Thought of being jobless?

Made redundant in November and being in Aberdeen the market was already depressed but tanked further with oil price crash. Decided to retrain which is still ongoing and should be starting to earn again in August. Meantime been living off OH's salary and managing to get by - most savings going on the training expenses. Realise that I'm luckier than many would be in a similar situation and have the "luxury" of not being reliant on both salaries.
 
NickK said:
I got made redundant in november.. started looking for jobs in feb-march.. currently seeing some activity but all this time I've been living off my savings - including mortgage etc.

There's only a certain number of jobs out there.. so spending 7 hours a day looking and then applying gets old very quickly. Then there is the lack of social interaction but we try to have something every month that we do so it's not too mind numbing.
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Tough time to be made redundant not just proximity to Christmas being a bit soul destroying - most places are still shedding Christmas temps through to possibly March so a lot less non-specialised roles available through that period.



It doesn't keep me awake at night (I'm awake anyhow :S) but it does worry me a little if I was made redundant as for various reasons its not easy for me getting a job (none the least with problems with my sleeping pattern I can't really work a 9-5 without pretty significant impact on my health).
 
Having a HGV licence pretty much guarantees I'll never be out of a job.

Might be a crap (driving) job but it'll be a job nevertheless.

That can actually work against you if you don't want to be a lorry driver anymore as the Job centre will simply say "No benefits for you as there are loads of lorry driving jobs"
 
Jobless at the moment and I've been hunting for a job for about 6 months. It's a nightmare to be quite honest.

I keep finding great jobs as well, I go through the interview and it all seems to have gone really well, then they don't call the next week and when I phone they ignore it or tell me they went with somebody else or whatever.

Disheartening to say the least.
 
I was spared the possibility of being out work until quite recently and although I'm in a fortunate position where I have plenty of field experience next to no mortgage, I was still very concerned.

One thing I have learnt over the years is not worry about anything until there's actually something to worry about. Especially if it's out of your control.
 
If you can remove the fear of losing your job, you put your life on a much better footing in my experience. That doesn't mean be in a position where you don't need to work, but be confident that you will always find something else to do if what you do today goes wrong. Of course that isn't always possible and may take some time and hardship, but if you can get to that point it empowers you and removes a big chunk of stress, especially when employers can see you don't feel beholden to them.
 
It didn't until I moved out, got married and a mortgage. I passed my CISSP exam yesterday so have a sense i should be able to get a job fairly easily if something happens now :)
 
Apart from my university term time (Temp job during summer holidays since Year 11), I've been working full time. A brief 3 week period of doing a PGCE pre-course (getting paid for it) to only leave because a job opening came up. Never been on JSA.

I suspect if I do lose my job out of the blue (highly unlikely), I am comfortable falling back into working via agency or factory roles and climb my way up again. Been there, done that.

I have also wiped people's bottom (Elderly care) to put food money in my pocket, I can and will do everything within my physical and mental means to get an income. I suspect I will work till the day I drop, but I do not make work my life. Work is a means to pay for what I like to do. Enjoying my work, which I feel it's very secure now does help.
 
It does and it doesn't, I have savings that I can get back on for a long while if needed.

Everyone should have few months wages backup just in-case, if I had no saves at all I would be worried.
 
scary but i dnt worry bout it very often only on the bad days at work when i want to tell them to stuff it. so thats more me then them i have a 3 month notice period ( both ways) so id have a bit of time to prepare as well
 
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Outcast said:
Having a HGV licence pretty much guarantees I'll never be out of a job.

Might be a crap (driving) job but it'll be a job nevertheless.

That can actually work against you if you don't want to be a lorry driver anymore as the Job centre will simply say "No benefits for you as there are loads of lorry driving jobs"
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until self driving trucks appear, maybe even within the next 10 years
 
Not afraid to do any work to pay the bills.

If it worries you that much then you need to work out a way to ensure you're OK without a job in the short-term. Then ensure you have the skills/attitude to be more employable than others.
 
I walked out of my £22k a year job on January 5th after 18 months of abuse from management. I had nothing to go to, just stood up in the middle of a meeting and said "i've had enough of this **** I quit".

I had 4 weeks gardening leave due to being there 7 years, lost £7k of shares and had a mortgage, a 3 year old and my second was due at the end of Feb. Wife was working but nearly due on maternity leave.

I had my photography to tide me over, made about £1000 over the 4 months I was out of work. Jobseekers wouldn't pay me for 4 weeks as I walked out of a job. No savings to really fall back on.

I took a few days work as a labourer on a building site then a mate asked if I could help him out at his place packing golf orders. £7 an hour and being on my feet all day was a shock to the system. Constantly applying for any job I could do, including at the local waste management place.

On May 5th I started work for a company that specialises in the visual impaired. It's slightly less than I was on and a lot less perks but it's mon-fri 9-5 and closer to home. Lots of responsibility and variation in work and it's great.

Still not what I would love to be doing but a lot better than dealing with the **** I was.

It got scary at times but we managed, you'd be surprised how little you can spend when you really want to and I can't say our life was any worse off for that short time, any longer and it may of been.

The worst part was the Jobcenter and applying for jobs, walking into that place surrounded by a lot of dead beats gets you down. Getting "no thanks letters" or no response at all for jobs you know you could do with your eyes shut is demoralising but I would definitely do it again and advise anyone unhappy in their job to start looking elsewhere.
 
AHarvey said:
I walked out of my £22k a year job on January 5th after 18 months of abuse from management. I had nothing to go to, just stood up in the middle of a meeting and said "i've had enough of this **** I quit".

I had 4 weeks gardening leave due to being there 7 years, lost £7k of shares and had a mortgage, a 3 year old and my second was due at the end of Feb. Wife was working but nearly due on maternity leave.

I had my photography to tide me over, made about £1000 over the 4 months I was out of work. Jobseekers wouldn't pay me for 4 weeks as I walked out of a job. No savings to really fall back on..
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Sorry, but that was probably one of the most stupid and irresponsible things you ever did, outrageous even, considering your family situation. Kick back at work and do nothing, stick fingers up to management, but walk out and lose everything? Crazy.
 
sigma said:
Shame you walked out without some form of tribunal, unless it wasn't warranted.
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honestly, tried it with HR and they were on the companies side, then i started getting picked up on things that I was supposedly doing wrong etc. I was put on a performance improvement plan because I hadn't organised any "fun days" in the office despite the fact that none of the other 7 in my area had done any.

All because my boss wrote an incorrect performance review about me and it was picked up on in my response and her boss agreed with me.

In the end, I didn't want to waste any more of my life dealing with it, plus, who knows what else they'd throw my way. I wanted a happy life :)

Richdog said:
Sorry, but that was probably one of the most stupid and irresponsible things you ever did, outrageous even, considering your family situation. Kick back at work and do nothing, stick fingers up to management, but walk out and lose everything? Crazy.
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Not really, as i said i'd have taken a job at mcdonalds if needed. I'm not proud and work is work, my wife was supportive of it and had told me to leave many times. I'm not the type to kick back and do nothing. I'd rather be paid to pick litter up dressed in pink assless chaps than do nothing :p
 
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Ysmalari said:
Facing the possibility of this right now - pretty much a 50/50 chance of being made redundant in the next month.

I have a mortgage but fortunately I have some savings set aside for just this reason so I'm not going to be broke immediately, but obviously I would need to get a new job fairly soon and one that paid enough to meet my mortgage commitments.

I wouldn't say I'm terrified about the prospect but ask me again in a couple of months :D
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You should start looking for new roles now, particularly if there's a possibility of a number of you being made redundant. You don't want to be in the position of having to compete with former peers for a new job :(
 
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