Tags: jobs, redundancy
Date: 30 March 2009 20:50:26
A little while back I wrote about a friend of mine at work who had gone through a not very nice redundancy process.
Well, on Friday I found out that I am now essentially going to go through the same process. Our team is being 'reviewed', which is a nice way of saying they can't afford to keep us all on, and so something (or someone) has to give. Not a very nice thing to read on a Friday lunchtime, but then, when is a good time come to that?
Having had a weekend to let it settle in, to talk about our options and to work out as much of a strategy as is possible with this many unknowns, I feel at least a little more prepared, and a little more able to think and talk about it.
Firstly, we don't know if it'll be me or not, but looking at the criteria that they use to decide, I think I can make a pretty safe guess that it will. Then there's what 'options' I get given, which I'll find out on Wednesday at the consultation meeting. Yes, its all that quick. They reckon three weeks and it'll be pretty much there.
Secondly, there's other jobs. The one I had the interview for the other week is not lost yet. I was told at the time it would be a few weeks, so still waiting on that one. Was trying not to pin too many hopes on it, but I think now thats gone out the window. If I get that one, all will be well, or at least, it will be a lot sooner. If not, there'll be others. And meanwhile we'll manage for a bit on a combination of payoffs and savings, I'll blitz temping agencies and whatever else in London, and keep at it with the 'real jobs' till I get somewhere.
Also, one thing that struck me straight away with this is that, even though its pretty crappy, I'm in a far better position than many of the others. Among this group of people many have mortgages, children, one has a child on the way in the summer, and another, my colleague here, is getting married on Saturday and then off on honeymoon for two weeks. Not to mention being settled here where his wife-to-be has a steady job and where both their families live. And if the jobs market isn't great at the moment, its probably none existant round this way.
I think I'll be ok, at least, at the moment I'm not too worried. This may well change if I find out tomorrow that I didn't get the job and on Wednesday that the situation is worse than I thought. And last thing at night when I can't sleep it doesn't seem so easy. But it'll be ok, and I know I'm not doing this on my own, this is a 'we' rather than a 'me' thing, and just that makes it all seem a whole lot less scary.
Although I am of course terribly disappointed that I may miss out on a whole lot of newting ;)