Redundancy/Unemployment

[Martyn]

Funny you should mention that CT, I just got offered it last Friday and am taking it. I have been with the company for 20 years so will get a good payout and, as I am over 55, can take out of my final salary pension if I want. As to what I will do I don't know. I could start my own business at what I do, get a franchise or get a low paid job to get me by.

 

[Martyn]

IT is a good business to be in CT. I think I read recently that there is to be 80000+ more IT jobs in the next few years. Personally something says to leave it as I have been involved for too many years. I'm not driven to cover overheads as my mortgage is finished, I'm nearly 59 and if i'm careful I have 4 years wages out of the redundancy package.

Good luck yourself and thanks for the tip about the jobs fair at Earls Court, I was going to to got to the Caravan & Motorhome Fair at the NEC but maybe I'll head off south instead. :roundgrin

 

[KKOB]

I've been made redundant 5 times during my working life. It's been forced on me twice, I volunteered for it once, and I actually managed to make myself redundant a further twice because I owned the company.

That's how I managed to retire at 50 ! :wink:

The best advise I can give you is to treat the first 2 weeks as a holiday and then make sure that you either find another way to earn money or some way of occupying at least 3 or 4 days of the week. Finally, remember that franchises have a huge failure rate.

 

[Martyn]

I'll need to keep busy I know that. Firstly I'm going to fit a new kitchen in my house and maybe look around after Christmas.

 

[Martyn]

No I wasn't looking at a large franchise, just a small one or two man one for around £15000 to £20000 commitment. I wouldn't take one involving borrowing from anywhere. Maybe I will just work for myself from home with low overheads.

 

[Mushroom]

I've never had redundancy put my way or had a taste of unemployment, so I couldn't comment on either, but I have worked for myself for almost 20 years.
I have income in the form of a pension from a former occupation, but that in itself would not have kept my income at the level I required.
The one thing I did learn from self employment is that there are perks and there are also the minus sides, which I won't bore you with, but still need consideration.
The other factor, and may be relevant to the type of work you know, is that of inward investment. I provide a service and my office is at home.
I don't have any stock or premises to subsidise and the advantage of that is that when lean times come around, at least if you are having a quiet time, there still aren't bills for the rental of premises or products.
If you take redundancy, I would personally use part of it to start up and the rest to supplement my wage in the first year, which is normally the quietest until you get established.
I wouldn't put anything into a franchise as my own thought is that it can be very expensive, with no guarantees, although others might think differently.
Either way, they do say that sometime the best time to start up is in a recession, but I don't know who 'they' are !
Good luck.

 

[icebern09]

Funny you should mention that CT, I just got offered it last Friday and am taking it. I have been with the company for 20 years so will get a good payout and, as I am over 55, can take out of my final salary pension if I want. As to what I will do I don't know. I could start my own business at what I do, get a franchise or get a low paid job to get me by.

Well, well, Martyn, that is exactly what is happening at my husbands firm as we speak. He is 60 at the moment and intended taking early retirement anyway, so this would be ideal for him. He will take his final salary pension. He has been at his place of work for 25 years now and would not be looking to do anything else apart from travelling back and forth from Turkey and looking after his garden.

Thats O.K. for the likes of him but we do feel for the younger men that have big mortgages etc, it must be an awful position to be in.

 

[jeanne]

I am also facing redudancy but have known for several months when I am leaving. I'm due to leave around Xmas time. The company I work for have offered access to an agency that will help us compile CV's, interview techiques etc;

I promised myself that once we got back from Turkey which was last week I'd start looking/applying for jobs - but I just can't find the motivation. My redundacy won't pay the mortage off but I can afford to take some time out.

I also work in IT and am looking for a complete change. Not sure what yet though:roundgrin

 

[CJD]

.
Either way, they do say that sometime the best time to start up is in a recession, but I don't know who 'they' are !
Good luck.

I started my sign company in the last recession, been going 20 years next
month

 

[Martyn]

I started my sign company in the last recession, been going 20 years next
month

That's great but I have 6 yrs til i retire so building a business probably isn't an option. That's the advantage of a franchise but it costs. I'm looking at winding down after being in continuous employment since I was 15.

 

[pldouglas]

I spent 14 years working for a company which helped log term unemployed people back into proper jobs and have a couple of tips to offer;
Do not take 2 weeks 'holiday' because it will turn into 4 ... and then 6 weeks etc.
Send speculative CVs - companies often don't like to advertise jobs, it takes a lot of work for them to sort out all the applicants.
Do voluntary work, its amazing how it can often open up new opportunities and looks good on the CV.
Get up and out of the house at your usual 'work time' - even if its only to go and get the paper to look for more jobs/business opportunities.
Nag the Job Centre sensless to get the information you want e.g. training courses etc. It always used to amaze me how little info clients were actually offered voluntarily.
Look at part-time jobs as well as the full time - once you get your foot in the door and proove yourself it can open new opportunities - same goes for Temp work.
Ensure an interview outfit is always clean, pressed and ready for wear.
Can't think of any more at the moment, but I expect it will all come back to me!
By the way - I got made redundant too, 4 years ago, because unemployment was low!!!!

 

[abla]

I spent 14 years working for a company which helped log term unemployed people back into proper jobs and have a couple of tips to offer;
Do not take 2 weeks 'holiday' because it will turn into 4 ... and then 6 weeks etc.
Send speculative CVs - companies often don't like to advertise jobs, it takes a lot of work for them to sort out all the applicants.
Do voluntary work, its amazing how it can often open up new opportunities and looks good on the CV.
Get up and out of the house at your usual 'work time' - even if its only to go and get the paper to look for more jobs/business opportunities.
Nag the Job Centre sensless to get the information you want e.g. training courses etc. It always used to amaze me how little info clients were actually offered voluntarily.
Look at part-time jobs as well as the full time - once you get your foot in the door and proove yourself it can open new opportunities - same goes for Temp work.
Ensure an interview outfit is always clean, pressed and ready for wear.
Can't think of any more at the moment, but I expect it will all come back to me!
By the way - I got made redundant too, 4 years ago, because unemployment was low!!!!

You were obviosly too good at your job pldouglas!!!!!:roundgrin

 

[Maisie]

My husband got made redundant after 35 years with the same company. They were taken over by a large American conglomerate who asset-stripped the company, making people redundant along the way. My husband was "fortunate" to receive the government minimum redundancy pay only - nothing extra on top. He got another job but, on "expert" financial advice, transferred the quite large pension pot into a private scheme. Couldn't stay where it was as the company was no longer in existence. At retirement age, discovered that we had been misadvised and the pension plan we were sold bore no resemblance to the original one and consequently paid out peanuts.

It seems that some of you are fortunate in getting large redundancy amounts, but be careful what you do with it. It is so easy to become complacent and worry about getting a job at some stage in the future while you have the buffer of the cash to fall back on. But it will soon go.

We are now both retired, living on the "generous" state pension, together with the bit from the private scheme.

I wish all of you faced with this situation good luck and good fortune in whatever you decide to do.

Maisie

 

[Turkishcap]

I was made redundant over 6 years ago and although I have kept myself employed in truth I have not had a good time as I have had to to some crappy low paid jobs (in one now).
I was a manager in Distribution and in house fork lift trainer, do you think I can get an interview even for a general fork lift job...no!

I am convinced its age related as I cannot get interviews for jobs I am qualified at, to be honest I dont know what employers want and I feel I have been abandoned and left to rot!
No one even has the decency to reply back to me re jobs..I apply then nothing.
ps this is the very short version...think yourselves lucky!

 

[DAVIDO]

oe for the good old days when you started work and if you were happy continued at the same firm till you retired..i too took severance pay 15 years ago.could have tried to stay but ,the powers to be like a lot of firms were not making it easy for you to do so.i envied some of my older colleagues who had seen the best of the firm and finally retired gracefully , before all hit the fan. those people as myself were loyal , conscientious, and good at our job, but the cutthroat people bought in were there to wipe all that aside for cost cutting . very sad

davido

 

[Sunny Seasider]

I worked for the Government for 33 years, for the last 18 of them within their huge programme for IT. Although, not made redundant, the Government had a huge ask to downsize considerably. Two years ago, my area of work was moving over to Leeds, I was offered the chance to take early retirement. I pondered over this as only being 51 years of age it seemed rather too early. However I took the decision to go, received my Lump Sum, + pension, and took 3 months out. It was hard to not work after so long, and felt at a loss. I then came across a part-time job 12 hours over 4 days a week back at the Civil Service Health and Sports Association Club, as Secretary. (as a non- Civil Servant). I absoultely love this work, as I am in daily contact with people, the company is great, I work round my own hours and can take as much time (within reason, of course) as I want, So all in all I do have a great quality of life, without the hassle, and actually enjoy going into work. Sometimes, these things happen for a reason and Life is too short, ok I earned a fantastic salary, but that came with stress too. To try something completely different we probably would not do, but given circumstances, go for it. It's knocked 10 years off me, lol.

 

[Summertime]

I'll need to keep busy I know that. Firstly I'm going to fit a new kitchen in my house and maybe look around after Christmas.

Good luck Martyn.
This is the same situation as it is in my country. This year my firm has bought out 130 people for some different reason, and we never know who will be the next. For me I know I could not face it, not working an no money. Good luck again.

 

[tinkycarol]

Good luck to everyone with their plans for the future - hope they work out for you. Carol

(Today I was thinking the only stable job must be a funeral director - this was after a conversation with my mum..she is on about buying a funeral plan as interest rates are so lousy and the cost of funerals is shooting up apparently!) On that cheery note...

 

[pldouglas]

Since posting this Ive been looking around at other jobs and I notice on some vacancy adverts they say things like; 'must have an IT degree' or must be 'degree educated'

I wonder that if it is agains the law to discriminate against age, gender and race, etc, is it not also discrimination to ask for certain levels of education BEFORE you can even apply for a job?

Univerity was simply not an option when I left school, it wasn'd really discussed at school, my parents didnt have the money to send me and there was no expectation to go to further education. Of course we are all free to go and get a degree in our spare time but how many of us really have 'spare time' we can use to go and do a lengthy degree course?

I feel its unfair that anyone should be prevented from going for a job because they have been unable to sit a degree - sometimes its not about intelligence and ability its just about circumstance. Of course I appreciate that some people with degrees or other education may be better suited to certain types of employment over someone who doesnt have the education but does experience count for nothing any more?

What do other people reckon?

No its not against employment law to advertise for someone with a degree, nor does it stop you applying anyway - go for it, perhaps your experience will out-weigh those with degrees and no hands-on experience.
Come on guys, anyone over the age of 40 has been through recession/interest rate highs and lows/house price crashes/inflation and war! We know it will all come right at some stage.
If you want to hear something really ironic, here goes; As I said before, I worked for 14 years for the long-term unemployed putting them into real jobs. These were people with all kinds of problems and barriers to work from mental health issues to laziness and just about everything in between. Each year my colleague and I put a minumum of 22% of these folk back into proper jobs. After 14 years we were told our services were no longer needed because unemployment was so low - that was 4 years ago.
I heard recently that the government has come up with a great NEW idea. They are going to create centres for the long term unemployed to get help in gaining work!
I dare not comment further - I would be banned from the forum for life!

 

[Yalides]

No its not against employment law to advertise for someone with a degree, nor does it stop you applying anyway - go for it, perhaps your experience will out-weigh those with degrees and no hands-on experience.
Come on guys, anyone over the age of 40 has been through recession/interest rate highs and lows/house price crashes/inflation and war! We know it will all come right at some stage.
If you want to hear something really ironic, here goes; As I said before, I worked for 14 years for the long-term unemployed putting them into real jobs. These were people with all kinds of problems and barriers to work from mental health issues to laziness and just about everything in between. Each year my colleague and I put a minumum of 22% of these folk back into proper jobs. After 14 years we were told our services were no longer needed because unemployment was so low - that was 4 years ago.
I heard recently that the government has come up with a great NEW idea. They are going to create centres for the long term unemployed to get help in gaining work!
I dare not comment further - I would be banned from the forum for life!

No you won,t, top posting mate.