My DB is single and 52.
He lives alone in a privately rented house not that far from us.
Yesterday he was told he was being made redundant from his van driving job, stocking vending machines. He was also a 'Depot manager' which is a glorified stock keeper at one of their depots. The job involved handling expensive stock and a lot of money. This wasn't wholly unexpected as due to increasing govt legislation, the days of his industry are numbered (think tobacco).
He is quite sanguine about it and reckons that he has enough £ to get by on for a year. His package was reasonable and he has the remains of the proceeds of the sale of a house he once owned (purchased with our parents help but then he allowed himself to get screwed over by a 'girlfriend' but that's another story!).
I believe he was earning £25k pa pre-deductions.
He stated on the phone last night 'Maybe this'll give me a boot up the arse to do something else'.
His original qualification (C&G) was as a pastry chef (think posh gateaux etc) but that job no longer exists except at the very top end. He's been van driving for years now.
DB is just a 'regular bloke'. More clever than his 2 low grade CSEs would lead you to believe (thanks to a rubbish SM). He is 'handy' (fixes stuff around our house, etc), is reliable and personable but has no qualifications or many proper tools. He did help as a plumbers mate for a bit which I believe went well.
What should he do? Obviously he needs another job. We are helping him get a 'professional looking' CV together (he has asked us to) but DH and I tend to find our work on dedicated websites whereas I think van driving jobs would come up in the local papers, wouldn't they?
SHOULD he consider doing one of those short, sharp courses at college leading to an electrical or plumbing qualification? Are they worth it? Would he be likely to get a job out of it? I was talking to a subcontractor of about 35 at work a few weeks ago who'd gone from being 'an analyst' at B&Q and is now a trainee electrician having done a short college course. Would a 'how to present yourself at interview' think maybe held at a job-centre help? DO they provide still those sort of 'get a job' courses?
What advice would you give?
Now, I'm fully aware he's His Own Man and A Grown Up but the thing is, in the present climate, he cannot afford to be unemployed for long and needs to look to his own future. I know him well enough to see that it would be a Bad Thing for him to drift on too long without a job. He'd gradually start drinking more, staying in more (no £), losing heart and- well, I'll go as far as to say, just might ultimately become a bit of my responsibility, if only through guilt! There is no other family beyond our ageing mum. He should also not be regarding a spare room at our mum's house as 'back up' as a) she'd prefer to not have him there, really (she has said as much though of course would never see him 'homeless'), and b) I should start by apologising for my grasping greed here- I don't really want him there as a 'sitting tenant' when the inevitable happens to our aged mother... I also have DCs whom I'd like to help through college!
Constructive advice and ideas welcome!