Out of a job - what next?

[BeenToHarris]

I've name changed as I'd rather not connect this to my other posts.

Spoke to DSil today and she told me it had been announced today that her company will be making a large number of redundancies later in the year, herself included.

She lives in a very remote area, very limited job opportunities and went straight into this company after school - working up to management level. So lots of experience but no formal qualifications. Unfortunately slim chance of any other similar level jobs anywhere near her (by that, I mean with a 4 hour commute each way).

Any ideas in terms jobs she could perhaps do from home? Or online so location isn't an issue? She has about 6 months to train/do a course before being made redundant if anyone can think of any access type courses?

We've spent today brainstorming but are coming up blank so I thought the wonder of mumsnet might be able to help....

Will she get a payout? Also, what field does she work in? That's something we need to know before advising.

She hopefully will though isn't confident that it'll be much more than statutory.

It was a call centre, and she managed a large team there.

Could she start working towards some transferrable qualifications - some ou Management courses are free via futurelearn for example. What level of qualification does she have?

That's about the same as I have suggested. She left school with highers (Scotland) and that's about it.

Though given how few jobs there are near her it might he better focusing on a remote location type job or trade....if we can think of any!

Has she ever considered moving somewhere less remote or easier access to more employment opportunities?

We've spoken about that. She did move years ago, was homesick and returned home. Now, years later she provides a lot of care for her mum as my dp has moved away and isn't there day to day.

They're lucky for now in the sense that her husband has a good job with the family business- so it seeks to be one or the other in terms of staying put/finding a job for her.

So far I've got:
Apply to do some bank shifts the local care home, as they are most likely to have job vacancies come up. She'll also need to sort disclosures etc
Online proof reading etc- though I'm not sure if that is an actual job or just advertised but few and far between?
Retrain in a short course (nails, lashes etc) and start her own thing with that
Assess the size of her package and consider retraining longer term for something that has a good chance of a vacancy. Social work / Teaching Assistant etc (though these always seemed like a vocation to me, rather than a career you fall into)

Bookkeeping could be done freelance and remote if she is good at numbers and has the time to retrain.

I have friends who are virtual PAs and work from home. I think there's quite a demand for that.

Thank you DianaT1969 and foxyfemke

These are great suggestions! I'll add them to my list

I don't have personal experience of this but there does seem to be a fair amount of working from home call centre/customer service work about. I guess the issue might be that this is only at the lower end of the wage scale. I had a friend who answered customer queries via text/online from home for a while. Worth a look on the main job search sites?

What do other local people do? That's always a good starting point!

Arise offer home call centre work for several household names. The people I know only do it part time but it's worth considering.

www.ariseworkfromhome.co.uk/be-your-own-boss-arise-uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GGL_TX_2018-23-23_googad3&gclid=Cj0KCQiA1sriBRD-ARIsABYdwwEgeWv0Ja8IPPRTYkKPAzsjqjof_CkZ1uEZ44k9hJIm56Ol7DpYT3oaAuKAEALw_wcB

Some companies (the AA and the RAC are two off the top of my head) have remote call centre workers. I used to work for the AA taking breakdown calls from home. There’s obviously training involved, which would mean travelling, but well worth it in the end. There must be other companies offering similar.

After working her way up within one company for a long time it must feel very strange. Would she benefit from doing some sort of personality trait questionnaire/career guidance type quizzes? Just because the suggestions so far are so varied (which is good!)

I haven't got any useful links to recommend sorry but I know that sometimes when people fall into a job and stay there a long time working their way up from within, sometimes they have inadvertently moved away from a path that suits their personality and personal goals better. The choice out there must be overwhelming