It’s a trying time for the whole of the Western world presently . We keep being reminded that the economy is recovering, albeit rather slowly , from the most damaging recession in living memory, that is unless you happened to be living in 1929. I don’t know about you but it seems to me that times are only getting worse. The world moves on though and time has passed and it has to be noted that the technological world moves at a rapid rate and yesterdays technology becomes obsolete almost overnight and opportunities in the workplace appear to be getting less except if you have just the right set of work skills .

Few companies have a perfect track record relating to employee welfare. They just can’t afford to these days . The hire and fire way of thinking that is normal in America has quite definitely spread across the ocean and if company managers are given the job of downsizing their workforce to save costs then , these days they will notthink twice . Facing up to redundancy can be a traumatic experience. An important point is to keep in mind that it’s not often personal even though sometimes it seems like it is. “It’s not personal, it’s just business” was a line from the Godfather but the consequences were still rather awful then didn’t they?

It’s vital to start acting early on if you think that you may be going to get made redundant. Forewarned is forearmed in some respects and the earlier you start thinking of the future the more adequately prepared you will be if and when the axe falls. If your skills are vastly out of date or are just of use to your current organisation then the sooner you find out what is wanted in the labour market the better. Your employer may be one of the generous ones that will give you help with re-training but if it’s a smaller organisation then this can be of limited value. The point here is that when the rumour mill around the company seems to be telling the truth more often than not then it’s time to look at your realistic options for when you actually get the chop.

If you have a specialist skill or a special interest then it’s not a bad time to consider starting your own business. If you have been in a desk job for most of your career then this can seem daunting but you should have a goodly period to mull this over before your employer lands that dreaded letter on your desk (or sacks you by text, as seems to be the current fashion!)

If you get made redundant and manage to get a financial package out of your prior employer then one way of investing your redundancy money is by putting it in a Franchise For Sale investment to get you back in business. In fact Franchises seem almost ideal for people who have been made redundant. Franchises do demand an initial fee but then again it’s not like starting up your business completely on your own. A good franchisor will help you through the difficult start up period during which a lot of go it alone type businesses fail. There is something to be said for the Franchise For Sale type of investment as say you have invested Seventeen thousand pounds in a Home Based Franchise. You are far less likely to walk away from this sort of investment level than if you had merely invested a couple of dozen quid in some stock that you can’t shift! If you’re worried about the investment levels wanted then looking at a Home Based Franchise should help to keep the costs down by avoiding the expense of maintaining premises and plenty of Franchises tend to follow this format . If you have a reasonable redundancy package but not much business experience than a good look at the Franchise For Sale market is probably your best bet.

Yet another option you could look at is vocational training. There are a raft of courses out there and the governments own organisation LearnDirect has a substantial number of basic to intermediate level course leading to industry recognised qualifications. If you are in receipt of benefits there is a grant of two to three hundred pounds available that can be used to help with the finances of a course that leads to a work based qualification

Tags

Jobs & Career