Pole-axed is what most people feel on hearing they've been made redundant. Calm your fear and fury as best you can and start work now on protecting your future. Is there any chance you can argue you shouldn't have been made redundant?

Perhaps the selection criteria were unfair (e.g. age discrimination's illegal but somehow the company's made redundant everyone over 50)? Maybe the employer can't do without you because you're the only person with the qualifications for approving technical contracts. If there are good reasons why you shouldn't be the one made redundant, tell your bosses immediately and it's just possible you'll be able to save your job.

If you weren't told to clear your desk as soon as you were made redundant, start gathering the information that'll get you back to work faster. At this stage, harvest anything that might be useful and isn't confidential to your employer, you can sift through the data and discard what you don't need later. What information can you ethically collect on being made redundant? Basically, information that helps you keep in touch with people and events useful to you in tracking down your next job. Naturally, you're not entitled to take away data that might harm your employer or that's useful to your company's competitors (eg marketing information, product designs, etc).

On being made redundant, you transfer to your home computer information such as:-
- personal information that'll help you construct your CV and prepare for interview (details of your career path within the company, courses attended, awards and commendations given and so on)
- vital networking data such as the contact details (home and business) of your colleagues, customers, suppliers, professional associations, training bodies you've dealt with, etc
- brief notes about conversations you've had with these people, tips they've passed on to you and help you've given them (this information will make future contacts with your network easier and more productive)
- eflyers about future conferences and other trade events, this information will help you keep up to date with the key issues and players in your sector and is potentially useful for networking
- your usernames and passwords for any vocationally relevant forums you joined as an employee and can still participate in as a private individual - you use these forums for networking and keeping up to date.

Most people's reaction to being made redundant is to sit on the bad news until they've got over the shock. Don't follow their example. Pick up the 'phone and tell your contacts what's happened well before they hear about it on the grapevine, then mention you'd like to stay in touch. Stay professional, positive and unembarrassed and you're likely to get a sympathetic hearing and offers of help with your future job search.

Being made redundant is grisly and horrifying - take these steps and give yourself the best possible chances of getting your career back on track ASAP.

Linda Whittern is Director of Careers Partnership (UK). She has contributed to government policy consultations on national career guidance delivery and ran one of only 38 UK outplacement services providers picked by MoD for inclusion in its "Guide to Commercial Outplacement for Service Leavers". Careers Partnership (UK) provides flexible, user friendly redundancy counselling and outplacement services for individuals and employers. See what we can do to get your career back on track following redundancy. http://www.careers-partnership-uk.com/employers/redundancy-counselling-outplacement-support-outplacement-services