Being made redundant - HELP

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Discussion

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
After 3 years with my current company I have been invited to an interview to discuss my current role. The writing is on the wall and I am almost certainly going to be made redundant. I currently work as an account director, I’m aged 30 decent salary. I will only receive a small redundancy which should keep me going for about 2 months, I also have savings, which could see me through a further 6 months. My girlfriend who I live with works part time and we have a mortgage but no financial dependants.

Now, this is my decision I have worked in sales since turning 18 and completing my A-Levels. Now I could almost certainly get a similar job, probably not on the same money but enough to be comfortable and pay the bills. However I’m thinking it may be time for a change, I think I’ve had my fill with sales and would like to peruse an alternative career. I’ve done some research but can’t find much info, on grants to retrain etc does anyone know if anything is available? Any suggestions as a new career path? I've been thinking about a trade such as an electrician or a gas engineers or maybe a software developer as I'm pretty good with maths and logic. Thanks for reading and I appreciate any comments/suggestions.


SlimJim16v

5,617 posts

142 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Yes, but what car do you drive?

bomma220

14,452 posts

124 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Hi there I'm sorry to hear of your situation mate. In my experience re-training to be a gas/electrical engineer at age 30 would be a tricky thing given all the rules & regulations you need to get your head around. If you have a liking / aptitude for IT, that's the road I'd look at taking. My brother made a packet working as a freelance software consultant....smile

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
'tis better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than halfway up a ladder you don't.

Or something like that. Anyway, this is General Gassing so get out.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
SlimJim16v said:
Yes, but what car do you drive?
Haha none for much longer if I dont get a job

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
bomma220 said:
Hi there I'm sorry to hear of your situation mate. In my experience re-training to be a gas/electrical engineer at age 30 would be a tricky thing given all the rules & regulations you need to get your head around. If you have a liking / aptitude for IT, that's the road I'd look at taking. My brother made a packet working as a freelance software consultant....smile
Thanks im hoping its a blessing in disguise. I think the software development is the leading option atm.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
'tis better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than halfway up a ladder you don't.

Or something like that. Anyway, this is General Gassing so get out.
Thanks and I would if I knew how. I didn't realise I posted in the wrong place.

bomma220

14,452 posts

124 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Rawwr said:
'tis better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb than halfway up a ladder you don't.

Or something like that. Anyway, this is General Gassing so get out.
The guy was asking, quite reasonably, for advice. You get out or post something useful, wker.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Ozzie reckons:

The best way forward is to get into a job asap because,
1. It's easier to get a job from a job, and
2. You can trouser the redundancy cash.

sploosh

822 posts

207 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
I had a grant when I was made redundant, this was very local to the area I happened to be working in and closed soon afterwards due to public sector cuts. Doubt there is much around nowadays.

I negotiated with my employer and got paid for my notice without working it and a given a payment for retraining from them. If they are letting you go it is worth pushing for the best settlement you can get - nothing to lose.

Just move on. Redundancy doesn't have any stigma nowadays.

Wilmslowboy

4,188 posts

205 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Stu-nph26 said:
Thanks im hoping its a blessing in disguise. I think the software development is the leading option atm.
Software dev is a really compitive mkt (you are in competition with UK grads, as well as Indian & Eastern European code shops and unless you have some strong experience it's very hard to get a role.

If it's IT you really want perhaps try project managment, support/ service managment or training ??

or even a very specific infrastructure support role (Cisco, Microsoft, IPT, security products, DBA etc etc).

Being 30 with people skills, some life experience and commerial background will give you a head start in the first group.

I'm a tech leader of a fast growth FTSE 250 (6,000+ employees) two years ago 50% of our IT function were developers, today's it's 25% - Of the 40 people we've hired in the past 12 months less than 10% have been "developers".


ATG

20,480 posts

271 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Aged 30, you've been working for about 12 years and you've got another 40 to go ... so plenty of time to establish a new career. 40 to go doesn't sound great ... until you take into account the difficulty of accumulating a decent pension. Anyway ... back vaguely on track ... if you were in any way competent at sales, it is quite a skill to have. If you were to retrain in software, the mix of tech and sales skills might put you in a good position to do pre-sales work or be a convincing counterparty for a customer in a relationship mgmt role.

bomma220

14,452 posts

124 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Stu-nph26 said:
Thanks im hoping its a blessing in disguise. I think the software development is the leading option atm.
That sounds a sensible option. I wish you all the best mate. smile

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Take it on the chin and get out there and hustle. You're supposed to be in sales, right? So sell your services. If you are a rung down, so be it. Pay the bills. Then suss out what's next.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Ozzie Osmond said:
Ozzie reckons:

The best way forward is to get into a job asap because,
1. It's easier to get a job from a job, and
2. You can trouser the redundancy cash.
Might well be what I have to do one thing I do have is renewed motivation which was lacking in a stale job for a number of reasons I wont go into.

Roo

11,503 posts

206 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
I got made redundant in May last year. Best thing that ever happened to me in my work life.

If you fancy something different there's a severe shortage of HGV drivers.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
sploosh said:
I had a grant when I was made redundant, this was very local to the area I happened to be working in and closed soon afterwards due to public sector cuts. Doubt there is much around nowadays.

I negotiated with my employer and got paid for my notice without working it and a given a payment for retraining from them. If they are letting you go it is worth pushing for the best settlement you can get - nothing to lose.

Just move on. Redundancy doesn't have any stigma nowadays.
#

The redundancy itself doesn't bother me, in fact quite the opposite I'm determined to turn this into a positive and move on, just need to find out in which direction.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Wilmslowboy said:
Software dev is a really compitive mkt (you are in competition with UK grads, as well as Indian & Eastern European code shops and unless you have some strong experience it's very hard to get a role.

If it's IT you really want perhaps try project managment, support/ service managment or training ??

or even a very specific infrastructure support role (Cisco, Microsoft, IPT, security products, DBA etc etc).

Being 30 with people skills, some life experience and commerial background will give you a head start in the first group.

I'm a tech leader of a fast growth FTSE 250 (6,000+ employees) two years ago 50% of our IT function were developers, today's it's 25% - Of the 40 people we've hired in the past 12 months less than 10% have been "developers".
That is great advice and I really appreciate it, project management does appeal I will look into it. Any recommendations of companies who offer the qualifications?

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
bomma220 said:
That sounds a sensible option. I wish you all the best mate. smile
Thanks much appreciated.

Stu-nph26

Original Poster:

1,984 posts

104 months

Friday 5th February 2016
quotequote all
Roo said:
I got made redundant in May last year. Best thing that ever happened to me in my work life.

If you fancy something different there's a severe shortage of HGV drivers.
Really? that does appeal to be honest i'm sick of being that "sales guy" and fancy something different. What is the pay like if you don't mind me asking?