Just like the first snow flake landing on British shores this winter, notice of my redundancy came as a surprise but not a shock. Economists have been warning us of mass job losses across the country since summer. The weatherman also lost no time forecasting a nation straddled by heavy snow. Yet I’ve been blissfully ignorant of these facts, until now.
Weighed down by countless layers of clothing to keep out the cold and desperately searching skiwear websites for available stocks, I keep asking myself the same question, what now?
First, I’m going to purchase any item that will make me look like I’ve just come from the slopes of Chamonix. The next item on the agenda, life after redundancy, appears to not resolve itself overnight.
Friends, family members and even my trusted Saturday Guardian’s money supplement all inform me that ‘being made redundant is the best thing that ever happened to them’.
In my own social circle there is some great examples of people finding their niche after being made redundant, and seizing the opportunity to go back to college or switching jobs to fit in with their families. From a former high-powered executive now training to become a midwife and a couple of great childminders who previously carved out a career in the boardroom, there is no shortage of inspiration.
Should I go back to school and become a teacher? No came the reply, you can just about manage your own children never mind a classroom of them.
How about nursing? Societies always need good nurses but then if the sight of blood makes you feel queasy the chances are you’d be a bad one.
Place all my savings and redundancy pay, and open a business I thought? A good idea if you could think of a profitable idea in a recession.
Sell-up and try our luck in a sunnier climate has its appeals especially given my lack of warm clothing yet the likelihood that I could communicate in a foreign language is nil, cero and null.
The conclusion is that I’m going to carry on doing what I enjoy, except now I have to find someone to employ me to do just that, unless you can suggest an alternative?
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