52 and redundancies looming... no idea what to do next

[NigellaWannabe1]

I'm 52 and a full-time university lecturer in a Humanities subject. Redundancies are on the cards in the next few months and, although I might not be affected, there's a good chance I might be. I want to start preparing but I have zero idea what I can do.

The chances of a similar job in a university within commutable distance are tiny so I'd like to be realistic and rule that out. I don't have a PhD but I do have huge expertise managing courses, including large scale postgraduate courses with a large international student intake, external body /visa requirements and so on. Where can I work with this skillset?

I was thinking the Civil Service, but how easy is it to get a job there? I imagine not too easy for someone who's only ever worked in academia... but maybe I am wrong? If the Civil Service sounds possible, what kind of roles should I be looking at? What about the private sector? I imagine at my age, things might be trickier there.

Any ideas would be hugely welcome. I am totally at a lost, after all my life working for this one university...

Bumping up for you as I need ideas too!

Another bump from someone in the same situation. Seems like everyone right now. Hopefully you’ll be ok.

Do you have any branches of Kaplan or Intu within commuting distance? Sounds as if you could get a management/teaching job with them.

Hi everybody, thank you very much for your responses. Any more thoughts, anyone?

I am sure you have thought of this but could you move sideways into University professional services? Sounds like your skills would be very relevant there.

It depends what level and salary you are looking for. You could consider: FE teaching in your subject (your uni experience would be very valuable) - a part time hourly paid role might be a start.
Are there any online uni MBA type courses that recruit internationally where your skills might be valuable in recruitment/course management etc.
Going lower down the salary scale NHS bank admin work could be a way in to NHS more senior admin/management roles.

What kind of package may be offered? My friend took redundancy at a similar age from a University but already had no mortgage and decent savings and as such a long term employee got close to 50k.

Humanities are a great subject for swapping into any other career at a senior management level. Finesse your CV and speculatively put it out there to see what results you get.

Tutor with the Open Uni to tide you over?

Training hospital that has large junior doctor intakes?

Hi again and thank you for the great advice. Ideally, I'd like to find a role around my current salary, which is approx £60,000. But I know it will be challenging to walk into a job in a new sector within this pay bracket. That said, some sectors pay very well and maybe I am not expanding my horizons enough.

Any ideas of non-conventional, non-teaching roles where my management experience might fit well? If I do get offer redundancy, it will be a good package and won't have to dive into just anything.

NewUsernameIPresume - when you suggest I put my CV out there, do you mean to approach some recruiting agencies for advice or to just apply to roles and see what happens?

Some local authorities need people to help resettle refugees. I know it’s a different set of circumstances than for people coming here to study, but it sounds like you would have a lot of experience helping overcome some of the challenges facing migrant communities, I’m not sure about salaries but you could look online.

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

This will give you an idea of some of the roles in the civil service- its unlikely that anything is an exact fit but you could look at project management or people/ organisational development roles

Could something like this be of interest? https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=cGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0JnBhZ2VjbGFzcz1Kb2JzJnVzZXJzZWFyY2hjb250ZXh0PTYzODIyNjU3JnNlYXJjaHNvcnQ9c2NvcmUmb3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImb3duZXI9NTA3MDAwMCZqb2JsaXN0X3ZpZXdfdmFjPTE4OTA2NzYmc2VhcmNocGFnZT0xJnJlcXNpZz0xNzA0NzMyOTA1LTFhNDljYmIwMGY0MmRmOGY0NTRiNjFlMzFlZjA2NjUyOWE2NDRiNDE=