Well I am being made redundant tomorrow, bit strange really as I've been at my present company since 1997.

Luckily getting a large payout, so money won't be an issue for a while, but it will be strange to not come in after all that time, and hopefully it won't be too bad getting a new job.

Hmmmm

Bummer.

Take a break then before starting to look again, that's my advice.

give all your redundancy money to me, that way you'll be far more motivated to find a new job!

Me too, funnily enough. Have three months of kicking my heels coming up – or more realistically, one month of daytime TV, one month of looking for a job, and one month of panicking and phoning up recruitment agencies.

Are you still a Bristol local? My email's in my profile if you want to break up the Jeremy Kyle with a bit of riding…

Try to limit your self abuse – localised chaffing's no fun, and if you're not careful, you'll be red raw after the first week.

I was just going to post an identicle thread to this, mind if I tag along?

It's my last day tomorrow too – although without the luxury of redundo. Bummer. I'm panicing already.

Got booted out two months ago. It came right out of the blue, two days after I got back from holiday. I went through a very, very dark time as I had no CV prepared and basically was given no support from the company.

My advice would be to sit down on day 1 of unemployment and draught up a plan of action.

– Sort your CV first. This is essential. It may also be worth compiling a detailed resume of the work you have undertaken to back up your CV.

– Prepare a cover note template. It will help speeding up the applications process.

– Contact the DWP. They need to know and you will probably be eligible for something, even with a big pay-off.

– Scour the internet for job sites. Good ones are CWJobs, Totaljobs, Jobserve and Monster for IT related stuff. Bookmark them.

Most important is don't panic.

It is also worth noting that there are only so many sites you search in one day and only so many jobs you can apply for. Take advantage of the available time to get some extra miles on the bike, catch up on some of the jobs that you have been meaning to get round to.

Good Luck!!!

how are things now Mike?

CV is upto together, plus the company I used to work for has hired a recruitment company to find me more work.

Not that bothered about it as the company I was working for has gutted its operations where I worked (2 out of 3 going) so I didn't want to stay to shut things down.

I might take you up on that MrA, I have recently got a dog so it would be a nice break from dog walking.

Still pretty bleak to be honest. I'm in the frame for a few jobs but so are many others.