Handy hints for redundancy

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderHandy hints for redundancy
Jackie:  Hello, you're listening to Weekender, withme, Jackie Dalton. This week,we're talking about what happens when you're maderedundant. To be'made redundant 1' means to lose your job because you're nolonger needed– usually not a very happy experience to go through. But,as we're going to find out, it doesn't always have to bebad news. In this programme, we hear from a famous businessexpert and writer, Charles Handy. He has lots of usefuladvice about coping with redundancy. What's his first pieceof advice? Listen to find out.
　　Charles HandyMy advice would be to see it as an opportunit y to reinventyour life.
　　Jackie:  Charles says you should see redundancy asan opportunity to reinvent your life – a chance to dosomething completely different with yourself. Charles saysthis probably won't be quick and easy. What should you doif you want to reinvent your life after redundancy? Listento Charles again.
　　Charles HandyMy advice would be to see it as an opportunity to reinventyour life, actually. And if you reinvent your life,remember that you've got to re-educate yourself and thatmeans investing in yourself.
　　Jackie:  Charles says you must 're-educate' yourself– you must learn new things.
　　And you have to invest in yourself. To 'invest' insomething means to puttime, energy or money into it to make it work. Charles hasa good suggestion for how you can invest in yourself. Whatis it?
　　Charles HandyOne of the best ways of re-educating or reinventingyourself is to do a lowly paid or unpaid 2 internship 3 orapprenticeship. In other words, attach yourself in some wayto people in another kind of trade or occupation orprofession and learn their business. I think that we'regong to have to do that much more often in our lives.
　　Jackie:  Charles suggests an internship orapprenticeship, which, as he explains, is when you work fora firm for a while in order to learn how to do a particularjob - a great way to learn a completely new skill. Whenyou're made redundant, you often get a lump sum of money –a certain amount of money in one go, a 'lump sum'  – tomake up for the fact that you are losing your job. DoesCharles think it's a good idea to spend that lump sum on aholiday? Listen for the answer.
　　Charles HandyLucky you, you are being made redundant, you will get alump sum of some sort – that's your investment inyourself. Now don't go and blow it on a cruise or aholiday, put itinto something – and I'm not saying necessarily a course– but some experience that will help you into a next kindof life.
　　Jackie:  Did you get the answer? Charles says DON'Tblow the lump sum on a holiday – don't 'blow' it – don'twaste it on a holiday. Put it into an experience ortraining that will help you.
　　Charles HandyI suspect, somewhere at the back of your mind you have alittle dream of what you could have been and this is yourtime to be what you could have been.
　　Jackie:  Do you have a little dream that you neverquite made into reality? As Charles points out, redundancyis often a great chance to reinvent yourself and do whatyou always wanted to do.
　　BBC Learning EnglishJackie:  Business expert, Charles Handy says thatour attitude towards careers is changing – in what way?
　　Listen to him explain.
　　Charles HandyIt used to be that you defined yourself according to theorganisation you were in, so if you asked somebody whatthey did, they'd say 'I'm with IBM and that was adefinition and then it became 'Well, I'm a marketing 5 man…I'm a marketing woman and I'm with IBM,' so there's asubtle change to devote the profession or occupation ratherthan the organisation 4.
　　Jackie:  So, according to Charles, in the past ifsomeone asked you what your job was, you might have repliedby telling them what company you worked for. For example,'I work for the BBC'; 'I work for HSBC.' But now, more andmore people reply by saying first what they do, forexample,'I'm a journalist,' or 'I'm an accountant.' Charles sayssome people work in lots of different areas.
　　Charles HandyAnd increasingly people are going a little broader thanthat. Now the interesting peopleI meet these days are the kinds of people who produce threebusiness cards.
　　Jackie:  Charles says some people he meets nowproduce three business cards. A'business card' is a small piece of card which you give topeople you meet. It has your contact details and job titleon it. What Charles is saying is that some people he's methave skills in more than one area –they are able to do several different kinds of jobs –something he thinks is really important – why?
　　Charles HandyAnd increasingly people are going a little broader thanthat. Now the interesting people I meet these days are thekinds of people who produce three business cards. And so Iwant to encourage people, even when they're in theorganisation, to experiment with different identities sothat if they lose one, they're not absolutely stuck.
　　Jackie:  Did you work out why being able to do morethan one job is good?
　　Charles says it's because if you lose one kind of job,you're not stuck; there are still other things you coulddo. So, some handy advice from Charles Handy there. Try andgather as many different skills as you can, even if it'swithin one organisation and if you are made redundant, seeit as an opportunity – a chance to reinvent yourself andmaybe even turn a long-lost dream into reality.