Facing redundancy - will I get another job?

[fortyodd]

My company is going to make a lot of people redundant, and I may be amongst them.
I've been there for almost 20 year and am in a management position.
I'd get a good payoff but would still need to work..but am very nervous about being out in the jobs market again after all this time...especially as I am in my late 40s.
Can anyone give me some honest feedback on what the jobs market is like, and will I face age discrimination? (I know it's supposed to be illegal, but I'm trying to be realistic)

[Squiffy]

Oh grim news, poor you. You must be so down especially with so many years' service.

Ease of getting another job depends on the field you work in and whether you have any real 'specialist' skills/knowledge that you can utilise. Can be tricky if all you have is general mgmt skills, or if you are tied to small geographic area. what is your area of work?

[fortyodd]

I don't want to give away my identity, so forgive me for being vague..I do have specialist skills, but my industry is quite youth-orientated and I am tied to a geographic area.
Freelancing is one option and I'd be willing to work away for a few days a week if necessary and if it made financial sense.
On the bright side, it might be a good opportunity to do something completely different - if the work is available and I'm not considered too old (I don;t feel too old!)

[thebecster]

I'm in a similar situation (although I'm resigning without a job to go to, rather than redundancy), and I've decided to go to a careers counsellor. I've been warned to be careful who I use, apparently they're not all equal... So if you decide to do the same, interview them carefully before you pick one or get recommendations from friends in HR. There are lots if you google 'careers advice' and 'careers counselling'. A good careers counsellor will help you think of more ideas on what to do next, help you make your CV look up to date and help you also to present your years of experience and long service with previous company as showing desirable skills. They'll give you personalised tips for interviews and help you to identify your key transferable skills. Don't pick one that charges a large package fee, only ones who charge by the hour, and don't pick ones who promise to connect you to the all the right people - they don't know your industry as well as you do. And don't pick a company that has any kind of sales team or sales spiel. Can't recommend the one I'm using myself I'm afraid - she's in Australia, and is doing it as a favour.

[fortyodd]

Thanks becs. My company offer career counselling to people being made redundant...it'll be a case of wait and see what happens I think..it's not going to be a comfortable year ahead.
Good luck with your change of direction.

[thebecster]

You're welcome. Try not to be too downhearted. I was made redundant once before and within a month I had a much better job at an increased salary and was much happier with my working life. So I'm not as scared this time about taking the plunge! My dh also quit his job without a job to go to last year, and is now earning exactly the same money but working half the hours and is much happier. Sometimes when life forces you out of your comfort zone it can end up for the best. Although it feels very scarey at the time - it's a 'best of times and worst of times' I think.
Ideally I'd get a job first before quitting so that I had some security, but as I'm not 100% sure what I want to do, and also this job involves constant travel and long hours which makes it impossible to apply for anything else! And I'm concerned that my current level of exhaustion would look like a lack of dynamism in interview... So I need to get myself sorted before re-entering the job market with renewed energy & enthusiasm Good luck fortyodd!