With a little help from my friends

What would you do, if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me

Twas the weeks before Christmas, when all through the office, not a creature was stirring, apart from the frantic scurrying of everyone trying to hit a deadline before the customers/suppliers ‘break-up’, effectively downing tools for a fortnight.

Back in the dark ages when I was at school, it was only really the days of ‘Twixtmas, those lazy, do-nothing days between Boxing Day and New Years Eve that it felt like the world had stopped. Back then, unless you were at school, the world kept going right up until Christmas Eve. Now though, I’m starting to see out-of-office notifications for the rest of 2023. Even my own Christmas break in theory starts at 5pm this evening, on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. Memo to self: don’t leave it until the last week of June to book your first day-off of the year, you’re just storing up hassle.

The exception to all this of course, is anyone who works in retail or hospitality, for whom the bank holidays, apart from Christmas are just another working day. And, as an aside, when did the January Sales of my childhood morph into the Boxing Day Sales?

So, we’re in the period of earworms with a Christmas theme: no sooner have you got Last Christmas out of your head than you go into the next shop to replace it with Band Aid or Mariah Carey. The period when everyone’s asking if you’ve done all your shopping yet, and the shops are full of sparkly, sequinned flimsy outfits that really only work if you’re not intending to go anywhere outside to, say, walk home or wait for the taxi.

Alas, this period is also, all too often synonymous with the sound of P45s dropping onto desks, of notifications of consultation periods and redundancies.

A quick look down my  LinkedIn timeline shows that this year is probably even worse than normal. It’s grim out there, and by all accounts 2024, the first part anyway, is going to be a real toughie.

On of the things this industry is great at is networking. But I don’t just mean the random collection of business connections on Linked In, business cards in a drawer or contacts on an Excel spreadsheet. I mean this sector is phenomenal at building good, solid partnerships. Business relationships that turn into solid, personal friendships that outstay the day jobs. Business contacts that you know will help you out if you need them.

It looks as though there are a lot of people out there who do need those contacts now, and those relationships are coming good. For my LinkedIn timeline is full of notifications that people are Open To Work, partly because their posts have been reposted, often with recommendations or simply a good luck message by others, who then repost again. Until the original poster – spotted one just this morning- is able to say ‘I’ve switched off the Open To Work notification’. Hurrah.

We’ve seen so many times in the last few years that this industry looks after its own. So, if you are in the unfortunate position of having been let-go, remember it’s probably not you, but the job that’s been made redundant. And that there is a whole sector around you willing to offer its help. Somewhere there’s a hole – round, square, triangular, hexagonal – that you will fit into. Use your contacts, use your friends and they will help you find it.