Hi John,


Really sorry to hear your news - sadly not uncommon.


I'd definitely endorse Bill's comment about LinkedIn, I've had more positive approaches through that than anything else over the past few years.


Personally I would have thought that the Quality Manager / Production Manager roles were your best bet, good managers are always hard to find. The problem of course is that companies are always tempted to appoint these roles internally so it is a case of plugging away until you happen to talk to the right company at just the right time.


Make sure you emphasise your general experience, not that you are an expert in your past employer's systems - a mistake I've seen many applicants in your position make. And particularly emphasise anything you did to improve your past employers systems - that will be what employers will be looking for from you, someone who can come in and improve their business.  Show that you understand why you would aim to make these improvements - that you understand that it's all about the bottom line.


Learn as much as you can about Lean!!!! If I was appointing a Quality Manager or Production Manager (and in the fairly recent past in my previous career I have recruited for both those roles) I would want someone who could teach me and everyone else on the site about Lean. Also for an engineering role that's a saleable commodity.


Don't get hung up on the redundancy issue, everyone in the industry knows that companies / divisions close and staff get made redundant all the time. There's no stigma to it - unless those made redundant get bitter. It's really important to accept it happens, and time for a new start.


Again I'd absolutely endorse Bill's comment about going to every interview (and, before that, responding to every potential role) that you can. If you don't get through then that wasn't the right job for you, but you can pick up what works and what doesn't - which of your skills seem to raise interest and which don't.


And the hardest thing...you must NEVER appear desperate to get a job. In every conversation and every interview you need to find a "hook" where you can show how interested you are in working for that particular company in that particular role, and how by working there you will be able to use your skills and experience will help make that the best and most profitable company you can. It must appear that even if you were still in full time employment you'd still want that job. The reason this is so important is that recruiting managers will always have a concern that a desperate person will say anything to get a job, but may not follow it through when they are in it. Where as someone who comes across as genuinely passionate about the role will make a huge effort to deliver if they get it.


As a last resort, if sadly you do find yourself in financial hardship for a while, don't forget IET Connect https://www.ietconnect.org/ But equally, many of us have found that redundancy is actually the first step to a new and much more satisfying career.


Good luck!


Andy

Hi John,


Really sorry to hear your news - sadly not uncommon.


I'd definitely endorse Bill's comment about LinkedIn, I've had more positive approaches through that than anything else over the past few years.


Personally I would have thought that the Quality Manager / Production Manager roles were your best bet, good managers are always hard to find. The problem of course is that companies are always tempted to appoint these roles internally so it is a case of plugging away until you happen to talk to the right company at just the right time.


Make sure you emphasise your general experience, not that you are an expert in your past employer's systems - a mistake I've seen many applicants in your position make. And particularly emphasise anything you did to improve your past employers systems - that will be what employers will be looking for from you, someone who can come in and improve their business.  Show that you understand why you would aim to make these improvements - that you understand that it's all about the bottom line.


Learn as much as you can about Lean!!!! If I was appointing a Quality Manager or Production Manager (and in the fairly recent past in my previous career I have recruited for both those roles) I would want someone who could teach me and everyone else on the site about Lean. Also for an engineering role that's a saleable commodity.


Don't get hung up on the redundancy issue, everyone in the industry knows that companies / divisions close and staff get made redundant all the time. There's no stigma to it - unless those made redundant get bitter. It's really important to accept it happens, and time for a new start.


Again I'd absolutely endorse Bill's comment about going to every interview (and, before that, responding to every potential role) that you can. If you don't get through then that wasn't the right job for you, but you can pick up what works and what doesn't - which of your skills seem to raise interest and which don't.


And the hardest thing...you must NEVER appear desperate to get a job. In every conversation and every interview you need to find a "hook" where you can show how interested you are in working for that particular company in that particular role, and how by working there you will be able to use your skills and experience will help make that the best and most profitable company you can. It must appear that even if you were still in full time employment you'd still want that job. The reason this is so important is that recruiting managers will always have a concern that a desperate person will say anything to get a job, but may not follow it through when they are in it. Where as someone who comes across as genuinely passionate about the role will make a huge effort to deliver if they get it.


As a last resort, if sadly you do find yourself in financial hardship for a while, don't forget IET Connect https://www.ietconnect.org/ But equally, many of us have found that redundancy is actually the first step to a new and much more satisfying career.


Good luck!


Andy