Redundancy :(

EspressoJunkie

EspressoJunkie

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I found out a couple of days ago that in 9-12 months (or possibly sooner) I will be made redundant. There has been a little uncertainty in my workplace over the last few months but its still come as a bit of a shock to everyone affected. There is a small chance that something may open up in an area of the business that is remaining but for all intents and purposes it will be the end of my employment.

This has made me take stock of my (limited) skills and work experience. What I've been doing for the last 5 years (product photography) is very niche especially in Northern Ireland so I doubt very much I'll be able to find anything similar. Before this all I've done is hospitality (hotels and Starbucks) and a little bit of warehousing, neither of which I would want to return to if I could avoid it.

I've no doubt that when the time comes I'll be able to find something to tide me over, I'm just concerned more about the long term. I make less than 20grand a year but even at that surviving on minimum wage for a while ( which realistically what I'm looking at ) will be doable but tough. Plus I have 4 kids and my wife's (who only works part time) has just started uni!

So I'm now faced with the need to rethink my career at 37 which is far from ideal. I'm really at a loss as to what to think about doing or trying to do. I have no qualifications apart from GCSEs and the experience mentioned above.

Sorry for the rant, I'm trying to keep a brave face for my wife but I needed to let this out somewhere!

Any advice?
 
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Sorry to hear that, if it's any consolation everyone I know who's been made redundant has gone on to find work and be happier and better paid than they were at where they left, somehow it kicked them out of the comfort zone.

Doesn't make it any easier or less scary in the short term though but stay strong and keep your options and your mind open and something will work out. Also, you'll be surprised about how transferable a lot of your skills are, even if it doesn't immediately seem like it, so get some advice if it's available as it will definitely help.
 
That sucks, Greg, I'm sorry to hear it.
I had it happen to me this year...6th July, after 15 years with the same company.

I've been lucky, and begin my new job on Tuesday 1st. (Excited!)

It's tough, there's no doubt about that, but don't let it get you down for too long.

I found it important to throw myself into looking for something asap.
I heard horror stories about signing on and job centres, but I found that if you make it clear that your intention is to get right back into work, and that you're taking action in that department, they will bend over backwards to assist you.
Well, they did me, anyway.

Agencies too were bloody helpful, and I found my new position through a specialist recruiter.

One word of advice, if you use online resources and agencies, buy a second, cheapo mobile payg phone, because once you submit your details, the phone will go crazy!

Good luck....sometimes, what looks like a disaster can turn into a great opportunity.
 
As hard as it seems (and I really feel for you), you need to use this chance as a springboard. Is there something you always fancied trying? What are you good at, how about setting up a little studio and starting off on your own?

Easy for me to sit here and say that, but make yourself a cup of tea, get a pen and paper and write out some ideas, no matter how far fetched and take it from there.

Good luck :)
 
Advice, er.....utilise what skills you have that can get you something to pay the bills first. You said you have warehouse experience which should help, I'd be more inclined to try that first then have a good think about what you really want to do. At least you have been given a decent amount of time, in factory work I'm in it can be weeks.

Good luck
 
Something else which Viv and Gremlin touch on is that people find it easy to help people who are trying to help themselves, you've already demonstrated in your post that you're willing to do anything to tide you over and that will reflect well in any conversations you have about work.

Try and keep that attitude :)
 
Be positive, at least you have 9 months or so notice, I have been out of work much quicker than that in the past!!!

Think about what you can do and what you want to do... start speaking to recruitment agencies asap. Depending on your personality, there are plenty of sales roles which don't need experience to start with! Feel free to PM if you want to chat, have over 20 years experience in sales.
 
I was made voluntarily redundant on Friday after 10 years, while not quite the same as I jumped but it's still a bizarre situation and process.

After 5 years though that should be a bit of a payout as a stop gap.
 
If you do have 9-12 months, look into if there is any sort of training you can take to widen your skills.
 
Think of it as an opportunity!

Been there, done that, and it was the best thing that could have happened :)
 
Shorts???? I'm in Ards , was made redundant 4 years ago best thing that ever happened as I now use my camera full time to pay the bills .ever want a coffee give me a buzz as I was in your position not too long ago
 
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neil_g said:
I was made voluntarily redundant on Friday after 10 years, while not quite the same as I jumped but it's still a bizarre situation and process.

After 5 years though that should be a bit of a payout as a stop gap.
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If they only pay statutory, it's not much at all, really.
 
Thanks for all the kind words.

I've actually been with the company 9 years, but the previous 4 were in the warehouse, and the last 5 in photography.

From what I worked out roughly if I get do the statutory redundancy amount then I will be able to survive on minimum wage for a year, using the redundancy pay to make up the difference to what I get now.

This is assuming I find full time employment fairly quickly, but I hope to be able to do that.

I'd be confident that I could do well in a Starbucks type of environment, but I wouldn't care if it was a McDonald's etc as long as it was work.

What I am concerned about as well is the impact on my family life, esp with regards to spending time with my kids, as this above all else is what's important to me. I cherish my time with them and I would really hate for a new job to impact that. Obviously that's not an excuse to avoid a job. I understand that needs must, but I would seriously hate to see them less than I do already and that's only with working 9-5!
 
Age old problem that, time with the kids versus feed the kids.

With the time you have before the redundancy kicks in you should look into the possibilities of self employment as a photographer. If it's feasible you'll have the best and worst of both worlds, +working from home doing work you like +see more of the kids +be your own boss, but -never 'off duty' -no paid hols -never sure if the phone is going to ring.
 
EspressoJunkie said:
I'd be confident that I could do well in a Starbucks type of environment, but I wouldn't care if it was a McDonald's etc as long as it was work.
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That's a great attitude which will serve you well (although remember to be effusive about any employer in an interview!).

Have you look into the management schemes at McDonalds etc? I had a look at those when I graduated (long time ago now) and they had a decent starting salary (better than what I ended up earning as an trainee accountant) with obvious promotion prospects. A lot of employers are now being more open-minded about taking on more 'mature' workers as they'll often have more common-sense and a better work ethic.
 
I've thought about a photography business more than once over the last few years and even did a few weddings. While I'm confident enough in ability, the cost of adequate equipment (the gear i use in work belongs to the company), the total over saturation of the market (especially somewhere as small as NI), and the fact that I really have no desire or skills to be my own boss or run a business always put me off. I would maybe feel differently if it was just me, but with being the main breadwinner of the family I want something more secure for my income.

It's something I would certainly consider down the line, especially knowing now how suddenly a job situation can change, but I certainly want to find a stable, long term solution to everything first before I even thing about anything like that again.
 
I would certainly look into starting on your own. You would be entitled to tax credits which will bump up your salary. You shouldn't be worried about being your own boss just get an accountant. It's loads of self employed and directors on here myself included that can help with any questions.

There are so many small eBay and Amazon business's needing product photography. I'm sure you could get some customers their. Particularly eBay where you can narrow your search to local area.
 
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I'm not pushing you to self employment (it's not for everyone) but a part time product photography business isn't the most expensive business to set up* and don't be surprised to find it's not a saturated market.

Everyone can take an 'acceptable' wedding photo, that's why the market is saturated, but product photography requires a standard of competency not possessed by every hobbyist.

Even if you have no gear, a £200 s/h DSLR a couple of inexpensive lenses and less than £500 for lights and modifiers would get you started for less than a grand.

You don't need a 5ds and profoto lights to make decent images. But if you start moving to markets where they are the norm... You'll be charging enough to justify them.
 
Not sure if you have a driving license or could afford over the time remaining but what about HGV driving in the NE UK you can still if willing to work find a job reasonably well

I know it means an investment in a licence but the return may pay for itself perhaps avoid the artic long vehicle training as many employers look for experience better start at the bottom round here bus drivers seem to get work well

Take heart many me included have had redundancy thrust on them as long as your willing I feel sure you'll do fine, hope something turns up soon for you and remember if something turns up in a months time you don't owe your present employer anything chance of a new job take it with both hands :) good luck
 
As more general career advice, people tend to see 'experience' in their own careers, whereas employers are looking for 'transferable skills'.

So as a mature bloke who has some experience for customer service and a genuine feel for it, and some experience of managing your own workload, think about what you 'could' do rather than what you are prepared to do.

And as has been said on similar threads recently, career changes nowadays are a fact of life rather than a possibility. I reckon by the time I retire I'll have had at least 5 very different 'trades'. I know a lad of 20 who's had more jobs than me and I'm 52.
 
On the brightside - you've 9-12 months notice. I had one month.
On the other bright side, you aren't earning much so attitude and a can do approach will mean lots for the sort of jobs you want to do, will be applying for.

SO start looking now, see what you fancy doing and see if you need any additional skills/training to do that. Nows the time to get that.
 
Phil V said:
I'm not pushing you to self employment (it's not for everyone) but a part time product photography business isn't the most expensive business to set up* and don't be surprised to find it's not a saturated market.

Everyone can take an 'acceptable' wedding photo, that's why the market is saturated, but product photography requires a standard of competency not possessed by every hobbyist.

Even if you have no gear, a £200 s/h DSLR a couple of inexpensive lenses and less than £500 for lights and modifiers would get you started for less than a grand.

You don't need a 5ds and profoto lights to make decent images. But if you start moving to markets where they are the norm... You'll be charging enough to justify them.
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If you have the skills of a product photographer, you will be able to make an extremely good living.
I'm not sure that I agree with Phil about the budget, but certainly £3K would get you going - and that's a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things, something like one week's turnover for a good product photographer.
 
As I say, it's certainly something I would consider down the line, but there's no way I could afford 3 grand on a set up at the moment.

Also Northern Ireland really hasn't the same demand for product images that the mainland would. I was lucky to be able to do it for the last 5 years in a (what was) a stable environment.
 
EspressoJunkie said:
As I say, it's certainly something I would consider down the line, but there's no way I could afford 3 grand on a set up at the moment.

Also Northern Ireland really hasn't the same demand for product images that the mainland would. I was lucky to be able to do it for the last 5 years in a (what was) a stable environment.
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I assume you could also consider the Republic as well as NI in seeking product photography work?

Anthony.
 
Hi Greg

I'd think first whether you are prepared to relocate or would not move as kids are in school etc, maybe family near.

If you are staying put, you need to have a look at what is on offer locally, and what you feel might be missing.

It is of course much easier nowdays to start up an online business. One of my friends moved abroad and started up with no experience a toy \ model shop and an online one. He's since closed the shop but the online bit is going well - he found a niche and now has regular customers who had nowhere to get some of the stuff he does.

Brexit will no doubt provide opportunities - some sectors will grow, some will shrink.

If you were to retrain in IT, the security site is growing exponentially and will only get bigger. There is something coming in 2018 called GDPR which is going to mean many more companies than do at present will have to spend more on security and compliance or risk huge fines. So getting in with a company that consults on those sorts of things could be a good ploy, or companies that will benefit from it, as those companies will likely grow and provide further opportunities for internal promotions etc.

Think about what transferable skills you now have - good negotiator, client relations, project management etc?

I'm not 100% sure how these things work and should get some proper advice but you may be able to get some (re)training for something thrown in as part of your redundancy.

Good luck - as mentioned above most people I know who it has occurred to have been massive panic followed my months later saying they were glad it happened. Just make sure you make it happen, keep good relations with your employer, you never know what might turn up through contacts etc.

As an aside in each company I've worked in I've started in the most junior levels and worked my way up in each - sometimes especially if you are starting again it can be the best way, learn on the floor as such, and with a bit of drive push upwards.

Al
 
Garry Edwards said:
If you have the skills of a product photographer, you will be able to make an extremely good living.
I'm not sure that I agree with Phil about the budget, but certainly £3K would get you going - and that's a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things, something like one week's turnover for a good product photographer.
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Seriously £3k a week? - so £156,000 a year turnover - that's a genuine question.
 
akr said:
Seriously £3k a week? - so £156,000 a year turnover - that's a genuine question.
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OK, not Northern Ireland, but Bradford, a pretty depressed area economically. At the time that I closed my own studio, 3 years ago, and moved it into the Lencarta warehouse and stopped taking on new clients and gradually started getting rid of the existing ones, £3K was the income generated by a single photographer in just 3 days.
It's a specialised service offered by skilled people to large businesses that are more than happy to spend the right money for the right results. People in areas such as London charge far more.
Obviously "product photography" is a very general term and I suppose even includes people taking Ebay quality photos in a light tent, and people doing that may struggle to earn minimum pay - but as the OP says that he has been doing this as a job for 5 years I'm assuming that he has what it takes.
 
akr said:
If you were to retrain in IT, the security site is growing exponentially and will only get bigger. There is something coming in 2018 called GDPR which is going to mean many more companies than do at present will have to spend more on security and compliance or risk huge fines. So getting in with a company that consults on those sorts of things could be a good ploy, or companies that will benefit from it, as those companies will likely grow and provide further opportunities for internal promotions etc.
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Any advice for training towards this? I'm sure the google search I just did has thrown up lots of rubbish courses, but wonder if you can suggest anything?
 
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Garry Edwards said:
OK, not Northern Ireland, but Bradford, a pretty depressed area economically. At the time that I closed my own studio, 3 years ago, and moved it into the Lencarta warehouse and stopped taking on new clients and gradually started getting rid of the existing ones, £3K was the income generated by a single photographer in just 3 days.
It's a specialised service offered by skilled people to large businesses that are more than happy to spend the right money for the right results. People in areas such as London charge far more.
Obviously "product photography" is a very general term and I suppose even includes people taking Ebay quality photos in a light tent, and people doing that may struggle to earn minimum pay - but as the OP says that he has been doing this as a job for 5 years I'm assuming that he has what it takes.
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OK thanks was just wondering it that was a realistic average over a year.

nickEnackEnoo said:
Any advice for training towards this? I'm sure the google search I just did has thrown up lots of rubbish courses, but wonder if you can suggest anything?
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neil_g said:
You could look for courses around penetration testing and ethical hacking.
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As Neil says Pen Test - here is a fairly well known company in this area - seems they have a training program. I expect you'd need to have an interest and demonstrable ability in this field - https://www.contextis.com/careers/ . IT would probably be easier to get into an admin \ non tech type role if you have no experience and then see if you can train when there. A lot of what companies will need to do is guidance re compliance.

You also have other roles like devops also growing a lot but you really need some experience behind you for this. You could look at somewhere like stackoverflow for the type of experience needed.

One thing I forgot to mention is the government are changing the apprentice scheme next year (from April I think). I'm not sure if there is an upper age limit, but any company with a £3 million + turnover will need to allocate a % of that towards the scheme, which can be for training existing stuff or new apprentices. Apprentice schemes if you can get on it might be good - paid work (lower pay than normal) but the vital experience and possibility of moving into full-time roles and company understanding oyu need extra help. We took on 2 last year who are now full-time members of staff - so possibly a good other route if you are looking at moving sectors.

Alternatively you could thing more training will need to be given as part of the apprentice scheme and you could try and get in on that.

None of the above may be a good fit for you - my point is try to find growth areas and see if you can get into one of those, if you think they are suitable - I hope that makes sense!
 
EspressoJunkie said:
I found out a couple of days ago that in 9-12 months (or possibly sooner) I will be made redundant. There has been a little uncertainty in my workplace over the last few months but its still come as a bit of a shock to everyone affected. There is a small chance that something may open up in an area of the business that is remaining but for all intents and purposes it will be the end of my employment.

This has made me take stock of my (limited) skills and work experience. What I've been doing for the last 5 years (product photography) is very niche especially in Northern Ireland so I doubt very much I'll be able to find anything similar. Before this all I've done is hospitality (hotels and Starbucks) and a little bit of warehousing, neither of which I would want to return to if I could avoid it.

I've no doubt that when the time comes I'll be able to find something to tide me over, I'm just concerned more about the long term. I make less than 20grand a year but even at that surviving on minimum wage for a while ( which realistically what I'm looking at ) will be doable but tough. Plus I have 4 kids and my wife's (who only works part time) has just started uni!

So I'm now faced with the need to rethink my career at 37 which is far from ideal. I'm really at a loss as to what to think about doing or trying to do. I have no qualifications apart from GCSEs and the experience mentioned above.

Sorry for the rant, I'm trying to keep a brave face for my wife but I needed to let this out somewhere!

Any advice?
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I'm 36, have a career in IT that I've done reasonably well in, but am seriously thinking about ditching it in favour of going full time photographer. Just need to get a bit more savings behind me to minimise the risk. Never been passionate about my career, was just something I fell / was pressured into as I was doing well at school.

Recently dropped a day in the office to spend more time doing photography and never been happier. If you enjoy it, look into making it work, set up costs could be minimal to begin with, or maybe there's a local studio that could do with an extra set of hands.

And a bit hippy-ish, but this -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khOaAHK7efc
 
This happend to me earlier in the year. The Mrs was 2 months pregnant with our second - We also had to shocking deaths around the same time.

My advice would be don't hold it in and get the people around you that make you feel happy i.e. Your kids. And just ride it out and something will come along you have exactly the same attitude as I had - you will do anything so you will be fine.

I worked in Marketing for ten years and now working on a production site almost earning double what I was in marketing.

Something will happen keep strong and happy.
 
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