Having been employed continuously for 25 years during which time I survived countless corporate reorganisations, the inevitable has happened and I have been made redundant.
This is bad news in the sense of being without a reliable income.On the other hand I have just had a fairly hefty pay off from my former employer for losing a job I had grown to dislike. I am not skint nor particularly sorry to have left.
This leaves me as a fully paid member of the leisured classes. I have calculated that given a fairly modest lifestyle, a working spouse and a fair wind I could pretty much give up work. The working spouse is not overly impressed with this notion and I think I would have to discount her co-operation over the longer term. So I do need to bring in an income.
The obvious and unimaginative answer is get a job similar to the one I have just lost. However I am finding out that employers are reluctant to hire a 50 year old almost regardless of my experience. They cannot say so directly because of the new age discrimination legislation but there are thinly disguised references to my age in some of the feedback I have received from potential employers. It is plain that getting back into a job is not going to be easy.
So what are the alternatives ? Having had a meeting with an relentlessly upbeat outplacement consultant (more to follow) they would appear to be
- Sell my years of experience as a consultant (the day rate for a Reward Consultant is impressive but I have no clients nor am I a natural networker)
- Develop a portfolio lifestyle which is management speak for short term contract work which is a few months work followed by a job search (yippee !!)
- Er.....
Hence right now I am an unemployed bloke who is scratching a living playing poker lets see how it goes.
After an interesing International break it is back to the bread and butter of the league the Baggies have Spurs at home. Feeling unrealistically optimistic about this Spurs are without a few key players think we are good for a point.
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