Have you ever lost your job and how did you cope?

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IntrepidMaybe8579@reddit

Lost loads of jobs and every time was a blessing in disguise, use the opportunity to try jobs your normally wouldn’t and see what you actually like or are capable of doing and where it leads before even worrying too much about it.. all the matters is you get something soon enough to not go under

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Chance-Bread-315@reddit

Got made redundant unexpectedly from a job I loved in summer 2023. Failed to pass the probation period in what was pretty much my dream job at that point in my career at the start of the following year.

I already had long-term depression and anxiety and was also raped that summer - I've completely failed to bounce back. I also got diagnosed with ADHD that autumn. Have been unemployed and mentally unwell ever since. All of my savings are gone and I feel like a complete failure tbh.

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Studio_Ambitious@reddit

I was offered early retirement at 63, 30+ years in. Single, traveled for work. Few hobbies. The first 4 months were dark. I needed a routine, couldn't get one. Treated everyday like a Saturday. Ruined my sleep cycle, leaned into bad habits. Slowly crawling back out of it. Focusing on yard work. Remodel. The hardest thing is that in my small group of friends I am the first retiree, and that will be true for at least 3 more years....

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Few_Exchange_7931@reddit

You’re free! Enjoy your life not working for someone else!

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crappy_ninja@reddit

The second I got hint there would be redundancies I basically stopped working and spent all my time looking for a new job. I'm in a field where interviews can get quite technical so I had to take time to prepare. I survived the round of redundancies but I got a job offer and left anyway.

You can't dwell on it. You just have to make sure you keep getting paid.

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MojoMomma76@reddit

Got sacked from a very senior job. Started a consultancy and did well with it for a year, then got hired in another senior role by a client. Haven’t looked back since. The job that sacked me did so illegally - the proceeds of the settlement paid for my wedding. It was horrible there and a good outcome in the end for me!

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Wishmaster891@reddit

What did they do wrong

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MojoMomma76@reddit

I went into a routine supervision session with my Exec Director, we had a chat about progress, she started asking questions about how I was getting along with colleagues - I said relationships were good (they were) she then asked a series of questions which seemed to be designed to upset me and undermine the progress I’d been making. I asked her point blank if she wanted me on her team any more and she said no. I left the meeting, spoke to my husband who worked for a competitor in HR, he drafted an email for me to their HR and I got a settlement offer pretty much immediately which was substantially more than I would have had on T and Cs only. I accepted, was put on gardening leave and left a couple of weeks later.

It was a poor cultural fit and she was probably right to bring it to a close, but the clumsy way she went about it - without telling their HR in advance that she wanted to do so - cost them substantially more than it needed to. Daft woman.

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TheNecroFrog@reddit

That doesn’t sound like you were sacked, it sounds like you agreed a settlement for them to end your contract?

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MojoMomma76@reddit

She said she didn’t want to employ me any more, which I took to mean sacked. I asked her in the meeting if she meant my employment had come to an end and she agreed it had, on her say so. The agreement was a legal ending to the contract which had been irreparably ruptured by her statement.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

What they do illegally?

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MojoMomma76@reddit

Responded to this elsewhere in the thread.

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bedlam900@reddit

Ive been sacked about 17 times i was a welder and undiagnosed bipolar and living life on extra hard mode. I work in residential care now medicated and ive thrived just started a senior position

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chartupdate@reddit

December 2020, height of Covid, made redundant from a job I'd been working in for 19 years.

And I was overjoyed that it was finally happening. I'd spent the previous three or four years utterly hating it, watching the atmosphere become steadily more toxic and management ever more incompetent. I stuck it out because I'd read their redundancy policy and had been there so long that I knew they would end up paying me a huge amount of money to go away if the time ever came.

And so it did. I sat through the virtual first consultation where they informed me I was under threat barely able to contain a smirk, and to their puzzlement just said I had no comment to make after they told me. My settlement was such that even though it was the worst possible time to enter the job market (December 31st 2020 was my last day, next lockdown happened a week later) I had a large enough cash pile to ensure that with careful planning it would be no issue if I did not work for a year.

So I locked down, spent time with the kids while their schools were closed. Taught myself to play piano, took loads of training courses, applied for jobs. And then four months later got a a brand new job in a brand new field that almost doubled my old salary overnight.

I know it all could have been so different and I am phenomenally lucky. But in any event, being canned was the best thing that ever happened to me and transformed my life for the better.

That's not to say I would welcome it if it happened again now. I'm too old for this shit.

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Disastrous-Place-846@reddit

Got sacked from a high street coffee chain. Celebrated in front of the area manager as my August bank holiday went from declined to approved and I could now go to creanfields

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summerloco@reddit

Creamfields is a solid August bank holiday choice to be fair

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weregonnamakit@reddit

But he went to creanfields?

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Sussurator@reddit

It’s the Lidl version, Crivet Harris was headlining.

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SeamasterCitizen@reddit

This is the way

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anchoredtogether@reddit

I have been made redundant 3 times. My wife twice. You can only job hunt so many hours of the day. Have a plan to proactively do something with the time you are not job hunting. Mental health is vital.

One time I worked in the garden and built a pond.

Try and keep a social circle going

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summers_tilly@reddit

I’ve been made redundant once and my husband twice - my advice would be the same. It so easy to get into a bad headspace and feel hopeless. Having an activity a few hours a day to clear your head works wonders. We found we needed something to get us out of bed and changed. For my husband it was the gym. For me it was tutoring. It gave us routine and distraction and gave us energy to job hunt.

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mickymellon@reddit

Redundancy: I got looked after financially in the way out and landed a contract role a few days later.

Sacked twice thereafter: I made sure I had a healthy emergency fund, reflected that the first role they didn't know what they were doing and felt threatened, the 2nd they employed a professional, didn't understand them or I didn't think like them and I was gone.

I was okay, I couldn't really see that, my physical & mental health suffered, I have a decent role now but can't relax until I've had a decent amount of time under my belt.

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simon-g@reddit

Made redundant after 12 years. Reasonable payout so I took a few months off, got some DIY projects done, enjoyed my mini “retirement”. Found another job a couple of months later which I’m enjoying more than the last.

I was pretty lucky but always been sensible on outgoings and ever since having a terrible job in my 20s kept enough of an emergency fund to be able to stay afloat for a few months at least.

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Long_Joke_1792@reddit

I was let go around a year into a junior office role, my first in London, March 2014. Already had a trip to Canada planned for a holiday to see aunt, uncle and cousin. While there my cousin suggested I move there. Came back to the UK after my trip, had to wait a year for applications to open, then another year saving (didn't need to save for a year but chose to), then moved to Canada for 2 and a half years. I don't think I'd have taken that opportunity if I hadn't lost my job.

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lionmoose@reddit

Academic contract expired during Covid and wasn't renewed. There was a growth industry at the time that I fitted into so changed sector entirely.

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notmentat@reddit

Got made redundant for the third time last month. The market is so bad right now. Thankfully my wife earns good money and is covering things at the moment, but I’m getting very little traction on job applications at the moment.

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daddy-dj@reddit

Very long time ago now, but anyway...

I got my first job after graduating, working for a small software company. Got made redundant, along with a small number of other people. I'd been there about 18 months, and had recently received a fairly significant pay rise.

A woman who started 9 months after me, doing the same role, but who hadn't received a pay rise, was kept on and took on my duties. I was pissed off at the time but it turned out to be a blessing. I ended up landing a much better job, working in the south of France at one of the Big Five.

The funny thing is I stayed in touch with the woman they kept on. I explained how good the new job was, and that they were recruiting. I passed on her CV to my new boss, and she was offered a job. She quit the UK job and came to work in France 🤣

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PoinkPoinkPoink@reddit

Worked at a bank call centre and it was pure hell, expected to behave like actual robots. I was so miserable there. One day I left for my lunch and didn’t go back. They tried to ring me for about 3 days but I ignored them, then they called every few days and sent a few letters. After about a month they stopped trying to reach me. I heard from them again about 2-3 months later when they wrote to say I’d been sacked, but it’d taken them that long to do anything properly about it I’d somehow accrued some holiday pay, so got about £300.

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twogalsinatrenchcoat@reddit

Worst 5 months working there, sacked one week before probation was up. Lied to at interview, gaslit and made to feel like I was crap and incapable. Spent the next 5 months doing temp stuff and applying for jobs. Was hard. Felt very unworthy. In hindisght wish I had spoken to someone about managing my money better, but hindisght is 20:20 and all that. Am now in a career for life. Job is hard but I care about the field I work in and have good colleagues.

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sleepyprojectionist@reddit

I have been made redundant three times in the last 14 years.

Despite treating job searching as a full-time role it took me around six months each time to find a new job. All of the payouts got used on paying bills and keeping a roof over my head.

I always seem to be stuck in a position in which I am over qualified for any jobs that I think might hire me and under qualified for anything remotely interesting with a decent salary.

I only ever got sacked once, and they gave me the chance to jump before I was pushed. It wasn’t a good fit, but I’m still salty about it. I was a customer service rep for a specialist insurance firm and I very rarely hit upselling targets. I was, however, the number one rated person in the whole company for customer satisfaction. I was only there for six months and I had six different customers email in to tell my bosses how refreshing it was to be treated like a human. Unfortunately this backfired badly and they used this as evidence that I was spending too long talking to people and that I should focus less on building rapport and more on selling add-ons.

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jimicus@reddit

Three times. And when I haven't been made redundant, my employers have been having huge job cuts and I've just escaped them.

The worst by far is when you have an extended period of time from the announcement and the actual redundancy - you wind up in a sort-of limbo where you're still expected to show up to work but almost anything you might be involved in is basically "why am I bothering?".

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boredandolden@reddit

12 years ago i went from earning £80k+ a year to £20k+.

I got sacked, but it was long and drawn out. It was a role I was in for a year. There was an awful lot of company politics and backstabbing involved. While I was waiting for the outcome I suffered repeated panic attacks. I'd start hyperventilating as I didn't see how I'd pay my mortgage. I was terrified I'd lose my house.

Then, i drove down south to just outside the M25 for my final meeting. It didn't start to well. The 1st 5 minutes was me arguing with HR about me recording the meeting on my phone. In the end, I cant remember what HR said. It was along the lines of it really was in my best interests not to. So I relented. That's when they offered me a £25k pay off. I still to this day don't know why. I know I said there was a lot of politics and backstabbing, but ultimately I was in the wrong for some things.

The pay off tided me over. My wife is a genius with the household finances. She worked it all out, and said as long as I got a job earning just over £20k, we'd manage. I've worked my way up in my current job, and started a part time self employed role aswell. I earn a lot more than I 1st did (but still not the £80k+), and both jobs are a lot less stressful.

So the moral is, events maybe shit when they happen, but sometimes they are for the best.

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Gatecrasher1234@reddit

I worked in construction, mostly estimating.

I got made redundant three times between 2008-2013.

Each time I got a job within four weeks, but each time the job paid less money.

It was happening in every industry. Wages really took a dive during that time.

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NotThingie@reddit

Got let go in the beginning of May from my job where I’d been there less than two years. No redundancy due to short time being there. Two months pay total. I’m terrified and pretty depressed as I was made redundant from my job of 9 years a few years ago and then it took me over a year to find proper full time employment with the job I just got let go from.

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Inevitable-Debt4312@reddit

Saw the redundancy coming and just managed to get mortgage insurance arranged in time. My wife wasn’t working and we had two lads. I was worried, because all possible employers were making my job redundant. Then a mate who worked for another company rang and asked if I’d be interested in a zero hours contract - of course I was, and it worked really well.

The single most important thing you can do in life is make friends.

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HankHippopopolous@reddit

I’m currently in this situation.

I’ve been made redundant and am currently working my notice period. I leave at the end of next week and this is the first time it’s ever happened to me.

In my 20s I made it a priority to have at least a 6 month buffer of money so that if this ever happened I’d have that much time without needing to worry.

Now in my 30s the buffer has grown to about a year plus I’m getting several months worth of payoff. I will also be cutting a lot of unnecessary expenses until I am working again but I reckon I could survive for well over a year living normally and maybe 2 and half if I went super frugal. This is not accounting for any sudden emergencies and I really hope to not be out of work this long.

I am currently applying for new positions and already have a couple of interviews lined up so I’m sure things will work out OK.

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TheDaddyStovepipe@reddit

Got sacked towards end of last year after just getting my first house (got put on gardening leave for a month)… managed to get another job pretty quickly after and had a few months of to do the house up without really missing a payday.

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ArtisticWatch@reddit

I was let go of a few jobs when I was young, ye old "we don't have any hours for you" and you don't hear from them again.

However I got properly fired from an office admin role. I was stuck in a small office with 2 other much much older ladies. I replaced their friend who retired and one lady was leaving too.

I vibes were completely off to start when they didn't really train me on the system or how to process invoices. The office had a no earphone rule during work hours due to people ignoring phones. I came in wearing earphones once and they both reported me for it and HR gave me a written warning even though our phone lines weren't open yet.

It was clear they both disliked me and one lunch they both went off at the same time (typically staggered lunch for phone cover) and i got marched out of the building

Honestly it fucking sucked (luckily I lived with my parents at the time) but a previous company I worked for too me back as they had a few people quit.

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GabberZZ@reddit

Been through 4 redundancies on my 35 year IT career. Probably made £100k tax free in reparations.

All were shit situations apart from the money.

Currently in-between jobs enjoying a break with the severance package that will cover my next 12 months salary.

I need to get my finger out and decide on what I want to do next. As a 55 year old it's hard in IT.

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RevellRider@reddit

Judging by the photo I took when I got made redundant nearly 17 years ago, I was quite relieved. It was a horrible toxic place to work, and I was taking enough redundancy for me to be comfortable for 4 months.

Fortunately, an old friend hooked me up with a new job less than a month later that was much better

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Djinjja-Ninja@reddit

I got made redundant about 20 years ago. It was probably one of the best things to happen to my career. I had gotten lazy and complacent, it gave me a kick up my arse.

I got a decent payout of about 5 months money, took a couple of weeks off to get drunk and play World of Warcraft, then found a job after about 4 applications that the job spec was almost like they had read my CV to write it.

Bought a car with the rest of my payout, moved 200 miles and never looked back.

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alfiesred47@reddit

Rang my mortgage company immediately and they gave me a three month payment break. Curbed all unnecessary spending and went job hunting. It wasnt too bad, I got a shit 20k job for a month and then got a career move to 40k soon after. I know it’s bloody hard now though, but I’d recommend you plan to be off for three months at least if possible.

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MissKatbow@reddit

Does this affect your credit in any way?

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Infernode5@reddit

No, but your mortgage will go up after the payment holiday as you still accrue interest.

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Knightoftherealm23@reddit

Taking a payment break doesnt as long as its approved by the mortgage company its missing payments without telling them where you get stuck.

If you are going to be made redundant or get fired call them asap as they can usually sort something out..

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Pandy498001@reddit

Not usually, it's the missed payments that hit you. Most mortgage providers will actually try and help you if you suffer hardship of any kind, you just need to talk to them.

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HexaDecio@reddit

I’d be intrigued to know. You would expect not as it is authorised but I guess we will find out soon enough!

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WizJager@reddit

I made residency from my I.t job and I done better then what they was doing. It really depend what you was doing before

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LemonCurdJ@reddit

Got fired 33 days after my 1st grad job. They the new hires in the morning they'll be firing 1 out of 3 of us without any prior warning or performance review. They took us all into a room at the same time. I went to some crawl space and knew from that moment they were firing me because the business manager (responsible for funds) and the manager was there. Cant remember what they said but told me I was fired.

Then my line manager spoke to me and gave me feedback. They said others reported my comments that I was making about the job and I wasnt the right fit. They told me id still get paid for the next month but told me to pack up my things and leave immediately. Everyone else in the office was sheepish (they knew before I did).

It was so humiliating, demoralising and came out of nowhere. I had the most positive client feedback, got clients to sign to our PR firm, a big client complimented the ghost article I wrote and I still got fired (when the other new hires didnt get this much positive feedback). Out of 19, I was the only black one and I remember having the boss tell me I needed to write my bio for the company and I wanted to write my heritage. He didn't like that and said it was "too ethnic". I knew from then my time there was short.

That was November. Went on a 2 week caribbeam cruise with family. When we came back, Covid struck but managed to get a job and Im still in the same sector 6 years later because I love it.

My mum really helped me. She was so fine about it and gave a whole speech about "everyone gets fired from a job at least once' so I shouldnt worry and then treated me to said cruise.

Ill never work in PR again.

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GoldBear79@reddit

Yeah, I got made redundant from a consultancy a week after they’d told me to ‘consider it your home,’ - ‘it’ being the company. It was a horrid blow, but part of me was relieved. They’d employed an HR guy at one stage who believed that Dr Fauci was running the world, and we’d repeatedly clashed. I wrote them a review on GlassDoor which was unfavourable, but not recklessly so, then changed industries where I’m now a lot happier.

Financially, I’ve saved for years so it wasn’t a knock in that sense, though I did have to move some money around in the first three months or so.

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Its-ya-man-Dave@reddit

When this happened to me I signed on for UC straight away, just so there’s some income. I job searched everyday, interviewed quite a lot. But during the day I signed up for any functional skill training they had. I did terrible in high school so I just kept busy in the skills centre getting qualifications that I was too stupid to do when I was a teenager (I was looking at public service roles that did actually check qualifications!)

So I kept busy. Reached out to old contacts for opportunities, considered a career switch which eventually happened.

I was employed within less than 2 months. The job centre is actually a great place when you want to work, develop skill and get some qualifications that look good on a CV.

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Pen_dragons_pizza@reddit

Does the job centre actually help with degree level jobs though ? I have been in my sector for over 15 years and rather senior, would the job centre be able to help me if made redundant ?

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Its-ya-man-Dave@reddit

This was my experience, the job I was ‘sacked’ from was a mortgage broker role, so qualifications are needed but not degree level. Degree level or at least higher level qualification jobs are not their specialty. But at the very least can help with temporary minimum wage jobs where needed. I utilised their CV review, interview technique and functional qualifications services. I used job seekers simply for the UC benefit and I found a way they could benefit me at the time (not just the money).

I also believe at the time they offered career advice services, to help identify roles where your skills can be transferable.

In my current role, I don’t think the job centre could help much, except if I desperately needed a minimum wage job, or fancied a career switch which I’d assume I’d need to work up ladder again.

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steveakacrush@reddit

Over the years I've been made redundant a couple of times.

I coped with it by realising that shit happens and there is nothing you can do about it, start looking for another job and don't take it personally.

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sailorstew@reddit

Got made 'redundant' during a mass sacking due to being British and too expensive, conducted over zoom using a pre recorded message. It was all over the news but surprise the government did nothing.

As soon as the zoom call ended I was straight on the phone to an agency chap I know and he got my some work that day, but it was a stressful couple of months until I got full time employment somewhere.

Went through redundancy again and just used my contacts and applied for everything to find another role. Luckily I fought hard enough to be kept on in the end.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

Which sector?

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sailorstew@reddit

Maritime sector. You can Google (other search engines are available) the whole P&O Ferries episode.

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Pilbzz@reddit

I was made redundant on 31st December 2025. I spent a little over a month jobless before finding a new position. Fortunately, I managed to retain most of my redundancy pay. However, my old car came to the end of its life just before I started my new job (2006 Astra) so I had to splash out for a “new” one. I’m not thrilled with my new job but the pay is better so I’m sticking with it for now.

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lady_is_a_one@reddit

I have been “let go” for a ridiculous reason and also many of my friends and colleagues have been made redundant these days … it just seems more and more common.

In my parents’ days being made redundant was this big awful thing, now it feels like it happens all the time to everyone.

How you deal is, of course start jazzing up and working on your cv and sending it out to recruiters and jobs. Not just “spray and pray” but target jobs and target your cv to those jobs.

There are jobs out there, the problem is a) so many people apply when they shouldn’t apply for that job as no experience etc and b) so many redundancies these days are just “normal”. It’s mad. Truly, most people I know with professional jobs have been made redundant thanks to private equity and buy outs., etc, it’s scarily normal and that’s the thing.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

What was the reason?

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lady_is_a_one@reddit

The reason for …? I can’t tell you every single reason for every single redundancy I know about. Most were young people (25-35). Usually because private equity or a larger company buys the company and they don’t really care about who is a “good manager” or anything - they just “trim the fat” as they see it. People are just numbers.

I guess that’s the hardest thing I’ve come to terms with, even as a millennial (so not young), but to see great teams just be ripped apart. They really, really don’t care. You aren’t made redundant because you do a bad job. You’re made redundant because it saves them money. Even if your team is how worse. It’s all money. It’s all about that.

I’m sorry that’s jaded, but I’ve worked for 20 years and that’s all I’ve seen and it’s getting worse.

It sucks, OP ☹️but redundancies becoming “the norm” for my generation was totally on the bingo card.

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sh4dfox@reddit

They were asking why you got let go not why was everyone ever let go

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lady_is_a_one@reddit

Yeah, you’re right. Apologies if my comment was not relevant, I thought maybe it would be. But you’re right in fairness.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

Exactly

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lady_is_a_one@reddit

I didn’t say I was let go.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

I meant why were you let go

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lady_is_a_one@reddit

Sorry. I thought maybe my story about others would be relevant. But you’re right, you asked for direct stories so I apologise, OP.

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BecozisaidSo40times@reddit

I got let go suddenly due to an org change and new leadership. I was a temp who performed so well they offered me a permanent position after 6 months. Then new management came in and 5 months later told me i failed my probation! I wasn’t on probation, anyway i was blindsided and couldn’t believe my ears, but my job ended immediately and I was escorted off the premises. It was humiliating and devastating as I loved the job and thought i was doing well. My work friends all rallied round, my customers were writing to the company complaining and asking why they weren’t told I was on probation as they would have written positive feedback. It seemed like a cost saving thing and i was last in so I just had to deal with it. I took it really hard and very personally and it knocked my confidence so hard that 10 years later I still think about it. However, silver lining was a job came up at that customers (who is a household name) and I applied. My customers all sent recommendations to the hiring manager and the rest is history. The best part was the rumours that I had a job there earning double the money. It wasn’t quiet, but I did enjoy that. Anyway the moral of the story is, that everything happens for a reason and you have to go through some tough stuff sometimes to get where you are supposed to be. You sure do appreciate it when you do get a break, I can tell you. I’m thankful every day for the bitch that sacked me.

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PleasantCucumber2615@reddit

I've been made redundant when there has been factory closures. I was sad the factory closed, but I wasn't bad. Working in the Oil and Gas industry you get used to regular consultation periods and redundancies.

My last job was much worse. The place was a shambles. Really, really dangerous. They were warned their health and safety was so bad they were going to kill someone.

I was one of two people that finally whistleblew to try to stop more people getting hurt or killed.

Then I had a significant accident. There was required safety equipment missing. The accident was the company's fault and they knew it.

The company never addressed the whistleblowing and took my accident as way to sack me.

They falsified absolutely everything. They falsified risk assesments, safety documents, minutes of meeting. Not a single thing is true.

They preplanned the sacking of both whistleblowers and accidentally exposed their plan.

All the managers, directors and corporate were involved in my sacking.

It was a coordinated attack intended to shame and humiliate me. My manager even tried to gaslight me to convince me I was mentally unwell when I had my accident.

I took it really, really hard. Not only was I struggling with physical injury, I went down that big dark hole.

I ended up having to take over a year away from work to recover from the physical and metal injuries.

I won't even put any level of trust in a manager or director at work again.

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Rohobok@reddit

Essentially got forced out of my first role, as we all knew our positions weren't going to last a year, so I started looking elsewhere and got a job.

Made redundant in second job, got a new job 4 months after, eating a bit into the redundancy money, but had a nice chunk left.

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Zealousideal-Habit82@reddit

Been out of work one month today after being made redundant at age 52. I've done 21 years so the severance was decent and I'm probably going to retire early but have got a JSA claim in and will have a look around just in case there is an amazing role out there but I suspect I'm done.

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Ok-Personality-6630@reddit

Yes, retrained myself and got a better career. Earning 4x more now so it all worked out for me in the end.

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VPfly@reddit

I started working at a new job a few months before covid and was furloughed (loved it) then made redundant (stupidly wasn't expecting it). I was really upset and panicked at the time but lucky that my husband could support us. I went back to my previous employer for a bit then had a baby and didn't go back (I thought I would go back but having children really changed my outlook on life).

It all worked out very well for me but I was extremely fortunate re my husband and leaving my previous employment on good terms. I hope it all works out for you.

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WinkyNurdo@reddit

By the age of 23 (I started work at 16) I’d been made redundant twice and been sacked once, by a dickhead boss who took advantage of my workplace naivety and lack of experience. I had a lot going on in my personal life at the time. So I tapped out and got a job in an offy for a year. It pulled me out of my funk, gave me a kick up the arse and I found my mojo again. After a year I went back to the grind and I’ve done pretty good for myself since.

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JennyW93@reddit

Yeah, I got made redundant a few days before Christmas a couple of years ago. I was able to find another job within 3 months, and redundancy pay and new JSA got me through the interim.

I didn’t have any savings at the time as I’d moved house about a month before, so it was scary. My aunt was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer maybe 2 weeks after that Christmas, so I managed to stay pretty preoccupied with caring for her and didn’t have time to spiral. I just got into a routine of getting up, going to the hospital or my aunt’s house, applying for jobs while she slept, getting to my job centre appointments once a week. As horrendous as it was, I’m perversely grateful I didn’t have a job to get in the way of spending her last weeks with her.

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buffalosoldier111@reddit

I got made redundant 4 days before Christmas along with another 150 lads in the crash of 2008, I was only 18 and my redundancy pay was about £500. I blew it over Christmas then went 18 months unemployed. Was a rough time

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DragonfruitStraight3@reddit

Yes, only once buy it was 2 weeks before Christmas. Was in probation period at the job. And was let go after a few weeks cause they changed the job role on me. Picking/packing and all of a sudden I needed to do deliveries 2 times a week. And wasn't too confident in driving the van. They wanted to move me to deliveries fully, so saw it coming. Timing just sucked. So JSA for a while and applying to any and all jobs. Luckily we had savings and partner could do overtime. Took me 3 months to find another job.

It was nice to be home during the holidays, but after it got boring real fast. And was looking forward to going back to work. The job I got then I o ly stayed till I had another one lined up. Cause it wasn't what I wanted to do.

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GavinF83@reddit

I got sacked from my first full time job because I requested leave to go to a music festival, which was then denied and I decided to call in sick and go anyway.

I got another job within a week working less hours and with a decent pay increase, plus I met my now wife at that festival. If I could go back in time I’d make the same decision again in a heartbeat. It was a shit job working shitty hours for shit money anyway.

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awesome2701@reddit

Yes, found out we were all being made redundant by reading it in the local news paper. I'd been there a fair chunk of time and the site was closing in that December, which was devastating.

My laziness meant I was initially okay though, as it was a banking group who were bailed by a larger bank during the recession. I never signed my revised contract and got 1 months pay for every year's service instead of the weeks salary colleagues got.

They argued and realised it was unsigned and my only contract was the original paperwork.

I blew it on about 4 holidays and 3 months off lol

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Neither_Employer9000@reddit

Got let go from a temp job in a bank when i was trying to get made permanent, got another bank job 3 days later, 10 years on im in a different industry entirely and making triple the wage i got from the bank. Losing jobs is normal.

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Sir_Greggles@reddit

I was made redundant from a jewellery shop in 2009, a week after my son was born, and on New Year’s Eve.

I was 19 at the time, and this was my first “real” job out of college… it took 18 months to find another job.

Thankfully my wife worked full time in a nursery, so we had a virtually free nursery place for when I had interviews, courses, etc… but for the most part I spent that 18 months caring for my son and we now have a very strong bond

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Maleficent_Day_3869@reddit

i got sacked from my last job but i got very, very lucky. i work in nurseries

the reason i got sacked is that the deputy absolutely despised me and did her best to make my life miserable. she bullied me for months on end and went so far as to write a bad review on google naming me and accusing me of child abuse. i found out because i overheard her laughing about it

one day she was criticising the way i did an activity and i got sick of it. had a go at her and i got the sack the same day for ‘not making an effort to maintain harmonious relationships’. lol

what saved me is a woman (we’ll call her ella) who had been hired at our nursery and was bullied by everyone there because the whole place was toxic. we got along and ella eventually went back to her old job. she was the deputy manager at her old place and she promised to try and get me a job there

two days after i got fired i get a message from ella telling her there were applications open at her nursery. i applied, barely had an interview and got the job. the manager told me later on that she had known ella for a decade and trusted anyone who ella said was good so she was willing to take a chance on me

she also told me that ella had told her how awful it was there and that i needn’t worry about ever contacting them for a reference because ella could provide one and i could get another one from a different old employer. the manager was also very understanding about the review and told me not to stress about anything because she’d explain it all to the higher ups

i’ve been working there a year and a half now. me and ella are still friends and this job is much better than the previous. i got extremely lucky though in which i found a job only a week after getting sacked from the past, and lucky in that i didn’t have to worry about a reference. ella seriously saved me

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On_The_Blindside@reddit

I was made redundant through no fault of my own (the entire UK devision was). It was shit, but it meant I got to spend almost 4 months fully paid with my infant daughter and that's time I'll never get back.

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Independent-Middle22@reddit

Yes 2 times, first time redundancy during covid and i got a job right away, didn't incurr any loss. The second time I was sacked as my new manager was a bully. I got a good payout once I opened a tribunal case but I'm yet to recover from that one. Completely burned me out.

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caligula__horse@reddit

Got laid off last summer and I coped by finding a new job and doing all the adult things using emergency fund and stuff

Mentally I still feel it. I still feel so unsure and unsafe and almost like I don't even want to care about my job because it's going to be taken away from me

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unbelievablydull82@reddit

Fine. Lost an Xmas temp job just before Xmas because I was too tired from visiting my now wife in a hospital on the other side of the city every evening, and my work wasn't amazing. I lost another job from injury, a manager shoved a roll pallet into me as I was pulling into a walk in freezer, messing up my back, and causing sciatica.

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BLightyear67@reddit

I've been maxe redundant 4 times. Only once (during Covid) was I unable to get a job in my chosen sector and had to drive for Ocado for a bit.

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CouldBeNapping@reddit

Redundancy twice, didn't sweat it. Both had decent payouts and then lined up a new job within a month or two.

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

Had you been at places more than 2 years?

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Desperate-Drawer-572@reddit (OP)

Which sector?

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