Exactly one year ago, on the 13th December 2017, I was made redundant by the company for whom I had worked for almost ten years. Throughout that period, my loyalty was rock-solid and unquestionable. The company had been through some very difficult and disruptive times. As a leader, I made a significant contribution to the re-building and re-structuring of the company, taking an active part in strategy meetings, coming up with creative ideas and implementing them with my global and EMEA teams. I was ready, and excited, to be in a strong position to lead my part of the company into its next stage of evolution.
Having always believed that loyalty is a two-way street, I was shocked and upset to be treated so badly by a company to whom I had given so much. Only two weeks before I was notified of my impending redundancy, I received a personal message from one of the top executives, congratulating me on my “exceptional action and results.”
However, that is sometimes the cold nature of business.
What has made my departure worse is that, when I expressed my concern to my boss that I felt that this could be the end of me long and distinguished working career, he assured me that companies would be clambering over each other to snap up a person with my experience. It looks like I was more right than he.
You should not be surprised that I am somewhat dejected on this very distressing work anniversary.
I have worked very hard at finding new employment, applying for over 150 positions in Professional Services and Presales in technology companies.
I think that many potential employers find it hard to understand that my passion is for addressing the technology challenges that my customers by working with them to come up with the optimal solutions to best fit their future business successes. I have always loved innovative technologies and problem-solving using those technologies with a little creativity of my own.
I will not give up on my quest to find a new role which will allow me to use my passion for technology to make a big contribution to the business of my new employer.
An article which has helped me to remain positive in the face of perceived ageism, is this one by Alan Chapman:
People in their 50-60s/older greatly underestimate and misunderstand their value to employers/the market/society/etc.
Write to Inspire 
A terrible anniversary. I hope something comes along soon!
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Lance – I started working for a car dealership in minimum wage. Being a marketing professional and coming to the job from the outside, with no preconceptions, I’ve gained the total confidence of the MD through suggesting new practices and may decide to make this my career until (and beyond) retirement. He’s got fingers in a lot of pies and there are many opportunities for me.
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