Well, OK – strictly I am in consultation until the end of April but to be honest cannot see it being anything but termination of employment.

Bit out of the blue and the question is do I look for more work in the same line or do I take this opportunity to do something new?

I quite enjoy my trade (insurance for all my sins) but I would love to set up a photography business for example so this might be just the stimulus I need to get it done.

In the meantime I am going to console myself with a hot roast pork sandwich and some chocolate.

Comedy answer is are you Mr J Clarkson.

Serious answer is think about when you get another job, because depending if you have some redundancy pay to come, if you leave early to take another job you don’t normally get paid your redundancy, despite them pulling the trigger, it’s a mad world.

Take it as an opportunity if you can. Hopefully you’ll get enough money to keep you going for a while and give you a chance to try something else. I suspect insurance is something you could get back into if it didn’t work out. Not sure about photography as it can be tough and there is a lot of competition these days. I’m sure there is something though.

Decent payoff terms ?

join the club, my last day in office tomorrow :/

Happens to all of us – I had it 5 times in 14 years. Each time it was the same story – good company with good profits and happy hard working staff, new chief executive takes over with big ideas but little idea of how the company works sets the company on a course to destruction, jumps ship (gets a better job often) and people lose their jobs. One company I worked for saw their share price drop 99.95% after one smart arse’s meddling – he moved to work in the nuclear engineering sector …………God help us!

I was made redundant 3 times in 18 months once. I was beggining to think I was cursed!

The last one lead to something quite special. None of the other times has been a disaster.

Chin-up, it will be OK

Definitely an opportunity.

Always keep an eye on your specialist field just in case you do find something better (invariably you will) but also a nod to other interests that spike your enthusiasm.

It’s easy sitting this side to offer up an opportunity, but it really is.

Great opportunity IMO.

While you’re in the consultation process kick back at work and spend the time you’ve gained evaluating your photography business idea, to see if you believe it’ll work. And at the same time apply for jobs in your current industry as a backup.

new chief executive takes over with big ideas but little idea of how the company work

I believe this is almost mandatory. It’s called blue sky thinking and involves not letting the day to day reality of running a business compromise your ‘growth’ plans. Using growth in it’s MBA sense ie total destruction of all value….

To be fair to the company they have advised they do not expect me to work during my consultation period other than to be available should any questions arise that only I can answer and to use the time to find alternate work.

They are the rarest of things these days – a firm that truly looks after its employees even in the tougher situations and I will be ok for a bit financially also.

I will crunch the numbers on going it alone and have a word with some contacts to see if there is anything of interest out there.

The pork sandwich was good!

Sorry to hear, I would use it as an opportunity to innovate with what you do. For me this would be transitioning to a niche player or a big corporate leader (depending on which ur in now) Look to take your skills across into consulting perhaps?

id be very careful about those ‘dream job’ type ideas depending on your stage of life/ responsibilities. recently did a photography course and the trainer spent a significant portion of time complaining about the number of people that come on his courses to set up a photography business… their expectations/reality gap was usually significant (ps this is not a dig, you may be a fantastic photographer who could make it pay, there are many who arnt)

but I would love to set up a photography business for example so this might be just the stimulus I need to get it done.

I think this is a very tough business unless you’re really exceptionally good and have good industry contacts. There are way to many wanna-be pros who do stuff for free to compete with!

@ff – yes, all to well aware of the competitive nature of photography which is why I am cautious over the idea.

I do have some potentially useful contacts in the wider family though so will at least use this opportunity to research the idea properly.

I have enough time to evaluate my situation properly and don’t need to make any hasty decisions.

I’m in a remarkably similar situation. I’m taking it as ‘a sign’ to think about alternatives. I need to get through the rest of the year somehow, but next year it’s all change.

In the meantime I am going to console myself with a hot roast pork sandwich and some chocolate.

only if you have not been dannybbad

Get on Linkedin etc, sort out your profiles etc and see what jobs pop up. You may be surprised.

I’m in the same boat, and I’m looking at it as an opportunity to ditch the coding part of my job and specialise in the analyst side of the job.
Had my first job interview today and guess what it’s for? Pure coding 🙄 contract job so could be lucrative

Nice one!

they have advised they do not expect me to work during my consultation

with full pay?
So they’ll be paying you to ride your bike then? after all, scouring the internet for a new job won’t take all day. 😉

Been there a few years? Have you thought what you might spend the money on? Kerrchiiing! Friend of mine got 17k as worked there for 12 years, set up a new job to start 2 weeks after he finished at the other. Things always work out okay.

Yep, full pay until end of April and have to be available to help with any outstanding queries over ongoing work to give me opportunity to find something else and then a lump some it the redundancy is confirmed.

Need to have a good long think about what I want to do going forward.

Thanks all for the thoughts, ideas and sympathy…

I hope it works out brilliantly for you and turns out to be a positive thing whatever you do!

To be fair to the company they have advised they do not expect me to work during my consultation period

………….cool, time to get the bike out on those trails you planned to ride but never had time to!

good luck. there are plenty of happy stories resulting from what can be quite a depressing situation to be in. I’m one of the lucky ones. big payout, went self employed for a year ( did about 8 weeks work in total ), now back at the old job with a decent pay-rise and a different attitude to employment.
keep your chin up.

best of luck to you. I think I’ll be soon joining the club, too.

sorry to hear that Danny.
i’m sure there is something better waiting around the corner for you.

Sorry to hear that, had it twice since 2009 – both turned out to be a blessing for different reasons – the first because after 10 years, my role had disappeared the year before and I was dropped into a role I was terrible at, without training simply so I would fail so they could sack me, I clung on with both hands and walked out with £15k pay-off.

The second was harder, I was getting married a few months later and I was broke – I also walked with less than a grand – but I was working again 5 days later, better job, less money but more now and I’m much much happier – I even made back the bonus they stole from me by selling all my knowledge about them to someone who contacted me via LinkedIn 🙂

As to what to do, it really depends on your circumstances – and even then it comes down to luck – when I got axed from the first one I gave myself 3 options.

Option 1 – take the money and use it to fund the summer season in the Alps – I walked in May, I could take some temp work till the lifts opened to keep me out of trouble and I’d arrive home when they closed again almost broke – but I had no wife, no kids and a rented flat – who cares.

Option 2 – get straight into the job market, take anything I could find to preserve the pay-out and when I finally got myself back on my feet buy a house, something I should have done a decade before.

Option 3 – take a self-employed job with an old mate who’d walked out of my old job 5 years previously and was doing okay self-employed (relative to the time – this was Summer 2009 and the world was ending).

I decided on 3, it meant I started work the same day, I pretty much made a few quid on my second day in the job (all of £30) and it was the ‘sensible thing to do’ as the job market was dead and sodding off to France for 10 weeks was foolhardy.

Ironically that decision was indirectly the worst mistake of my life a few weeks later I crashed on humdrum bit of trail at Afan, One in a million crash meant two badly broken arms, 3 weeks in Hospital, 4 surgeries, more physio appointments than I can remember and ultimately 9 months before I could work again, rather than using the money to set myself up, I used it to pay (some of) the bills and some private medical stuff – I finally got back to work in the new year on the verge of bankruptcy – I couldn’t even get a proper current account for 2 years.