunting challenges of setting up your own business, along with advice on networking and writing cv's in the search for a new job. And best of all - she never sounds dejected! Put it this way - a tenner spent on this book would be better spent than several thousand pounds in the pockets of some employment agency.

It seems that in any crisis, there is no shortage of gurus and experts to offer advice and support. Sometimes the advice is helpful and at other times it muddies the waters and smacks of opportunism. Thankfully, Janet Davies, in this "New Life Network Handbook", comes across as one of the most productive and clear purveyors of practical wisdom on the subject of redundancy, its effects on people and significant ways to map out a route to a better future. This book offers clear and calm information on how to deal with the shock and emotions of sudden job loss, how to reassess finances and costs of living, how to use redundancy-enforced "free time" to the best advantage and how to see the potential disaster of redundancy as a springboard to life changes and new opportunities.
It gives step-by-step guidance on the construction of effective CVs, useful tips on job-hunting, the power of networking and the importance of good interview preparation and performance. It also explores the possibilities of self-employment, getting qualifications for a new trade, freelancing and working abroad. There are many addresses, web links and other contacts throughout the pages and lots of straightforward analysis on how to cope with redundancy's aftershock and how to act sensibly and positively. The contents might not be new but the tone and clarity of presentation places this book as one of the best of its type.
The book market is awash with job-hunting, self-development and lifestyle tomes and it can be a difficult choice for newly redundant people to decide how they should spend their money wisely. This is a great investment. As someone who has had two redundancy experiences in a long career, I think I can spot advice that is neither patronising nor stuffy, neither full of platitudes nor jargon, neither selfish nor opportunistic. At the time of my job losses, I wish there had been a book like this to help me make sense of it all. It's no fun to be dumped on the scrapheap for reasons of personal dignity, family and financial pressures, and it is vital that people who are forced to become unemployment statistics find an ally, supporter and straight-talker to help them through the crisis. Janet Davies ticks those three boxes because of her empathy and authority on the subject. I see the book as a kind of lifebelt for anyone suddenly thrown overboard by employers, and like a lifebelt in troubled waters, it is there for a reason. Grab it!