Redundancy - how did you cope

About your needs and goals in life and what you want to do. I had a good enough job for 14 yrs and was let go when they closed down. I moved to another location and a similar job without really giving it much thought. This new job offered voluntary redundancy as the nature of the job was changing and they wanted only graduates in the future or experienced trades people of which I was neither. I departed from that second job after 12 yrs. Again without much thought I did a course for 1 yr and joined another company doing similar wor but only lasted 6 months At the time I thought it was a complete and unmitigated disaster.

With the support of my wife and family, I took stock of my entire life and needs and wants and looked for what was right for me in my life for the future.
Part of the analysis was that I was found to have a condition that I never was aware that I has which made social interaction and teamwork difficult, increasingly vital attributes in the sector which I had worked in for the last 30 yrs. I had to change my life and career completely.

My wife came up with the idea which is now making me a reasonable weeks wages and things are looking good for the first time in 4 yrs. I also have taken advice and counselling on how to cope with the new realities of my new life and this is helping.

Through the government agency that WAS Fas, you can get access to a variety of agencies which can help in restructuring your life for new economic realities we all face as citizens of this country. For most over 50's of moderate educational attainments this will be self employment or contingency work of some sort as I believe that the Multinationals only want young compliant labour and do not want to deal with over 50's unless they are very well educated in their field.

You need to examine what you really like to do, what you are really good at without any struggle or difficulty, increasingly companies will only be retaining staff who are excellent at their jobs and ENJOY what they are doing and have a passion for, lukewarm people like me in my original line of work will be found out and weeded out and let go.

You need to plan for and budget for continuous personal and professional development and training....does not matter what type of work you do, all levels of work in Ireland will require this type of education and training at all stages of the worklife in the near future. Companies are increasingly expecting people to do this themselves or at least be open to it. Also this is something that people will be doing in their own time. Hopefully they will be able to charge more for their services if the training and development are good and their skills are scarce and in demand. Research this and make sure they are.

There are several courses and stuff available on strengths weaknesses abilities likes dislikes etc to help you decide what line of work is suitable for you, choose wisely and be prepared to change yourself if this is needed. Good marketing and sales skills will be needed by everyone in the future and good networking and contact building skills ie. never do a bad job for anyone and build up your reputation as much as you can etc.

Such rebuilding of a persons worklife will take time and patience and will to change established practices and limits but it can be done. Best of luck in whatever you decide.