260 jobless given hope for future at Dublin conference

SOME 260 people who had been made redundant recently gathered to take part in a one-day advisory conference at the National College of Ireland in Dublin yesterday.

Most of the participants were given one-to-one sessions using a “Success Suite” with 30 life coaches, who all gave their services free of charge.

Many taking part said they hoped to go from unemployed to self-employed.

Sisters Tara and Donna Corr were both made redundant at the start of the year, one from marketing, the other from a position as an electrician. Both hoped to set up their own businesses and attended the conference for advice and “to hear there is light”.

“Everything is negative in my head, I can’t just let that continue,” Donna said.

Freddie Connolly had a catering company that ended in liquidation. He hopes to open an organic restaurant and country market.

“It’s good to hear you’re not on your own, that’s the main thing,” he said.

Organised by Celine Mullin of Act 4 Business and Eibhlin Johnston of ThinkCoaching, the free conference aimed to “change the recession mindset” using advice and “transformational coaching”.

The advice element of the event included commonsense tips on job interviews from a panel of experts, including how to breathe away pre-interview nerves, how to prepare for the increasingly popular competency-based interview, and what not to wear.

Mary Holmes from Ruby 7 Image Consulting advised potential interviewees to dress for their body shape: pencil skirts for the hourglass figure and A-line for the apples.

Men were advised not to wear their trousers under their bellies.

“If you have to ask if the outfit is appropriate, it probably isn’t,” she said.

Counselling psychologist Jim Lyng did not dress up his words when he told participants that as unemployed people they were at risk of developing mental health issues.

Job-loss ranked as one of the top 10 traumatic life experiences, he said. He outlined the key symptoms of depression, which included feelings of emptiness or sadness, sleep disturbance, weight change, brain fog and thoughts of death.

Tips for protecting mental health included getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and taking exercise, which he said was the single biggest protective factor over time.

Business coach Pat Meehan of ThinkCoaching was all for change.

Along with Ms Johnston, managing director of the firm, he encouraged participants to use the “Success Suite” model, which involves looking into one’s own future and assuming one has already achieved the things one wants to achieve.

“It’s a bit like a dream list,” he said.

“Once you map the future, you look back at exactly where you are now, then you bridge the gap between now and the future, that’s what it’s all about.”

Other lecturers at the conference included experts from the Dublin Enterprise Board, Bank of Ireland and mind coach Brian Colbert.