Glass Half Full: Chapter 1
A former drinks PR’s optimistic guide to life after redundancy

3 November 2008

Days since made redundant: 14
% of redundancy pay-off spent on shoes, MAC lipsticks, Ocado deliveries..: scary
No. of mails/calls received on BlackBerry today: 8
% of said mails/calls from mates, not prospective clients: v high
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IF I had £1 for everyone who’s said in recent weeks, “one day, you’ll look back on this as a good thing” or “as one door closes, another opens”, my shoe fund would be looking a whole lot healthier than it does. While I’m sure the words are well-intended, if the person uttering them is still drawing a salary, you should be allowed to hit him. Quite hard. Or at least ask if he wants to swap places with you, the smug b*****d.

The other comment I keep hearing is “won’t you get distracted, working from home? All that daytime TV.” Er, no. Even the toe-curlingly awful prospect of trying to find work in the worst recession in living memory holds more appeal than 10 minutes in front of Lorraine Kelly. Though I’d make a case for catching The Jeremy Kyle Show now and again. Not only because JK is surprisingly hot, but the sheer screwed-up-ness of his guests’ lives will throw your own into cheering relief. Unless you actually are expecting triplets by your father-in-law…

But, putting aside the small matter of having no long-term income stream, there are upsides to my redundant status. Spending more time with my children, for example. And, seemingly, with the group of up to eight teenagers who occupy my living room most lunchtimes. Though slightly trying, this does give me a ready-made focus group of 16/17-year-olds who will probably answer anything for another go on the X-Box. All I need now is a client list of RTDs, condoms and Clearasil...

Where the long-term work is going to come from, I don’t yet know. But I do trust one of the pieces of advice I received, which is that the project you thought was ‘in the bag’ before you left your job will come to nought. Instead, you’ll get a call out of the blue from someone who knows someone who used to work with you, wondering if you could help them on a one-off job, not much of a budget... And that, mark my words, will be what keeps you in handbags and mini-breaks for the next five years.

Ros Shiel was public relations manager for Beautiful Beer, a campaign funded by the UK’s brewers and pub companies to improve the image of beer. She was made redundant last October after funding for the project was cut and is now working as a freelance PR consultant and copywriter. Ros lives in Horsham, Wet Sussex, and spends her free time running round the park, writing blogs and drinking beer in as many local pubs as she can justify visiting in the name of research.

http://www.shielcomms.co.uk/