{"id":747478,"date":"2026-06-19T21:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747478\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T21:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:22:11","slug":"how-to-recover-from-redundancy-two-womens-stories-of-career-changes-after-being-made-redundant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747478\/","title":{"rendered":"How to recover from redundancy: Two women\u2019s stories of career changes after being made redundant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Betha Giorgi spent years guiding companies through restructures<\/a>, but nothing could have prepared her for the shock of losing her own job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awful,\u201d the former senior Deloitte director says of her 2024 redundancy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Betha Giorgi describes her experience of being made redundant as “awful”.\u00a0Betha Giorgi<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was relief because I finally knew what was happening. But that quickly gave way to shock, fear and, if I\u2019m being completely honest, a sense of worthlessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than two decades building a corporate career across Australia<\/a> and the UK<\/a>, Giorgi found herself without the routine that had shaped her adult life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat surprised me most was how quickly your identity can become tied to your job,\u201d she tells nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ant Cohen, career<\/a> coach and founder of Project Placed, witnesses this pattern of thinking all the time. <\/p>\n

With the end of the financial year underway, his workload is growing as businesses slash costs through redundancies \u2013 and the IT sector is driving nearly a quarter of all cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cRedundancy isn\u2019t just a financial<\/a> event. It\u2019s often a grief event,\u201d Cohen says.<\/p>\n

Driven by panic, Giorgi rushed straight back into a corporate role<\/a> after being let go, before realising six months later it was no longer what she wanted.<\/p>\n

When asked what drove her decision to jump back in, the answer is simple: \u201cFear, if I\u2019m being honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen says one of the biggest mistakes people make is believing they have to immediately bounce back. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Redundancy is a grief event, but it doesn’t mean it\u2019s the end.\u00a0iStock<\/p>\n

Instead, he advises people to give themselves permission to step away and focus on basic well-being \u2013 like exercise, family<\/a> time, or hobbies \u2013 while maintaining a loose structure to avoid feeling overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

Giorgi found her turning point when she stopped focusing on what she had lost and looked at what was already in front of her.<\/p>\n

Little Bay Beauty began as a natural skincare passion project during her maternity leave, which she ran alongside her demanding full-time job.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the chapter you didn\u2019t choose becomes the one that changes everything.<\/p>\n

Betha Giorgi <\/p>\n

Redundancy gave her the time to rebuild the brand, refine products, and invest in ideas she had previously shelved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that losing something I thought I wanted gave me the opportunity to build something I truly love,\u201d Giorgi says.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Krish Waje never expected her small business to take off the way it did after her redundancy.\u00a0Quincy Lim <\/p>\n

Former business analyst Krish Waje found herself at a similar crossroads after her entire team was made redundant by global tech giant<\/a> Qualtrics in 2024.<\/p>\n

Like Giorgi, Waje\u2019s inclination was to stay on the corporate path, even securing a new role as a business analyst at TikTok.<\/p>\n

She ultimately walked away from it to focus on Lunaire, a refillable candle company she had launched while working full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing made redundant felt daunting at the time, but it ended up being the best thing that could have happened to me,\u201d Waje says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt forced me to back myself and fully commit to a vision I believed in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building a business didn\u2019t make the redundancies any less painful, though it did force both women to rethink what success actually looked like.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became about creativity, building something meaningful, having flexibility, and spending time with my son<\/a> while he\u2019s still young,\u201d Giorgi says. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt forced me to back myself and fully commit to a vision I believed in.\u201d\u00a0Dan Himbrechts<\/p>\n

Cohen views this reassessment as a natural reaction to job loss, urging people to separate their self-worth from a corporate decision entirely out of their control.<\/p>\n

For anyone navigating that transition, Giorgi says the most important step is allowing yourself time to process the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the chapter you didn\u2019t choose becomes the one that changes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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