Fear of change - Here comes Redundancy

watergardeningdirect is only 3 acres and the topology of it makes it unsuitable for heavy machinery (lots of steep banks for them to fall down) and unprofitable for conventional farming. That's why my dad got it cheap before selling it to me.

I was thinking more along the lines of a nursery, but as planning permission is something I can only dream about one day getting, all my stock would have to be fully hardy low maintenance stuff. I might test the water by buying and growing on a few hundred herb plugs and see what happens. My mate, who doesn't care much about wildlife, reckons I should charge off road motorbikers and quad rider for coming on, but I can't imagine there being much compatibility between machines with big knobbly tyres churning the ground up and wildlife, not to mention that the neighbours might complain.

[email protected]just one of the lads who happened to be a bit more experienced and so got promoted to the lower ranks of management. He is one of the lads first, boss second. He won't have volunteered, but I suspect he will next time round.

Unfortunately there is no extra money in the voluntary deal than if I'd gone through the selection and lost. Our company is adament that it is not a voluntary redundancy exercise, but conceded that 'Expressed a wish to leave" could be added to the scoring matrix for selection. In effect, what I've done is basically garunteed that I will now score lower than the other lads, unless they've secretly volunteered too.

 

My gut feeling is that where many nurseries struggle is that they maybe choose the wrong stock, but I could be wrong.

If you choose to grow and sell relatively high maintenance plants, you are going to need polytunnels and heated greenhouses, fancy irrigation systems etc. All of which are costly to set up and run. The result is you have to find a balance between charging enough to cover your costs while being cheap enough to be competitive. I suspect that is very difficult.

What I'd like to do is grow low maintenance stuff that will happily spend its life outdoors regardless of what the British climate throws at it, and is reasonably disease resistent etc.

As I drive through the countryside I see black boards and hand painted signs telling us things like "Bedding plants - 48 for £5" and the likes. I can't see how that can possibly be profitable.

It is something that I need to give a lot of thought to, and I certainly won't be gambling my career on it, but maybe redundancy is the nudge I need to get started rather than just keeping it as a pipe dream.

 

Nurseries struggle because there are lots of them and garden plants are a luxury item, and when times are tough luxuries are off the list.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do Clueless, my gut instinct would be to advise you to stick with what you know inside and out if you do choose to go self-employed. It isn't always a good move, I speak from experience, and as far as working when it suits you-in my line I would have to say fat chance of that-my husband and I work constantly-even whilst we are on holiday we are dealing with the business.

If your land is suitable it may be worth looking at splitting it up and renting them as private allotments, but I know nothing of that so it may not be feasible.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

 

A mate of mine texted me to say more or less the same thing, and in a moment of random inspiration, I replied thusly:

"Life is a path with many forks. The path we choose defines us for who we are. Each fork represents the death of the old and the birth of the new, and each incarnation benefits from the wisdom of the previous one".

Half an hour later, he replied "Erm, yes, that's right"

I thought about that, but it depends on the cost. I know any expenditure on that front would be an investment in my future career but I don't want to blow my redundancy on it. Rather going down the academic route, there are 'trade' qualifications I could go for (technically there are no formal qualifications needed for my industry, but Microsoft pushed some so they could make a few extra quid and now they are a recognised standard). I'm going to price up the exams for those.

 

Well folks, its official. Definitely no turning back now. I've just had my meeting with gaffer and big gaffer, signed my form and been handed a letter giving notice of redundancy.

Strangely, I'm actually relieved about it all. I'm a bit sad for two of my colleagues who didn't volunteer but have been pushed anyway.

Its a weird atmosphere in here today. All the lads are outwardly jolly but the vibes tell a different story. It reminds me of something I saw on TV years ago about British paratroopers in the back of a plane on their way to be dropped inside Germany during WW2. All the survivors that later told their story described how they'd all been very jovial in the back of the plane, each one terrified but not wanting to show it so telling jokes and larking about to distract themselves from their imminent terror.

Of course none of us are about to leap from a perfectly good aircraft behind enemy lines, so at least that's one thing

 

As we're on the subject of jobs and interviews I thought I'd add my twopenn'oth.
I worked for my last employer for 26 years, but every few years or so, I'd apply for another job. I wasn't particularly interested in changing jobs, but considered it a good idea to "keep my hand in with interviewing techniques" in case at any time I changed my mind. Over time I got offered a few, but always turned them down.
On two occasions, I got an unexpected pay rise shortly after declining the jobs, funny that, innit?

My real point in mentioning this, is that those of us who have never had the misfortune of having "job issues" can easily become complacent. It could be quite traumatic if you suddenly find you are having to look for a job, competing in a diminishing market, probably against some who are younger and possibly more qualified then yourself (as I might have been).
Confidence in interviews, is half the battle and if you're completely out of practice, it's hard to achieve.

Digressing...

In my last big store, I used to work Saturday and Sunday mornings and have those afternoons off and Thursdays.
I'd arrive on Sunday morning around nine, see that the staff had got the store ready for opening at 10.00am and the take a few papers into the cafeteria to have my eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast & coffee breakfast.

I'd be joined around 10.30am by my boss. We'd read out job adverts we thought suitable for each other. He'd leave around 11.30am, visit one other store and then go to play golf. I'd hang around until noon, by which time one of the staff would have taken my car through our petrol station's car wash, polished it and vacuumed out the inside, (for some reason this was thought a "perk" by the male staff!). I'd then go home.
Both my boss and I earned "brownie points," for our morning.
It was apparently said about us at our head office; "They're always working on Sundays..."

It was a hard life but some of us had to do it..

 

Its Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist or Microsoft Certified Professional Developer I really ought to go for, but looking at the criteria there are lots of exams. I'm still going to have a look into it though.

 

I've been looking at the exams I need to do. They are not too pricey thankfully. It seems I need to do three exams at about £60+VAT each, and from what I've read on the techy forums, "you could train a monkey to pass them" so I guess with all my experience it should be easy enough. I've just spoke to recruitment agent who reckons they are worth it for no other reason that many employers are using the exam questions in their aptitude tests, and the wording of the questions is in geek speak rather than English. As I've fought for the past 14 years of my career to uphold English as the preferred language over what I consider to be geeky jargon, and have refused point blank to add certain geek terms to my vocabulary when there is a perfectly good English word to do the same job, I reckon I should work hard to become an über geek over the next few weeks.

As for references, that's going to be tricky. As companies become increasingly fearful of being sued, they are becoming increasingly careful about references. Our company has taken this to its extreme. Company policy has it that any references must be sent to HR, who will do nothing more than confirm that you worked here between the dates you said. A bit like the old army interrogation rules of 'Name, rank, serial number', our company will confirm dates, job title and salary. Nothing more. I would hope that any prospective employer would figure that if I was kept for more than 10 years and got 'senior' put on my title and never got sacked, I can't be all bad.

 

You're right about references, that is all my old employer will send out, but it also means that new employers will accept a personal reference more readily-at least I hope so. In a very similar position here.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about references. Nowadays many posts are handled by recruitment agencies, and they tend to be a bit more patient when listening to you. They also tend to know the score better than most, after all it is there job to deal with prospective employers day in day out. I'm hoping that just spending a few years in one spot and leaving without being sacked has to count for something. If you give a genuine reason for leaving, then hopefully the confirmation that you did actually work where you said should count for something.

Also remember that if my company is doing that, and your old one is too, then you can bet many more will be. From that you can bet that prospective employers know not to be suspicious when they get so few details back.

The only close friend I have that was in the same profession as me got himself fired I won't be broadcasting to agencies, who may well know my mate, that I know him

 

Thanks Kathy, as do I.

 

clueless, just caught up with this. I'm sure you have made the best decision and can also take some time to decide what you want to do. It's a bad time (still) for all people in employment but take comfort in the fact that you do have flexibility. A part time job sounds like a good idea while you sort out what you want to do and maybe be starting it off in your spare time. I wish you all the best and be sure to keep us informed with what you're doing and don't forget it may take a couple of tries before you 'get it right'!

cheers