What Happens if You Get Laid Off Just Before Christmas? Tips and ideas to save the situation

The Christmas season is meant to be a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. 

But being laid off from your job just before Christmas can cast a shadow over the festivities, leaving you feeling uncertain, stressed, and even a bit lost. 

And firms do seem to lay staff off just before the Christmas break for whatever reason.

While it’s natural to feel overwhelmed initially, this tough situation can also be an opportunity to reflect, recalibrate, and rebuild. Let’s explore how to survive the immediate challenges and thrive in the long term.

Strategies to Survive the Immediate Impact

Pause and Process

Allow yourself time to process your emotions. Losing a job is a significant life event, and it’s okay to feel upset or angry. Talk to someone you trust—a family member, friend, or counsellor—about your feelings. This emotional reset is essential before moving forward.

Review Your Finances

Take stock of your savings and calculate how long they’ll last if you cut back on discretionary expenses.

Create a temporary budget focusing on essentials like rent, bills, and groceries.

Look into any severance pay, redundancy payments, or benefits you’re entitled to. In the UK, for instance, you may qualify for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or Universal Credit.

Communicate with Loved Ones

Share the news with your family or household. Being honest about your situation can help everyone adjust their expectations and provide support when you need it most.

Cut Costs Without Killing the Festive Spirit

Opt for smaller, meaningful gifts instead of expensive ones. Consider homemade items or thoughtful gestures.

Take advantage of free or low-cost festive activities in your area, like Christmas lights displays or carol services.

Explore Temporary Work

Retail, hospitality, and delivery sectors often hire seasonal workers over the holidays. Taking a short-term job not only provides income but also keeps you active and engaged.

Strategies to Thrive and Build a Better Future

Reflect on Your Career Goals

Use this time to evaluate your career path. Were you truly satisfied in your previous role? What aspects of your work brought you joy, and what did you find draining? Clarity about your goals can guide your next steps.

Upskill or Reskill

Enrol in online courses or workshops to sharpen your skills or learn new ones. Platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Udemy offer affordable or free options. Many of these courses are automated, so you can complete them any time throughout the Christmas season. 

Consider certifications in growing industries, such as tech, project management, or digital marketing.

Expand Your Network

Attend industry events or connect with professionals in your field through platforms like LinkedIn.

Let your network know you’re looking for opportunities—it’s often who you know that leads to your next role.

Join community groups or online forums related to your profession.

Revamp Your CV and Online Presence

Update your CV to reflect your latest accomplishments. Tailor it for the roles you’re targeting.

Similarly, polish your LinkedIn profile—include a professional photo, optimise your headline, and highlight key achievements.

Consider Freelancing or Consulting

If you have expertise in a specific field, freelancing or consulting can be a lucrative way to bridge the gap between jobs—or even become a long-term career move.

Plan for Self-Employment or a Career Pivot

If you’ve been dreaming of starting your own business, now could be the time to explore that idea.

Consider career pivots into industries less vulnerable to layoffs or better aligned with your interests.

Mental Health: Your Greatest Asset

Taking care of your mental health is crucial during this period. Incorporate activities that help you stay positive, like exercise, meditation, or journaling. Surround yourself with supportive people who uplift your spirits.

Remember, setbacks are often the prelude to growth. Many people look back on job loss as the moment they made meaningful, positive changes in their lives.

Your Road to Resilience

Being laid off just before Christmas is undeniably challenging, but it doesn’t have to derail your future. By taking proactive steps and maintaining a positive outlook, you can turn this setback into an opportunity. Use the season as a chance to realign with your goals, connect with your loved ones, and enter the New Year with a renewed sense of purpose and direction.

You’ve got this—sometimes the best gifts come disguised as challenges.

M&SD will recruit in excess of 11,000 Christmas colleagues

Marks & Spencer has announced it will be recruiting in excess of 11,000 new Customer Assistants to offer help and support in stores across the UK over the festive period. 

The retailer is recruiting even more colleagues than last year with over 1,000 more vacancies available, reflecting the additional investment M&S is making in colleague hours to deliver exceptional customer service.  

A Customer Assistant at M&S is the face of the business and responsible for delivering a seamless shopping experience for customers, however and whenever they choose to shop.  

From serving customers on the shop floor and at service points, ensuring the shelves and rails are always stocked with exceptional product, to engaging with customers to understand their needs and make recommendations; a Customer Assistant role is varied and wide-ranging.   

Christmas colleagues also play an integral role in delivering M&S’ Christmas Food to Order service, which launched this year on 24th September, ensuring millions of customers get their all-important festival essentials and treats on time.  

The recruitment window opened on 9th October and new colleagues will join M&S from mid November - with a range of start dates, variety of roles and flexible working patterns available. To apply, candidates can visit the M&S careers page and complete an application, before being invited to either a 1-2-1 interview or group assessment. 

M&S Support Centre colleagues continue to spend seven days in store each year to help store colleagues, with four of those completed in the lead up to Christmas. Last year, Support Centre colleagues spent 103,000 hours helping M&S stores and customers over the festive period. 

Sacha Berendji, Operations Director at M&S, said: “Our fantastic store colleagues play such a big part in delivering the magic of M&S at Christmas to our customers. And this year we’re recruiting even more colleagues to ensure we’re closer to customers. 

“The Christmas period is a busy but exciting time for M&S and no two days are the same – in fact, many colleagues started their M&S careers at Christmas and after the festive period were invited to go onto our Stepping Into Team Manager programme. With a range of roles and flexible working patterns available, anyone who is interested in being part of something special this Christmas should visit our careers website to apply.” 

The Customer Service Assistant roles will span both Foods and Clothing & Home and are located all over the UK, with vacancies in every store. 

To learn more about working with M&S please click on this link https://shorturl.at/0SOw1

M&S launches festive recruitment drive to fill over 11,000 Christmas jobs

Marks & Spencer has announced it's recruiting in excess of 11,000 new Customer Assistants to support in stores all over the UK over the festive period. 

The retailer is recruiting even more colleagues than last year with over 1000 more vacancies available, reflecting the additional investment M&S is making in colleague hours to deliver exceptional customer service.  

A Customer Assistant at M&S is the first face of the business and is responsible for delivering a seamless shopping experience for customers, however and whenever they choose to shop.  

From serving customers on the shop floor and at service points, ensuring the shelves and rails are always stocked with exceptional products, to engaging with customers to understand their needs and make recommendations; a Customer Assistant role is varied and wide-ranging.   

Christmas colleagues will also play an integral role in delivering M&S’ Christmas Food to Order service, which launched this year on 24th September, ensuring millions of customers get their all-important festival essentials and treats on time.  

New colleagues will join M&S from mid November - with a range of start dates, variety of roles and flexible working patterns available. To apply, candidates can visit the M&S careers page and complete an application, before being invited to either a 1-2-1 interview or group assessment. 

M&S Support Centre colleagues continue to spend seven days in store each year to help store colleagues, with four of those completed in the lead up to Christmas. Last year, Support Centre colleagues spent 103,000 hours helping M&S stores and customers over the festive period. 

Sacha Berendji, who is the Operations Director at M&S, said: “Our fantastic store colleagues play such a big part in delivering the magic of M&S at Christmas to our customers. And this year we’re recruiting even more colleagues to ensure we’re closer to customers. 

“The Christmas period is a busy but exciting time for M&S and no two days are the same – in fact, many colleagues started their M&S careers at Christmas and after the festive period were invited to go onto our Stepping Into Team Manager programme. With a range of roles and flexible working patterns available, anyone who is interested in being part of something special this Christmas should visit our careers website to apply.” 

The Customer Service Assistant roles will span both Foods and Clothing & Home and are located all over the UK, with vacancies in every store. 

Doubtless my wife and I will be seeing some of the new M&S Christmas colleagues when we visit our local M&S branches!

https://www.marksandspencer.com

M&S launches recruitment drive to fill 10,000 Christmas roles

Marks & Spencer has announced that is to recruit 10,000 new Customer Assistants to support in its stores over the Christmas period.

The number of vacancies is a more than 40% increase on last year and reflects the additional investment M&S is making in colleague hours to support customers on the shop floor.

A Customer Assistant at M&S is the face of the business and is responsible for delivering a great shopping experience for customers and championing and promoting products. From serving customers on the shop floor and at service points, ensuring shelves and rails are always stocked with product to engaging with customers to understand their needs and make recommendations; a Customer Assistant role is varied and wide-ranging.  

Christmas colleagues also play in integral role in delivering M&S’ Christmas Food to Order service, ensuring millions of customers get their all-important festival essentials and treats on time.

The new colleagues will join M&S from 19th November onwards, with a range of start dates, variety of roles and flexible working patterns available. Colleagues will also enjoy a range of benefits, including 20% colleague discount from the day they start working for M&S.

Sacha Berendji, who is Operations Director at M&S, said: “Our fantastic store colleagues play such a big part in delivering the magic of M&S at Christmas to all our customers. And this year we’re recruiting even more colleagues to ensure there’s always someone on hand to offer support and recommendations.

“The Christmas period is a busy but exciting time for M&S and no two days are the same, in fact, many colleagues who began their M&S careers at Christmas and have since gone onto progress across our business. With a range of roles and flexible working patterns available, anyone who's interested in being part of something special this Christmas should visit our careers website to apply.”

The Customer Service Assistant roles will span both Foods and Clothing & Home and are located all over the UK, with vacancies in every store.

To apply, you can visit https://jobs.marksandspencer.com/christmas where roles are now live and new vacancies being added all the time.

Huge festive recruitment drive launched by Tesco as it looks to fill 30,000 jobs

Even more opportunities for employment over the Christmas season as a huge festive recruitment drive has been launched by Tesco ahead of the busy holiday period this year.

And that should be good news for job-hunting students and families looking to offset increasing bills or anyone wanting to return to the workforce.

This year Tesco is recruiting 30,000 temporary Colleagues across the UK to help customers during the busy Christmas period.    

The jobs will mainly involve working in Tesco’s Superstores and Extra stores for either early morning, day or evening shifts, so that prospective applicants can find an opportunity that fits around them.

James Goodman, Tesco People Director said: “This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to boost their earnings over the festive period or who needs to find a route back into the workplace. 

“We’re looking for people who enjoy working as part of a team and are prepared to go that extra mile in order to help our customers.  

“Our festive roles are a fantastic way to become part of the Tesco team, with roles working on checkouts to picking orders for home delivery or replenishing the store. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to meet great people, learn new skills and be part of a diverse team where everyone is welcome. 

“We had a great response for festive roles last year and we would love to hear from anyone who worked with us then.  

“With part-time, temporary roles available across the UK, there are a variety of different shift patterns on offer, making sure these roles fit around different individual needs and lifestyles.”  

The new colleagues will help the supermarket meet high demand as customers look to make Christmas savings – especially as Tesco has just locked low prices on more than 1000 products until 2024 – as well as helping shoppers get exclusive deals on Clubcard Prices at the checkout.

Once the seasonal period comes to an end, there may be opportunities for Christmas colleagues to apply for any permanent roles available in Tesco stores.   

One person who did that last year is Kenzy Talbot, 28, who joined Tesco last November as a festive colleague and worked in the fresh food sales area.

Kenzy said: “I'm a working mum with a young child, as you can imagine trying to fit work around school times in the past was very difficult.

“Tesco has been amazing and with their flexibility this has meant that I have been able to fit my working hours around my family commitments.

“I was delighted to become a permanent member of the team in January 2023. I have progressed and learnt other areas of the store, currently working most of my hours on groceries along with picking up extra shifts on other areas such as checkouts and fresh areas.”

Anyone interested in a festive job at Tesco should apply to: www.tesco-careers.com/festive    

Morrisons launches search for 3,500 extra Christmas colleagues

Morrisons is looking for 3,500 extra colleagues to work in its stores, food manufacturing sites and logistics operations nationally to help meet increased demand over the busy Christmas period.

The wide range of roles available offer plenty of flexibility and with no prior experience necessary, there should be something for everyone. 

Morrisons is seeking applicants who are friendly and willing to help and all new colleagues will benefit from a 15% staff discount card as well as a 10% discount card for a friend or family member. 

As Morrisons gears up for the festive rush, it's seeking out people to join the business in temporary jobs ranging from customer assistants to home delivery drivers and production and warehouse operatives.  In previous years, many of the colleagues who joined in temporary roles have gone on to find permanent positions within Morrisons.

Clare Grainger, People Director at Morrisons, said: “Christmas is one of our busiest periods and we’re looking for an additional 3,500 people to join our talented teams.  These new colleagues will play a crucial role in creating and delivering the products our customers need to help make their celebrations special.  There are lots of great opportunities on offer across the UK with both temporary and permanent roles in our stores, manufacturing and logistics sites.”

To apply please visit: https://www.morrisons.jobs/christmas-at-morrisons

Incidentally, my parents both worked at Morisons in full time staff positions and were very happy working there.