At the end of April I was made redundant from my role at Workday.

I was hesitant to write about this subject so openly in public, as there’s sometimes a bit of a stigma attached to being laid off. But I feel it’s important to be honest and transparent about this kind of thing – particularly because it’s so very common in the big tech companies at the moment.

Leaving Workday

Workday laid off around 8.5% of it’s global workforce, which in Dublin meant that several hundred roles were made redundant – including mine. It was a tough process to go through, and was somewhat drawn-out by the consultation periods required by Irish law. But it wasn’t my first rodeo. This is the third time I’ve been made redundant, so I was somewhat more equipped to navigate it than some of my colleagues.

My last day was officially at the end of April, but I knew from early February that I was pretty certain to go, so I was able to start job hunting before I finished.

Job search with the help of a career coach

The tech job market in Ireland is tough at the moment. Quite a few tech companies have laid off staff over the last year or two, and so there’s a large supply of talented candidates all applying for the same jobs.

One recruiter confided in me that she had received over 300 applications for a Product Owner role she was trying to fill, and was overwhelmed trying to screen them all and come up with a short-list of 15 CVs to forward on to the hiring manager.

One thing that helped me was engaging with the career coaching service that was provided for free as part of my redundancy terms. I always thought that my interview skills, CV and LinkedIn profile were all pretty good – but my coach helped step through them all, and gave helpful and encouraging support to improve them all.

Even just the process of practising some interview questions was invaluable. I was out of practice in interview technique, as it’s been a few years. And so, running through some competency based questions – and receiving feedback on my answers – was very valuable. And I feel it was instrumental in landing my new role.

A new start with Aon

They say that you should always build your network. And for me, a chance conversation on a Saturday morning with someone that was volunteering with me at a Parkrun event eventually led to me landing a new job.

I mentioned that I about to be made redundant, and my fellow volunteer said that their company was hiring at the moment. And that company was Aon.

I submitted my CV, was thankfully selected for interview – and with the help and encouragement from my career coach, I had two rounds of interviews, and within a day or so of the second round, I was given a verbal offer.

I ended up being out of work for only about a month, because I started with Aon this week – as a Data Analytics Product Manager working for Aon’s Centre for Innovation and Analytics here in Dublin.

The people are lovely, the role seems interesting and challenging, and I feel that I’ve really landed on my feet.