The Institute of Directors has warned that small business redundancies could occur over the next few months.

SMEs have been avoiding making cuts in an attempt to hold out until the end of the recession. But, as figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed, the UK economy was still in decline in the third quarter of 2009.

Institute of Directors senior economist Peter Patterson said: "The figures are disappointing for businesses, which may have to make more redundancies due to the difficulties in obtaining bank credit. Small firms are struggling to get finance because of the state of the banks, and the longer it goes on the more difficult it will be."

So how do you make good news out of this bad news? Well, if small companies have to let people go, it's because of the need to reduce fixed overheads. This is something you don't have to worry about if you freelance, as you only have to cover your own costs.

If you're used to working for a small company, then you'll be used to the Jack-of-all-trades approach they have, which will help you settle into the role of the freelancer relatively easily.

You may even be able to get freelance work from the company which makes you redundant. If you have a good working relationship with them and they like your work, they could be thrilled if you suggest they use you as a freelancer - because using you would be pay-as-you-go not a fixed overhead.

You must make sure you register yourself as self-employed and fill in a tax return at the end of the financial year. Find out more about this at the self-employment section of the HM Revenue & Customs website.

Gone are the days of scoffing at jobs that don't come with a certain amount of street cred.

In the current climate, securing employment successfully brings with it all the credibility you need to show a future employer you're worth employing.

But it's still important to pitch yourself at the right level.

The 8,000 jobs Best Buy are looking to fill over the next five years will offer supervisory and management opportunities as well as retail assistant positions.

While there will be a big scramble to fill those retail assistant roles, someone, for example, made redundant from a call centre team leader position could promote their skills in customer service and staff supervision to land one of these roles.

Unfortunately, these jobs leave little in the way of hope for recently unemployed accountants and IT specialists, who would not only find it difficult to promote their skills as making them suitable for retail management, but would also struggle to convince an employer that they'd stay on in the long term, once the jobs market has picked up.

Apply for jobs selectively, rather than using a splatter-gun approach. It means you'll conserve your recruitment energy for the positions you have a chance of getting.

Cutting out the middle man can save time and money. So it should come as no surprise that it's the same in the world of recruitment.

If you see a job advert online through an agency or on a jobs board, the details are often vague on purpose to stop you going to the company directly which would mean them losing their commission.

Sometimes, though, a job advert will make it clear who the job is with. Or there are specific details that you can insert into Google and search on - which can bring up the company's own advert on their website or on job sites such as Guardian Jobs.

In these instances, talk direct.

Apply directly to the company in question. Even if you find the job on a site like Guardain Jobs, if you find the company name on the advert, check out the vacancy details on their own website.

This direct contact with the company means the recruitment company can't decide not to put you forward. It also means your details arrive with an immediacy that posting and faxing don't offer.

It's an extreme example, but 28-year-old Tiffany Block from Burns harbor, Indiana, got her CV seen by emailing the head of recruitment directly.

(Although I'm personally concerned that she was hired as an administrator for a trucking firm on the strength of a baseball question.)

Whether you agree with Royal Mail staff and BA cabin crew striking over jobs, pay and conditions, striking is rarely an option most of us have when it comes to being unhappy with our work situation.

Normally, I'd tell anyone who's unhappy to seek out new opportunities and move on from their current position.

In the current jobs market, I'd still tell anyone who's unhappy to seek out new opportunities. However, for some, this would just be to help them see that the situation they're in is not as not that bad, relatively speaking.

Part of building a career is knowing when to dig your heels in and entrench yourself in your current position while you ride out the worst of the storm.

Unfortunately, many people ripe for a career move will miss opportunities out of fear. They won't see great opportunities because they'll be too busy keeping their head under the parapet.

Deciding whether or not you should stay put or move on is a difficult decision at the best of times. In the current market, it's an even more of a tricky one. No time more than now does an expert opinion help you go up (or hang onto) the career ladder.