This Business and Moment...

[NickK]

Company got acquired and my role has been made redundant. New company wants to shoe-horn me into a position I don't really want, can I take redundancy?

Bit of a **** time at the moment.

Redundancy is the role, assuming you’ve been in the company for 2 years, then they have to offer redundancy if your role disappears. Alternate situation is they offer a role designed to make you leave organically so they don’t have to pay redundancy as once you accept the new position or changes to the role (ensure there is a new job spec for the change) then you loose the right to redundancy.
in short I would look for an new role.

 

[NickK]

Just had interview, seemed ok.. but not sure.

In the end it's the same role, different customer, and seemed like they had friday afternoon fun.

Anyways.. it's friday

Heard back - nope. In the interview I suspected as much, it did seem they wanted a technical doer rather than a leading doer.. we even discussed the discrepancy.

In short probably a good thing - they approached me and it did seem their HR recuiter and the lead interviewer had to different views of what the role is.. not that if you read my CV it would be quite obvious!

 

[Yaayuh!]

Redundancy is the role, assuming you’ve been in the company for 2 years, then they have to offer redundancy if your role disappears. Alternate situation is they offer a role designed to make you leave organically so they don’t have to pay redundancy as once you accept the new position or changes to the role (ensure there is a new job spec for the change) then you loose the right to redundancy.
in short I would look for an new role.

Indeed. Been here almost 20 years...
A have a lot of thinking to do.

 

[throwaway4372]

Been here almost 20 years...

Should be a decent pay-out at least. Job market sux tho so don't bet it on red immediately.

 

[OspreyO]

Indeed. Been here almost 20 years...
A have a lot of thinking to do.

When I took voluntary many years ago I had to move laterally took a bit of pay cut and took about a year and a few contract jobs to get back to where I had been, but I got out from under a cul de sac where I had been.

In hindsight I wish I took more time off to travel and get up-to-date qualifications.

 

[MichaelAwkward]

Third interview confirmed for the plc role. I didn’t think I’d get this far but they want to see me again so let’s see.

Also got headhunted for a role by someone who left the business I’m currently working for - to lead on their NetSuite implementation and help out with some upcoming M&A work. Would be a longer commute into Reading twice a week though but might be slightly more rewarding/more money than the plc role but probably less valuable for future prospects.

 

[dowie]

Company got acquired and my role has been made redundant. New company wants to shoe-horn me into a position I don't really want, can I take redundancy?

Bit of a **** time at the moment.

Yes, you can.

But also you have the right to a trial period too AFAIK - like you can take the new role for 4 weeks, see if it's a good fit, and if not then opt out of it and take the redundancy.

They ought to also consider you for any other suitable roles internally too - so you can be proactive about it too, have a search, ask around, and see if there is anything else available within your company/the new company that might be suitable for you.

(They ought to have some info for you to read through, you can also go see an employment solicitor for an initial consultation or indeed read through the government guidance, citizens advice etc.. online).

 

[uvarvu]

I've been through a world of pain recently as well, found out back in early August that I was being redundant due to a reduction of staff in high cost locations. I was paid off to leave early and finished back in early September, been job hunting ever since. There is a LOT out there but there's also a lot of competition which made the application process a bit tricky. Anyway, today I received an offer and have signed the contracts, I start my new job early next month. The salary is higher than before and the hours are less (45 -> 37.5), I just wish I made the move sooner.

EDIT: This is why I haven't been on the forums so much recently (not that people would notice!)

 

[Felon]

There is a LOT out there but there's also a lot of competition which made the application process a bit tricky.

Yeah, there's not so much 'competition' but more noise, in the sense that there's a lot of dregs out there applying for all of the roles, and getting noticed/seen in the pile can be difficult.

A recruiter friend of mine says that he if posts a decent software engineering job online at 9am - by 5pm he's has 200-300 applicants, but 95% of them are unemployable, 5 of them are decent - and the client will reject the two he sends over.

Well done on your offer.

 

[throwaway4372]

Certainly feels like 95% of jobs I apply for don't even read my cv, despite surely being one of the top 5% candidates.

 

[mid_gen]

I'm still in a position where I'm more than likely going to be out of a job come April, because of a RTO mandate I can't satisfy.

Pretty ****** off about the whole thing tbh. But I'm fortunate/sensible enough to have tiny monthly outgoings and a decent pot of savings, so I'm getting rather excited about taking my first significant time off in 20+ years of working and spend next summer outdoors and having a crack at making some money off my youtube channel, which is gaining traction.

It will be a welcome break tbh, the games industry is an absolute **** show at the moment, will be nice to get out of that environment for a while. Take some time to write up and prep some conference talks I've never found time for etc, and hopefully get back into it next year if/when the market picks up.

 

[LiE]

So after 16 years here I've accepted a new job! It's a customer I've been working with for a while and saw they had posted a position that is basically what I already do but a decent bump in salary.

Will be going from £68,000 -> £75,000 + 10% annual bonus. Hybrid working but 95% home based. It's a really good company to work for too.

Coming up to a year since the move.

It has been mostly what I expected, still have tons of projects I’m either doing or leading. Lots of variety and some new developers in the team to oversea.

I was given a 1% pay rise even though I was technically not supposed to get anything due to my joining date. I should get the annual 3-5% this April and my first 10% bonus. All will be very handy as I’m looking at a big house move next year.

The product continues to grow within the buisness. Currently working on a big project to deliver a new front end portal for HR (who use the product) and bring all HR knowledge/policies in.

I’ll be happy if I can get 10+ years here, but I do feel as time goes on I’ll find myself doing less hands on work. I’ve always pushed to stay more hands on because I enjoy it but also there is a big gap technically between me as the lead and those who I lead.

 

[Felon]

Certainly feels like 95% of jobs I apply for don't even read my cv, despite surely being one of the top 5% candidates.

Yeah it probably is the case, I've had very little success when applying directly.

These days I'm lucky to be friends with a group of specialist recruiters who deal with some of the best firms - having someone like that to put your details forward almost always results in a first stage interview.

Whatever industry you're in, it's worth creating a network - people who you can reach out to and keep in touch with who work in recruitment, if you know them - you'll always be at the top of their pile, and they're likely trusted by the client.

 

[NickK]

And my ex-boss just told me he’s free and looking from Jan.. only difference is he’s been there for more than 2 years.
I’m wondering if the CTO gets his marching orders too.

 

[HangTime]

I've noted a number of places that do bonuses for last year's performance but they then pay 1/2 in the following March and 1/2 in the following November/December.. Given they can fire you under 2 years for any reason and not pay the bonus.. then they wonder why it's not attractive to candidates!

I worked for a small company that deferred paying bonuses on the basis that they were pursuing an acquisition / external investment (reading between the lines I think they may have had cash flow challenges following very rapid headcount growth as they started laying off contractors), so instead of being paid in March it was going to be Q4 or maybe September. They eventually announced the acquisition in December but I'd left by then as my pending bonus and share vestment weren't worth that much. I think these sort of bonus handcuffs only help retention for people with big bonuses or where the timeframe isn't too long. A lot of the time if you are going to have to wait 6 months+ for a bonus already accrued then you might take the view that you are better off moving to a higher paid role meaning you are earning more, you will get a bigger pro-rata bonus next year, etc.

Certainly feels like 95% of jobs I apply for don't even read my cv, despite surely being one of the top 5% candidates.

Yeah. I applied for a job at a previous employer that I'd left on good terms with and exceeded expectations in my last performance review. I'm confident I could have done a good job of it (pending a conversation about what it entailed), maybe not top 5% but warranted a phonecall I would have thought. Most of the the management and recruiters I worked with had left by then though. I got a generic rejection email, it was a speculative application as I wasn't certain I wanted that job so I decided not to waste any energy following it up.