Now What? - Life after redundancy

There's a particular kind of unlucky where one thing goes wrong and you can just about laugh about it. Then there's Dan Roberts's 2025, where the wrong things queued up to take turns; right up until the week he finally caught a break and then redundancy turned up two days later like it had been waiting for an invite. This episode is about what happens when the job search isn't the...

Most people navigating redundancy have spent years being good at their jobs. The doing was never really the problem. The bit that catches people out is the presenting — interview panels, networking rooms, video calls with recruiters — where suddenly you have to articulate your value out loud, to strangers, in real time, without your brain quietly filing everything under unavailable. That gap betwe...

Most people treat a recruiter like a fire extinguisher — ignore it completely until something's on fire, then hope it works first time. In this episode, I'm joined by Neil Johns, Director at Merje, a specialist recruitment business working with everyone from startups and FinTechs through to national banking groups and global organisations, to find out what the job search actually looks lik...

The salary conversation is one of the most anxiety-producing moments in any job search — and when you're coming from redundancy, it's even more loaded. Your last salary exists but it may not reflect what the market currently pays. The pressure of needing a role changes what you're willing to say out loud. And the advice available is either negotiation-bro overconfident or so hedged it&...

Redundancy has a way of doing something nobody really prepares you for. It doesn't just take the job it also dismantles the version of yourself that was built around it. Your title, the structure, the sense of purpose that came with knowing what you did and being good at it. And then one day, someone asks what you do, and you're not entirely sure how to answer. In this episode I'm join...

"Fast-paced environment." "We're like a family." "Hit the ground running." These could sound like reasons to apply - they could also sound like reasons to close the tab. Job ads are marketing copy. They're written to sell you on a role, not to tell you what it's actually like to work there. Somewhere between the free fruit and the ping-pong table that nobo...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ This week's episode is less polished structure, more honest reflection. I'm walking through some recent experiences from my own job search — the kind of things that happen when you're in the middle of redundancy and nobody's handing out a manual. I answer questions about what's been hardest lately, how interviews have gone (and the specific exhaustion that com...

theinvisiblequeue.co.uk Over the past six months, I've spoken with dozens of people navigating redundancy. Through the podcast, messages and numerous conversations that started with "I thought it was just me." Every single one echoed the same thing, this experience isolates people in ways most support systems don't acknowledge. So we built something different. The Invisible Queue...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ The basics of job searching. Updating your CV, tailoring applications, following up; they don't stay done. You do them, they work or they don't and then you have to do them again the next day. And the day after that. It's not a checklist you complete once. It's a daily practice that never quite feels finished. Which would be fine if it delivered predictable result...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ Other people's good news is one of the quieter challenges of redundancy. Not the hardest thing, but one of the most disorienting because the feeling it produces doesn't have a clean name and nobody warns you it's coming. This episode gives it a name. Looks at why the moment someone in your network lands a role can feel like information about your own search when it ge...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ You know you're capable. You've got ideas, drive, the whole thing. But when you're job hunting, ambition starts to feel less like fuel and more like something you need to apologise for. This episode is about the weird contradiction of being ambitious while applying for roles you're overqualified for — and still not getting them. It's about the shame that creep...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ When redundancy happens, the spotlight lands on one person. But the uncertainty doesn't stay in one lane. It spreads into finances, into plans, into the people sharing the same space and nobody really warned them in advance. This episode looks at what redundancy actually does to the people around you and what it's like to be on the receiving end of someone else's wobb...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ Job searching has a special talent for making even fairly stable adults feel they’re one delayed email away from developing a brand new personality. It can be hopeful one minute, exhausting the next and strangely capable of turning 'just waiting to hear back' into a full-time emotional side quest. In this episode, I’m talking about how to stay optimistic after redundancy,...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ What happens when a job looks perfect on paper, pays well and suits your skills, but the commute feels like taking a ring to Mordor and the hours would wreck your family’s balance? In this episode, I talk about job search reality, life balance, flexible working and why the real question is not just “could I do this role?” but “does this role actually fit my life?” I explore why f...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ What do you do when redundancy creates space in your life — and along with the stress, uncertainty and job searching, there’s also a small voice saying, maybe now’s the time to finally try that thing ? In this episode, I’m talking about passion projects, side hustles and the strange pressure to reinvent yourself when your career has been disrupted. I get into why these ideas can...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ You walk out of an interview thinking you represented yourself well. You gave good answers. You sounded like yourself on a good day. Then someone asks how it went — and suddenly you hear yourself downplaying it, caveating it, softening it before the result has even arrived. This episode is about that. I’m exploring the strange way redundancy can affect confidence — not always by...

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ Redundancy does an odd little trick. It doesn’t just take away a job, it takes away the easy, everyday connection that came with it. No Teams pings, no corridor chats, no accidental “oh you should speak to…” moments. And when that background noise disappears, reaching out to people can suddenly feel weirdly high stakes. In this episode, I talk through how to reach out to people a...

Personal brand can sound like something that requires a ring light and a sudden interest in 'thought leadership'. In real life, it is much simpler. It is what people come to you for, what they trust you with, and what they say about you after you’ve left the meeting and they’ve opened their next tab. In this episode of, I make personal brand feel normal and practical. I talk through how to...

Ghosted after an interview? Or applied for something great and got absolutely nothing back? This episode is for anyone who’s tired of pretending silence doesn’t mess with their head. We talk about why ghosting lands so hard during redundancy and job hunting, how it quietly turns into overthinking and compulsive inbox-checking, and how to steady yourself when you’re stuck in that 'what does thi...

Job interview prep after redundancy is a weird little moment where you finally get the interview and your body reacts like you’ve been booked in for something far more dramatic than 'a chat about your experience.' In this episode I talk through the pre-interview prep that helps me show up clearly when confidence is wobbly and my brain is prone to going blank. I share how I build an 'ev...

Redundancy has a way of turning perfectly normal days into something… slightly loaded. Suddenly you’re measuring time differently, your inbox has the power to ruin an afternoon,and “being proactive” can become a full-time personality. In this episode, I’m sharing a few things I’d genuinely like to tell the version of me at the very start of it — not big inspirational slogans, but the practical, un...

Ever had a perfectly normal plan to 'be proactive' in the job hunt and somehow ended up applying for roles at 11:47pm that you wouldn’t even want if they came with a free Nando’s? This episode is about over-applying — that phase where job searching stops being a strategy and starts being a coping mechanism. Because over-applying isn’t motivation or discipline. It’s often anxiety in a produ...

People mean well after redundancy. They really do. But there’s one 'comforting' phrase that shows up again and again and instead of helping, it adds pressure, guilt and that horrible feeling that you should be handling this better. In this episode, I unpack why a certain well-meant line lands like homework when you’ve been made redundant , how 'encouragement' can accidentally trigg...

If you’re going through redundancy, job searching, or career uncertainty, you might have noticed your brain doing something unhelpful-but-understandable: reaching for a fantasy that makes everything feel instantly safe. This episode explores comfort fantasies after redundancy and how they can help you cope, until they quietly become a way of avoiding the present. I share a real example of how quic...

Small talk is meant to be harmless. Weather chat. Mild nodding. A quick “busy week?” and everyone carries on with their life. But in redundancy it can feel like a contact sport. Because one minute you’re making conversation at “the things” (kids clubs, dog walks, community stuff, awkward queues) and the next someone drops the trapped question: 'So… what do you do?' In this episode I unpack...