Need a nudge & some advice please!

[youvegottobekidding]

Currently working part time near home. Can’t stand it there anymore, have been thinking of leaving for a while.
Have thought about contacting my previous employer to see if there’s anything going there, only I haven’t had any contact with them for about 14 years, although we got on well & I left on good terms.
I know it’s a long shot but I thought I’d start there with people I know/knew, it was a family run business & a bit of googling tells me they still run it.
How do I approach them, email? Casual and straight to the point?
Also this place is further out so I will have father to travel - that is if there’s anything to come of it, but it’s a straight bus ride there & back. It’s a different environment to where I am now, but a whole lot better! I need to do this don’t i?

Yes you do need to, what have you got to lose . The worst they can say is no!

I would probably email myself (potentially following up with a call) but that's only because I am a bit rubbish on the phone and would be at risk of losing my nerve and failing to actually ask the question! You probably know them best, are they the kind of people who respond better to the direct approach or would you need to build up to it a bit more?

Again, purely personally I would structure the email or conversation with a bit of an initial 'hello, long-time-no-speak, how-is-everything' nice introduction, outline very briefly in case they'd forgotten what I'd been doing in the meantime since leaving them (putting a positive spin on it of course) and then leading up to 'have you got any jobs available, I am available and would be interested', finishing with a 'would be lovely to meet to catch up and discuss any possible opportunities' but again I guess some people would find that a bit mealy-mouthed and would prefer I came straight to the point. But overall I think the thing is to be polite, clear, positive and mainly, crucially, just hit send/call rather than agonising for ages over the exact wording you should use. I know too well the agony of indecision and social awkwardness inherent in this kind of situation - you feel a bit pushy and un-English, even intrusive but ultimately all you are doing is asking whether they have any jobs available, not for them to sell you their first born child!

Good luck

@maxelly yes I think your’re right on all levels and like myself better at email than phone.

Like you say, I’ve nothing to lose, after all this could potentially lead to me getting out of my current work situ & making my working life so much more bearable and if not now, at least they’ll have my current contact details should anything come up further wise.

As they’ll be closed over the weekend i’ll do it Tuesday. Or am I just delaying, I could do it this evening but I’m pretty sure it won’t be looked at (to the person who I am addressing it to anyway) until at least Tuesday.

I’ve done it! I just did it and thought no point in delaying things. Fingers crossed I get a reply

Ooh well done! Fingers crossed for you!