Redundancy Diary - Week 7

My 1st April deadline is fast approaching – that is the date by which, if I haven’t accepted a job offer, I will set up my own business – and I still neither have a job offer nor have I quite finished setting up my business. I lie in bed at night trying to think through the reasons as to why I should go 100% for employment and why I should go 100% for self-employment; I have even written lists of pros and cons for each, but all the lists are exactly the same length! I have had detailed conversations with 3 of my ex-business colleagues this week and they have all suggested that, with the economic climate as it is, setting up my own business would be even more of an uphill struggle than normal. My heart says I want to be self-employed and my head tells me that I should get a job.

I have had a 4th round interview with one company and still have a couple more hoops to jump through before I am in with a chance of receiving a job offer. The recruitment agency I am using have suggested that this amount of due diligence, particularly in the high number of interviews / meetings required before a job offer is secured, is common at the moment. They have a client who is on their 7th round interview for one job! The explanation given to me is that there are many more applicants for each job, fewer jobs, and recruiting managers can’t afford to make poor decisions as business’s bottom lines don’t have any slack in them.

My self-employment option still motivates me, and only the design of 4 web pages remain to be done – I even have a bank account set up (balance = £0!) in its name. I am determined to complete that this week so that I can either get starting in April or be able to put it into ‘hibernation’ until I need it in the future.

I got a great boost yesterday when, in the post, I received confirmation of my election as a Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, reflecting the 10+ years’ experience I have. I am hoping that may be a small help in giving me the ‘edge’ over other candidates in the employment market.

In the meantime, in order to keep my brain working and my skills current, I have been helping an ex-colleague by with his Sales Team, offering advice and giving him a report with recommendations on how he could increase his sales and make the most of his resources. It’s been like a breath of fresh air to be in a working environment! I would thoroughly recommend it – I know that we (i.e. workers out of work after redundancy) have to spend all our time on job searching, but keeping your hand in by doing voluntary and informal work can make sure you don’t get detached from your profession and demonstrates a desire to be working.

It has been a real rollercoaster of a week. On the positive side, I have been able to have some more time with my children, and I have moved one step closer towards receiving a job offer. On the downside, I received an electricity and gas bill that alarmed me so much that I have stopped putting the heating on during the day and just put on an extra jumper! I am also feeling incredibly tired again: 7 weeks of driving for something that I still haven’t gained is having an impact. I am finding it hard to make all kinds of decisions because of the uncertainty that I am still facing.

However, as I said 5 weeks ago, I have to focus on what I have, not what I don’t have! I am organizing the Change Event (see below for full details) for 27th March, which is a great motivator. I have had another load of emails this week from readers, which are also a great source of support – thank you to you all!