Employment...where to start?

[2Btoo]

Apologies in advance for what may well prove to be the most nebulous posting in this section for a long time but here goes ....

I want a job. I don't need one but I want one.

I'm late 40's, degree-level educated, have run two successful businesses in the past and sold the last one a few months back. My wife and I have saved and invested such that we don't need to work. She chooses to work three days a week as she enjoys her profession.

My background is tech, but that's quite a long way back. My most recent business was started from scratch in around 2010 and I sold it when I moved to a different part of the country following health problems. Thankfully those are now past and .... bluntly ... I'm bored! I am doing an amount of voluntary work but find that without payment I am not valuing the things I am doing. Having some spare cash wouldn't go amiss as I feel bad spending money when I am not earning any.

So, not having had an employed job for the last 20 years, where do I start? Googling 'how do I find a job' gives me a lot of minimum-wage hospitality and supermarket jobs but nothing much more. And I don't fancy that sort of thing; I don't think it would challenge me and I strongly suspect that working with a load of teenagers/early 20's types would probably grate after a few days (or perhaps minutes).

I'm living in an area which I don't know that well so don't have contacts to talk to. I am finding some, but it takes time.

I don't expect to find the solution to this problem via this thread but would be interested to hear any suggestions .... thanks!

[12TS]

I'm employed (techy work as a consultant) and haven't moved for ages, but I think what I'd do is

a) Suss out what I wanted to do as clearly as possible - which areas do I want to work in and how you want to work (employed/freelance, ft/pt)
b) Talk to some headhunters who work in that area get their thoughts
c) Look for consultancies who work in that area and talk to them

You're clearly valuable to the right company, you just need to work out how who they are.

[Jasandjules]

Why not see if you can consult for one of your previous businesses or ask around your contacts for any consultancy work.

[Shnozz]

Would you be suitable as a NED?

[2Btoo]

12TS said:

I'm employed (techy work as a consultant) and haven't moved for ages, but I think what I'd do is

a) Suss out what I wanted to do as clearly as possible - which areas do I want to work in and how you want to work (employed/freelance, ft/pt)
b) Talk to some headhunters who work in that area get their thoughts
c) Look for consultancies who work in that area and talk to them

You're clearly valuable to the right company, you just need to work out how who they are.

Thanks 12TS. (And thanks for the closing compliment as well! )

I guess that part of the problem is that I don't know what I want to do, but that's my problem to sort out! I know it needs to be p/t and preferably freelance.

How do I find a suitable headhunter? I came across a number when I was previously running a consultancy and left with an almost universally negative impression of them (with one exception I swore that I wanted nothing to do with any such a person ever again.) I can understand that they have a valuable role to play in the world of commerce but it seems that the bad ones hugely outnumber the good ones.

Thanks for your help.

[2Btoo]

Jasandjules said:

Why not see if you can consult for one of your previous businesses or ask around your contacts for any consultancy work.

Previous business was a clean sale; it was property related and very locally based. I'm now too far away to be of any help as a consultant, and I'm not sure that I'd want to have anything more to do with it. (That probably needs a bit of explaining; I set the business up deliberately to be different to every other such business, and it worked well. However I know that the purchaser is running it much more conventionally, which means I'm not interested in having anything much more to do with it. I also happen to know that they have haemorrhaged customers of mine since takeover, but that's by-the-by).

Having moved 100 miles from one side of the country to the other I don't have any contacts, which is part of the problem. If I had some then I'd probably have a better place to start.

Thanks for your input though.

[2Btoo]

Shnozz said:

Would you be suitable as a NED?

A NED? Sorry to be slow but I don't know what such a thing is! Sounds horsey ... maybe?

[Shnozz]

2Btoo said:

Shnozz said:

Would you be suitable as a NED?

A NED? Sorry to be slow but I don't know what such a thing is! Sounds horsey ... maybe?

Non-exec director.

Given your success in creating, running and disposing of previous businesses, it could be up your alley.

[2Btoo]

Shnozz said:

2Btoo said:

Shnozz said:

Would you be suitable as a NED?

A NED? Sorry to be slow but I don't know what such a thing is! Sounds horsey ... maybe?

Non-exec director.

Given your success in creating, running and disposing of previous businesses, it could be up your alley.

Ah! Thanks!

I've heard of them but don't know what one is. Google here I come ....

Thanks for the suggestion. How would I apply for such a position?

[Shnozz]

2Btoo said:

Ah! Thanks!

I've heard of them but don't know what one is. Google here I come ....

Thanks for the suggestion. How would I apply for such a position?

Not actually sure to be honest. Quick google brings me to here

https://www.thecorporategovernanceinstitute.com/in...

[2Btoo]

Thanks Shnozz. Helpful link and something to think about.

I will need to Google 'Non Executive Director' as well to try and find out what such a person may do ... but I can manage that!

[nebpor]

I’d agree with the fact you are valuable, the difficulty is finding who you are valuable to

Ignore recruitment types, my advice would be to find some small consultancy firms (10-100 employees) and make yourself known to them. Lots of these firms have few staff on the books but a lot of contractors they use, thus they will identify work and then engage you to deliver it …. I almost did this before moving to the role im currently in. I was just talking to a friend (who runs such a firm, but not in the UK) last week about it

Identifying the consultancies will help - you need to think about what your personal capabilities are. Old tech might still have relevance, but it’s more likely you are capable of getting things done in an org, due diligence and governance - plus many small businesses employ mentors to help them …. You have a lot of life/commercial experience to fall back on

[edc]

A few things to consider:
What do you want to do?
Have you got the skills or qualifications for it?
What are companies looking for in people to do this work?
How can you best present/market/sell yourself?
Who are you competing against?

[TCX]

Totally left field,not knowing your state of health or love of the great outdoors,but leaving behind techy stuff, gardening or working at a nature reserve, something no stress,turn up do a bit,go home not thinking about or being bothered by work?keep busy, rewarding,meet people

[StevieBee]

2Btoo said:

'Non Executive Director'

Essentially, they're the same as a normal Director except you (normally) have no voting rights. Your role is to provide advice and expertise to the board of a company adding fresh views and direction on how things are done. Appointments are usually 'x' numbers of days over a given period of time. This can range from attending one board meeting a month to what in any sense is a full-time appointment.

These roles are advertised widely in LinkedIn and other platforms.

The other thing to look at is Interim Director. These are, simply put, 'Freelance Directors' - placed into companies and sometimes Public Sector institutions for a set period of time to fill a void left by the departure of a full time Director.

These roles tend to get placed via specialist agencies with whom you would need to make yourself known to.

Obviously both of these require you to throw yourself back into the higher levels of corporate management and carry certain obligations that you may consider unwelcome. That being the case, to throw an idea into the mix....

A friend of mine was in a similar position to you: IT Manager for a group of Secondary Schools as well as running a small recording studio, both of which he lost five years ago. He set up a new recording studio which is more of a hobby business but rocked up to a local farm asking if there was any work. He now spends most of his time driving spectacular bits of farm equipment around fields having a lovely time!

[Collectingbrass]

I'd have a read of this and given you're new to the area I'd treat any investment like backing horses; only play with money you can afford to loose.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B095T1H1ZJ/ref...