Anyone else retrenched?

Random Hero

Random Hero

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Hi All, I was retrenched in June.

Have not had a stable income since. I do odd jobs in digital marketing and freelance a bit. Also started my own company but have not had luck with gaining clients. Been sending out CVs to probably 100 job posts and not getting anything. only had on 30 min meet and greet session... Very bleak.

I'm looking on LinkedIn, Pnet, Career Junction, Crayon, BizCommunity, Indeed. It sucks because I am really good at what I do.
PPC and SEO specialist, All round marketing strategist and director. I have worked and navigated a team of 7 individuals at a time. Designers, Copywriters, Animators, Photographers, Videographers, SEOs, Website Devs.

Anyone else struggling and has tips? I've also tried some corporate career pages, but no luck...
 
SmuGS said:
Been retrenched twice before, faced it now again but missed the bullet..
All I can say is good luck man..
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How long were you out of work for? My CV looks good also and I have over 8 years of experience. I do not think these career portals work...
 
Places with great service are shutdown and people let go, yet the places with the worst customer service seemed to have thrived.
sorry to the OP. Keep looking and dont give up!!!!!!!
 
I guess it really depends on the industry you in. Marketing is quite tough and one of the first expenditure to cut. It’s not you but just the market.
 
Really sucks.. man. Anyone got tips? Do these career portals even work? Also,all these recruitment websites just look like clone sites.
 
Sorry to hear :( now is a terrible time to get retrenched. I've been retrenched twice once voluntarily and once where the place closed down and it sucked(also survived 5 others over the years). Took about 3 months to find something decent after the involuntary one. It seemed like it was much harder to get into the interviews when your CV says available immediately. I have retrenchment insurance now so at least have a bit of a cushion should things go wrong. Good luck I'm sure your luck will turn at some point.
 
Random Hero said:
Really sucks.. man. Anyone got tips? Do these career portals even work? Also,all these recruitment websites just look like clone sites.
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The problem is you shouldn’t start looking for a job when you retrenched but start networking early and get leads. When I get a call from a recruitment agent. I always ask the job description even if I’m not interested and pass on the info to friends. In hope they will look out for me one day. Quite a few job placements happens internally especially if you know an insider. You will definitely stand out of the crowd.
 
B-1 said:
Sorry to hear :( now is a terrible time to get retrenched. I've been retrenched twice once voluntarily and once where the place closed down and it sucked(also survived 5 others over the years). Took about 3 months to find something decent after the involuntary one. It seemed like it was much harder to get into the interviews when your CV says available immediately. I have retrenchment insurance now so at least have a bit of a cushion should things go wrong. Good luck I'm sure your luck will turn at some point.
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Out of interest, who are you with for the retrenchment insurance? I'm looking at something like that, especially for during these times.
 
The_Ogre said:
Out of interest, who are you with for the retrenchment insurance? I'm looking at something like that, especially for during these times.
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Mine is with Liberty but only because I have other cover/annuities with them. They seem pretty similar across the companies.
 
Sorry to hear. The bottom line is the advertising industry hasn't moved at all during this lockdown. Even your usual 2-bit influencers are not "influencing" like they used to. My only advice would be to start something up yourself or adapt to another field. With your experience you have a vast capacity to look into different types of work.
 
Fox1 said:
Sorry to hear. The bottom line is the advertising industry hasn't moved at all during this lockdown. Even your usual 2-bit influencers are not "influencing" like they used to. My only advice would be to start something up yourself or adapt to another field. With your experience you have a vast capacity to look into different types of work.
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One thing I hope this pandemic will change is the fact you have to have multiple income streams and the savings culture of South Africans. Too many people spend because they earn a salary and they do very little on interrogating their expenses.
 
Random Hero said:
Thanks, I have started my own thing. Built this website: and I have one client. But R10k is what I made this month. if I had another 3 of these consistently, that would be great. https://www.innowit.co.za/


Surely people still need digital marketing?
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Advertise on Facebook. R250 for 5 days. The ad will appear automatically among the posts in the feed of the target audience.

Give it a trial run :thumbsup:
 
I do FB PPC. That's not how it works. paid should always convert.
 
Random Hero said:
Thanks, I have started my own thing. Built this website: and I have one client. But R10k is what I made this month. if I had another 3 of these consistently, that would be great. https://www.innowit.co.za/


Surely people still need digital marketing?
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That’s a nice start. Marketing is all about clientele. The biggest asset in a marketing business are intangible assets. Ie your database, goodwill etc.
 
The_Ogre said:
Well then I don't know what they're talking about over here

View attachment 912246
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Hey man,

This is page boosts. They are of no use and just put your ads in front of random FB users. I do more strategic digital marketing. So I target audiencesthat use the service of the client via Facebook for business.
 
I feel for you bro, things are nasty out there. Talking from experience, it can be demoralizing sending out CVs and not getting a positive response but just hand in there and keep at it. You will get something when you least expect.
 
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