Redundancy as a Secondhalfer

Facing redundancy in the second half of your career.

Desert Sand (WIX Image)

Being a Secondhalfer

A Secondhalfer is anyone beyond their mid-40s who has:

• Been in their career for 20+ years;

• Honed their skills across several jobs (sometimes in the same company);

• Learned their craft or trade to an expert level;

• Possibly managed others and

• They are now in the position of being back in the job market, not through their own choice, passed over, or made redundant because younger, fresher and probably cheaper people are available who, on the face of it, can do just as good a job as them.

Are you one? If so, read on.

Thinking in detail about my second half wasn't my choice, even though circumstances forced me to. I had planned on staying at my company until I retired, but the threat of redundancy ended that.

Fortunately, I had several months of knowing that it would happen (mainly because I was the one pressing "delete" on my role) without knowing an exact date, which made all the difference.

It gave me time to think, prepare mentally, plan, and complete some of my action plans. These stories reflect that thinking and process. It is not easy to read and act on, but I tackle age head-on in a practical and non-patronising way.

I'm grateful that change forced me to rethink my career, and I want you to be grateful, too.

My story of Redundancy

In 2016, I led a restructuring of my team, and at that point, I made my permanent role redundant. I suddenly knew that to prepare for my next role, I needed to put the past behind me and get my skills up to the cutting edge.

During this process, I spent a lot of time thinking about whether to accept redundancy immediately or stay on, accepting that I was building a house on sand. I decided that the best home you can build on sand is a boat so that when the time comes, you can float away, and so that's what I did.

I volunteered to join our internal innovation team and to pick up a project there. If you've worked in innovation, you'll know that projects there are nascent – without any form or structure. They are just ideas that may or may not prove to work. So, I set myself three challenges:

1. Create a set of stories: Most interviews now are competency-based, so running a successful project gives a current feedstock of stories to tell when the time comes.

2. Build relevant, sellable skills: Being able to do something is not the same as having current skills and experience, so this was a great opportunity to refresh some skills and ensure they appeared on my CV.

3. Build a relevant working style: Often, when working in a large corporation for a long time, you lose some of the 'edge' of Firsthalfers, and certainly, you lose the edge of working in a small company, startup or even a large competitor. Working in a new team gave me back my mojo and allowed me to work hard and flourish.

Of course, these objectives benefitted my company, too.

Having someone highly motivated build the next big product is a win-win. In the end, I stayed on the team for over two years and led our connected home team for a while, in addition to being the lead for a major B2B energy product (which is still growing eight years later).

When my secondment role looked like it was ending, we started a conversation about whether to extend. I could feel that this was creating uncertainty and ultimately distracting me from doing great work, so I asked to draw a line in the sand, and we agreed on an exit date and package. That date is what I needed—a 'starting gun' to move on.

If you have a date, that's good. Use it to start your journey.

It took around six weeks from the day we agreed on a date to get my first job offer. My stories will tell you how I approached it, how you can approach your situation, and provide some ideas for your Secondhalfer journey.

Looking back, I regret not thinking like a Secondhalfer earlier in my career. I hope that reading these stories will inspire you to prepare now. I also hope the frameworks you get from my stories help you create your second-half plan and prepare for your future.

The Proactive Secondhalfer

Hopefully, you're secure in your role, and forced change doesn't apply to you, but either way, you need to prepare for the oncoming path to retirement. You're more than halfway there now.

Job security is part of that journey because you may be at peak expenditure - with a home loan, children, cars, expensive holidays and pets to feed. So you need job security and fulfilment in what you do.

Suppose you're fortunate enough to be past that stage; well done! You'll still need to think ahead to prevent a sudden bump at the end of your career.

My lessons

As a Secondhalfer, what did I take away from getting a job?

1. Treat your job hunt as a project.

2. Take control back, and face this change positively. Everything else in your world depends on it.

3. Experiment, experiment, experiment. You need to find out what resonates with employers and, in turn, with you.

4. Be patient. The right job is there; you need to find it. You may even need to create it yourself — but that's a different project.

5. Have a job hunt partner. It's hard work and frustrating (mostly), so have someone to balance you.

6. You are living in the present. What you can do today and tomorrow is what people are buying.

7. Be curious. Your new employer wants to do new things with you, not to be lectured by someone who's done it all.

Being a Secondhalfer is fun, but there are dangers.

Project Me

Whatever your current situation, approaching your second half as a project is effective, mentally stimulating and ultimately the best thing for your well-being. What you do now will set you up for the next part of your life, so you must focus on yourself.

It turns out that the real expert in you is you, and the most helpful thing is not theory but ideas that you can take and adapt to your circumstances, which I hope to provide and stimulate.

You have done perhaps 25 years of your career or more and have fewer than 25 years left. In that time, you have to prepare for retirement and all that brings — your home, your pension, your family, your health and so on.

You need to focus on your job, yes, but you need to focus on your career and, ultimately, your whole self.

You must work holistically to choose the right route through these competing priorities. Don't ignore your Identity Wheel; review it regularly on a Relationship Away Day.

p.s. — What about your age?

I have discussed the issue of age with many Secondhalfers so I will address this directly. Your age is a part of your unique experience, and it's not something you can change. What truly matters is how you leverage this experience.

I personally deal with it by coaching and mentoring, offering my employer both loyalty and the capability to build their team's skills. I may not be a Snapchatterer, but I can guide colleagues who are learning their trade. This is the part of my job I love the most.

I'm not suggesting that's what you have to do, but you do need to be comfortable in whatever approach you take. Equally, though, don't highlight it until it's unavoidable. By keeping your CV to the last 5–10 years maximum, you appear to be no different to anyone else at the sifting stage. It's absolutely fine to mention something you've done in the far distance, but unless you're working in a museum it's unlikely to be relevant today.