Certainly more than half the people we meet have had a redundancy situation at some stage. So the first piece of advice is that there is no stigma attached to being made redundant. Every day we meet people who have experienced this trauma.

Those people being considered for redundancy will be informed that they are at risk and will be put into a consultation period, at the end of which they will be told whether or not they have a role at the organisation. It's at this stage that people should start covering their options.

In the event of their role being confirmed as safe in the new structure then all well and good but our advice is to prepare for the worst. It's also at this point that one should remind oneself that this happens to a lot of people – it does not mean you are bad at your job!

Our advice to people is to always keep their CV up-to-date, regardless of whether they are looking to move. Recording a specific achievement as and when it happens will inevitably be more compelling than trying to dredge your memory three years on. But if it is out of date, dust it off and get it ship-shape. 

Everyone has a view about CV’s, their layout, content etc. Generally people think that two pages is about right. Keep it pithy. Focus on specific and measurable achievements that you can genuinely claim to have contributed to. Avoid too much prose and put academics at the back. A good recruitment or outplacement consultant will help here.

Too many people just update their CV by adding a bit at the top and everything else shunts back – making the CV gradually longer and more unconnected – like a collection of short stories. What people should do is stand back and treat their CV as their two page pitch document and they should ask themselves “does this document accurately and properly sum up what I have done, what I am proud and will it help me get where I want to get to?” If the answer is “no” then do it again! People say to us: “I will send you my CV but it is a bit rusty”.

Can you imagine a law firm sending a proposal to a client saying: “please see attached our proposal, it needs a bit of work but it gives you the general idea?”. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

When you know you are going to be made redundant find out what help your current employer will give you – if any. Of course the main issue will relate to your severance package (financial) – and firms vary enormously in their approach to this. You will probably need to consult lawyers here. 

Other assistance may be in the form of outplacement, time off for interviews, sessions with recruiters who have been retained to assist those at risk. Take as much free help as you can.

We all know that people regard recruiters with a degree of skepticism. But like any industry there are good, OK and bad ones. Do your due diligence – ask your colleagues who they have used. Speak to HR about who they rate. This is important as most roles still come via agencies. 

Make sure you choose one which deals at the right level. Some focus on senior appointments, some at executive level (you can usually tell which is which by the roles on their websites). Once you have identified who to use, contact them and arrange a face-to-face meeting with them. Always be honest with a recruiter about why you are leaving/have left and take advice on how to present this both in your CV and at interview.

Do not use too many agencies – but don’t use just one. The former often creates confusion as to which recruiter is representing you for a certain role (many firms use more than four recruiters for a vacancy). 

The latter is likely to see you miss out on a few roles – and in this market this needs to be avoided. If you do not see eye to eye with your consultant and there is no trust then it probably won’t work.

If you have not had an interview for a while ask your recruiter or outplacement consultant to do a dry run – there is nothing worse than messing up an interview simply due to rusty interview technique. 

Other crucial things to consider here are preparing for the meeting – it sounds simple but people often don’t do it. This includes reading through your CV and making sure you can substantiate everything in it but also incorporates extensive research into the client, its competitors, press releases etc. If there is a spec, read it again.

Be honest and open – you will inevitably be asked about the background to your job search. Remember, there is no stigma attached to being made redundant. Explain the situation as it is and don’t hide anything.

Aside from using a recruitment consultancy, the other routes to your next role include the use of various websites. Make sure you register on these and receive email alerts for relevant roles. 

Some will also allow you to put your CV into a “tank” which employers and recruiters will search regularly when they have new roles. Make sure they can find you. Optimum use of jobsites is crucial. A bit less personal maybe but crucial. A friend of mine just secured a role as CEO for a role he applied to on a generic jobsite.

Another route is networking sites. Linkedin being the most obvious. Make sure you update your profile and connect to the relevant networks. These sites should now be a fundamental strand of any job search.

As the market starts to improve it's likely that there will be more contract work about. Don’t rule this out. A three to twelve month contract can give you a good name on your CV, some interesting work, a good income – and many contracts go permanent. 

Contracting can be done via a limited company (and charging a daily rate through this – either direct or via a recruiter who will take a margin) or by going on a firm’s payroll and being paid on a pro-rata permanent salary.

The world has changed. Securing a 20% increase on your current basic salary will probably not be possible. Our advice is to show some flexibility. Moving for the same as you had previously or even taking a slight drop should be encouraged if the role is right for non financial reasons. Of course too much flexibility can sound desperate – there needs to be a balance here. Focus also on Benefits – the most important ones being bonus (explore the criteria – they are usually discretionary but some are more likely to happen than others), pension and holidays (an extra three days might be just what you need).

Do your own due diligence, find out how the firm is doing (many firms are LLP’s so their accounts can accessed via companies house), ask people in the know and obviously ask them directly. If you are not happy with the answers you get, dig a bit deeper and then ultimately make your call. One thing we do know about law firms is that in this market the internal sign off procedure for each piece of recruitment that they do is incredibly strict – so if a firm is actively recruiting it is pretty likely they have the budget and requirement for the role.

Good luck.