Back in work 30 days after redundancy

Tomas (not his real name) is a product manager who was made redundant after six years at the same company. The hardest part was not rewriting the CV. It was not knowing what kind of product manager the 2026 market wanted, and watching the gap on his CV grow by the day.

In the first week I applied for everything and heard nothing. That scared me more than the redundancy itself.

A plan instead of panic

• Day one: an honest comparison of his track record against more than a hundred open product manager roles, narrowed down to two realistic directions
• Week one: CV and portfolio rewritten around shipped outcomes, with a number on every line
• Weeks two to four: a steady five to seven applications a week to roles confirmed as open, all followed up in one place

The part that actually worked

In hindsight, the follow-up mattered more than the CV: every follow-up went out on time, no interview process slipped through, and the preparation notes for each company sat right next to the application. Nineteen applications turned into five interview processes. On day 30 the offer was signed, with a base salary 6% above his old role.