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C2 and Queen Mary, University of London

C2 supported Queen Mary, University of London in providing support to members of their staff who were facing redundancy, either as a result of structural change or because their contract was coming to an end.

Staff affected by redundancy at this time included chefs, catering assistants and some clerical staff. Many of these employees had been with QM for a long time, and had opted for redundancy as they were unable to commit to variable shift patterns under the new structure.

We carried out half day and one day workshops for these individuals and concentrated on advising them on how to re-enter the job market. The focus was on confidence-building, interview preparation, job application and CV writing skills. In addition to the workshops ad hoc drop-in support was provided as well as one hour, one-to-one career development sessions.

The roles of several senior administrative staff, many of whom had been with the college for less than two years, were also at risk of redundancy. They were experienced, well-educated, mobile professionals who were facing a variety of options for their next move. For this group of individuals we adopted a slightly different approach by offering the services of two of our careers consultants over the transition period to run a combination of group sessions and flexible individual coaching. The group sessions covered:

1. Career directions and options
2. Intelligent job hunting
3. Effective applications
4. Interview skills

Clients were then able to arrange for up to two personal coaching sessions to focus on an area of their choice. Some wanted career guidance and others chose to use the time for interview performance coaching.

The feedback for both the group and individual sessions was extremely positive, for example:

“It made me realise my skills, build my confidence
and feel a little less daunted about the prospect of job hunting.”