NEW BEGINNINGS

Why being made redundant is the ideal time to change career

Richard Turner was a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy seconded to NATO in Brussels when reorganisation forced his early retirement three years ago. Today, at 46, he has an enjoyable and rewarding new life - as a plumber.
“When the water tank sprang a leak, it took me days to find a plumber to do the job,” he remembers. “It was then that it struck me there was a life changing career opportunity for me - if I wasn’t afraid to get my hands dirty.”
After a year’s intensive course at a local technology college and three months’ work experience, Turner now employs two full-time plumbers and the phone never stops ringing with work.

Different

“If anyone is thinking of a career change after being made redundant, I advise them to think hard about becoming a skilled tradesman in a service industry,” he says. “Doing something completely different was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

It’s advice that an increasing number of redundancy victims are now taking. According to a study commissioned by car manufacturer Saab, more than 80 per cent of workers say they will think seriously about making a radical career change if they become one of the 3,000 redundancy victims a day who will lose their jobs this year.
At least 70 per cent of companies forced to lay people off are now offering redundancy victims ‘outplacement assistance’, which involves getting together with career consultants and deciding what direction they want their future lives to take.

Says Robin Wood, managing director of Career Management Consultants: “Often they discover they have been in the wrong job for years, but don’t realise it until someone points it out. A well chosen career change can liberate your life if you go into something you’ve really always wanted to do. If you are going to spend so much time at work it’s crazy not to enjoy it.”
Wood knows what he’s talking about. Made redundant by a major publisher nearly 20 years ago, it was a relief to leave a job he didn’t like and start CMC after his wife had told him: “If you don’t start this business now, I don’t want you turning around at 65 and saying how much you wish you had.”

How can you be sure that a possible career change will be the right one for you? Consultants suggest these strategies will lessen the risk of making a wrong decision:

•  Get work experience. An executive in an investment bank who wanted to become a teacher got a temporary job as a school assistant to learn about the day-to-day routine. It only strengthened his belief that teaching was for him.

•  Network like mad. Studies show that nearly 70 per cent of redundancy victims who successfully change careers do so through networking. Meet as many people as possible who have any sort of link to the new career you want to follow.

•  Make sure your new career is viable by getting sound business advice, particularly about raising money and writing a convincing business plan. Run your idea past your local Business Link - the first three hours of advice are usually free.

•   Be realistic, says Jason Greaves, operations director of recruitment agency Manpower UK, who points out that a career change after redundancy can mean taking a pay cut for long-term rewards.
Think carefully about whether you’ll be able to cope financially before going on your own, or accepting a job in a new career which pays less than the previous one. A redundant business development manager who became a yacht instructor was able to subsidise his training by renting out his house to make sure he could cover the mortgage.  

•  Look to finance your new career by investigating schemes like the government’s adult learning grants, professional and career development loans, or grants to finance post-graduate study or technical training courses. Usually such loans have to be paid back once your new career is up and running.

Is it worth it? Yes, says Debbie Blackburn, who before being made redundant from her job as an accounts manager was earning twice what she now earns as a weight-loss counsellor. “I was prepared to take a pay cut in order to do a job which gave me so much more satisfaction,” she says.
“Before I was made redundant, I was working from 7am to midnight. Now I’m still working evenings, but I can choose the hours I work and I don’t begrudge working late because I enjoy the job so much more.”

Hobbies

Of course, the dream career change is one that allows you to make a living from something that previously was a favourite hobby. There are now over 50,000 successful UK businesses developed from part-time hobbies and grossing £400million a year, at least half as a result of redundancy.

That’s what happened to Greg Price, who was made redundant by a global technology multinational and is now a ski instructor at a Hertfordshire snow centre. He remembers: “I knew redundancy was coming. I heard about a course in Austria to learn how to teach skiing and on the course it dawned on me this was something I wanted to do full-time. Now there’s quality time with the family. I earn a lot less than I used to, but it’s been worth it. I certainly have no regrets about changing my career.”

Indeed, statistics show that the more you love what you’re doing, the higher your chances of success. “Over 75 per cent of the people who turn their hobbies into businesses are prospering five years later,” says the Regional Development Agency.

For instance, redundancy victim John Paul, who made violins as a hobby in his bedroom, is now selling them for £5,000 each, thanks to RDA help. And hydraulics engineer Roger Allen had made furniture as a hobby in his garden workshop in Rochdale, Lancashire for 10 years, before his wife persuaded him to do it for a living when he was made redundant. A council grant and a legacy from his mother financed the project.
“My whole attitude to the job has changed and time is now money,” he says. Allen took a crash course in furniture making to learn the professional shortcuts and now makes a pine table in a week rather than two months.

Making model ships had been Devon council worker Jim Graveney’s passion for 20 years, and being made redundant at 50 with a £20,000 compensation payout in 1995 gave him the chance to try to turn his hobby into a business. “My real break came when an American ship modelling magazine did a story on me,” he says. “The result was £3,000 worth of orders from American ship enthusiasts, plus a commission from a Boston museum. It’s the sort of life I’d always dreamed of - doing something you love, and getting paid for it.”  

Advisers stress that having a skill is only 50 per cent of what you need to succeed when making a drastic career change after redundancy.

“When starting a business, there are so many things you have to do,” says Neil Plant, who turned his love of watches and clocks into a retailing and repair business after being made redundant from Rover in 1999. “I had worked in a huge company since leaving school and knew nothing about running my own firm. I had no idea how to convince people that I was worth taking a gamble on. I have now.”