Redundant
 

Looks like the company I work for is going into administration on Tuesday/Wednesday of next week.
No wages paid for the last month's work. So after 17 years is adiós to to working in Nottingham and forwards into the unknown.

Re: Redundant
 

Sorry to hear this bad news, Al - good luck on finding something else.

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As Hugh says, sorry to hear your news Al. <hugs>

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I feel your pain I've lost my last 3 jobs due to redundancy, they where all to to relocation though.

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Sorry to hear this mate but try to be positive and move on. You might not see it as a door opening right now but the trick is to make it one. Job hunting only gets harder if you appear desperate, so now's the time to thoroughly assess your skills/experience, see what you have to offer and identify potential employers who may need someone just like you. Take a tip from me - design your CV carefully to suit the sort of post you're looking for and avoid, at all costs, producing a generic 'one size fits all' document.

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Tough break, sir.

All the best with the future. Don't go too hard on yourself & stay optimistic.

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Good luck Al, hope you find something soon

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Hope you find something soon and you never know it might be better that what you do now.

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Good luck al. What work do you do

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Thanks for the comments all :) been wanting to get out of my trade for the last couple of years, the work is getting heavier the older I get.

---------- Post added at 21:50 ---------- Previous post was at 21:49 ----------

I'm a wood machinist by trade but also a CNC programmer/operator and machine operator in the furniture trade.

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As Qsem says have a CV per position

I have a master CV that has everything, but cherry pick bits for jobs applied.

One thing about hobbies be-careful about putting one that are team based and applying for jobs that require solo work and the other way round as well.

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I hear you about the CV, my wife was made redundant last January and her CV is bob on, I'll be using hers as a template and will make my CV suit the type of jobs I apply for.
I would like to get into management, production/general with the skills I have I'm sure something will come along in that area. Until then I'll even clean toilets and serve up burgers for minimum wage, heck I could even become a geriatric stripper:p:

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Sorry to hear your news. Good luck and I hope you find something very soon.

Cheers

Grim

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What he said :tu:

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A great many people these days job hunt the 'easy way' and sign on to a few job sites then wait for the offers to flood in, which of course they never do. Its not long, then, before desperation sets in and things get harder...

Once you've carefully taken stock of your skills, preferences etc., draw up your CV accordingly and then, in addition to targeting advertised posts, use your initiative to identify potential employers to whom you have something to offer and vice versa. Nobody responds well to a generic CV and standard cover letter received out of the blue, but if you do your homework and produce documents which clearly relate to the current needs of those employers, sooner or later your CV will arrive on the right desk at the right time. A great many jobs are never advertised even nowadays, the key to success is finding them and that demands time and effort. I always tell my clients that when job hunting, less is definitely more - send out fewer applications but make sure they're properly researched and followed up.

One final tip, even though you may at times feel really desperate, don't show it. Everyone will appreciate redundancy is a great shock to the system but you'll be doing yourself a massive favour if, when in job hunting mode at least, you remain focused and positive about what you want and why.

Best of luck!!

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I used to work in recruitment in the furniture industry for a company called zwb, think they've gone now but my Ex boss works for/ runs this company, her name is Davina

http://www.spencerbrooksassociates.com/

Hope they can help

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Thanks bud, much appreciated :tu:

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Good luck! I hope it's not too long before you get the perfect job.:hugs:

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:shocked: You'll take the clothes off grandmothers?

Seriously, hone your CV and, as you say, tailor it to the position you're applying for.

Look here and here

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Trying to sticking rigidly to 2 (or even 1) pages is simplistic nonsense - you can print the bible on the back of a stamp, does that make it shorter or more readable?

What's important is content, layout and presentation. If the information is relevant, interesting and accessible, people will read it. If not, it doesn't matter how many pages and what sort of paper have been used. Gather the information, devise a logical layout, then present the information clearly so that, when scanned by the recipients, key facts (e.g. important qualifications, experience, successes, achievements) stand out. It's vital to sell yourself by presenting not only what you've done but how well you've done it so anything which you can include to allow the reader to determine the quality/value of your experience, the better. Once you have the information, then is the time to tweak the layout to present it to best effect. If this takes 3 or 4 pages so be it - have faith in the quality of what you've done.

Yes, the CV is there to provide the basic facts and enough detail to whet the reader's appetite - NOT chapter and verse on everything - so make sure you're able to expand upon anything mentioned in your CV at interview. It might seem obvious but plenty of people fall into the trap of being unable to back up what they've written when asked and it's a major cause of failure.

Understand one other thing. If you're at an interview it doesn't matter how disparaging the interviewer might appear to be. Never forget, they liked you enough to bother seeing you so all they're doing is testing you out. If your CV is full of waffle, false claims and half truths, it'll soon become clear. If, on the other hand, you can justify everything you've written, you're more than half way towards getting a job offer.

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Tough break Al. Hope something comes your way soon. :tu:

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Sorry to hear that you are being made Redundant Al and l do hope something comes your way rather soon.

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Sorry to hear the bad news.

Hope you get something sorted soon.

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The hardest thing about CVs is 1 to 2 pages.

My qualifications take up 3/4 of a page, so I can just scrape 3 pages.

One VERY important thing Spelling & Grammar, get someone to double/triple check, spelling mistakes will get your CV binned quicker than you can blink, grammer as (there their & they're) as an example.

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Sorry to hear that, Ive been made redundant twice, but always bounced back again, just stay positive.

Btw, who did you work for in Nottingham ?

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Which is just one reason why the notion of sticking rigidly to some arbitrary number of pages is nonsense. Is 2 pages of garbage more persuasive than 3 pages of relevant and persuasive information? Is a 1 page CV of 1000 words longer than a 3 page CV of 900 words? I think not.

A CV should be long enough to 'say what needs to be said' and some people have done a lot more than others, irrespective of age. The knack is presenting the content in a form which is easily navigable, thereby empowering any reader to scan it then dip in/out as they see fit, according to what interests them most. If you can catch the reader's eye with some impressive facts, achievements, successes etc., so much the better. A CV should be more akin to a reference document with an element of marketing than a novel.

PTT design.

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Sorry to hear that, hope you find something soon.

I have never been treated so badly by a company, we have still not received any further information. We're not even producing any furniture just standing around chatting.

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To (try to) be fair it may be they don't have much information to give but now is the time to be reflecting on your experience and trying to see the wood for the trees (no pun intended). It's not easy and not something which can be rushed. It's important, however, to be in the right (positive) frame of mind when you gather the information. Essentially your CV has to promote what you have to offer and that's largely a function of what you've done and how well you've done it. Think not only about your various job titles/functions but what skills you've displayed, challenges you've risen to, ideas you've come up with etc. etc. Make sure there's a place for these things in your CV because they're what separate you from the rest.

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Thanks for the info I'll bear it in mind when I sort out my CV :)

Happened this morning, nearly 17 years of service and I've been finished, about 30 people were let go today and most of those who went had over 10 years service.
Written to CSA, signed on online and have my interview tomorrow morning.
Spent a couple of hours looking for a job within my trade and nothing is out there.
Mind you if I want to drive 50 miles each way I could get a job with my skills for minimum wage :confused::rolleyes::confused:

Got a list as long as my arm for bits to do around the home, making a start with that tomorrow so I'll be trying to keep myself busy.

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Presuming you'd be looking for something similar, try to identify companies operating in the same or a similar marketplace where your skills/knowledge will be directly relevant. Skills are transferrable, however, so don't rule out other sectors. Competitor companies are often another source of opportunities. I can't stress how important it is to be imaginative and proactive rather than reactive. There's nothing to be lost by applying for advertised roles but targeting potential employers directly offers a number of advantages amongst which is that it's a lot cheaper for the employer, which always goes down well. Networking and making use of other leads (e.g. local news articles) as to what may be going on where can help you target potential employers who may have something to offer, for example, because you've just read they've won a large contract. Believe me, lots of jobs are found by people who, through their own research, have put themselves in the right place at the right time. There's another benefit too - a psychological one - receiving a steady flow of rejections in respect of dozens of vacancies you didn't really want but decided to apply for is very depressing, so be selective about whom you apply to. If you have a number of applications on the go concurrently (some speculative*, others in response to advertised vacancies etc.) you avoid that awful feeling of having no hope. When it comes to job hunting, less is more.

* Speculative in the sense that you've approached a potential employer directly having done your homework on them as opposed to speculative in the sense that you've sent off 100 generic CVs to a list of names in a phone book.

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One thing about sending out CVs, don't fold them put them in white A4 envelopes, yes it will cost more to post but it will look more professional, I also used 100/120gsm high quality paper (I was given some which a ream cost the same price as a box of 5 reams.

Also don't expect a response from everybody, of the 28 I sent out to company's in my field (Part -145 aviation company's), only 8 bothered to reply and one was a rolling contract which became full time.

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Well 9 days after being made redundant I have some work which could quite well lead into a fulltime roll. Self employed at the moment and will be for the next month, then it'll be a week or so break then back full time. (fingers crossed)

The signing on process was a humilitating experience, I have no idea what I would do with the £72 pw. It would cover the mortgage & council tax and thats about it.

There was another round of redundancies at my old place and all thats left from a 60+ workforce are 8 office & 8 shop floor.

Its a shame that its gone, we made high quality furniture and now its being run until it ceases trading which will probably be within the next week.

The amount of experience, expertise and skill that has been binned is unquantifiable, 80% of the workforce were 10 years+ and about 4 of us were over 15 years.

Bad management and poor business decisions led to its downfall. I honestly thought I would end my working days there.

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Glad you got some work I was made redundant nearly 3 years ago after 50 years of working (only 2 companies) was expected to live on £72.00 P/W (6 months only) and then live of my savings

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Luckily I have never had to sign on but I can appreciate how soul destroying the whole process can be when you would give anything to not be in that position. So it's good to hear that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel alf. I too will keep my fingers crossed for you.

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One would expect that the longer you paid in the longer you would be in receipt of contribution based benefits. Alas not the case.
This was the first time in about 25 years I was out of work. I was avaliable for work after signing on for 5 days, after I signed off I was told that there was a 7 day waiting time before benefits were paid. I havnt had any money for the last 7 weeks, what money we have is dwindleing fast.

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Hope it works out for you mate. Any chance of starting something up with some of your old colleagues/contacts or isn't that something you'd want to do?

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A couple of us have spoken about it before and although it would be nice to give it a shot the 50k + premesis startup is beyond our financial reach.
I do have a plan for something else but first I need a workshop at the bottom of the garden which with my redundancy I hope to build later in the year, wife permitting :D

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Maybe the first thing you need to make is something for her then. :)

There may be financial help available out there - might be worth asking around. Sometimes sad events like this can turn out to be life changing for the very best of reasons. You could be millionaires in a few years and look back wondering why you didn't do it earlier... ;)

Don't forget my cut if you do make it big eh? ;)

Re: Redundant
 

:tu:

Del boy would be proud