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Redundancy, Remote Onboarding and a Really Weird Year

This year has been very different for all of us.

In the past 10/11 months, I went from being in a job that was starting to look promising, to losing that job mid-lockdown, only to then find myself in a job that I’d have never expected to get a year ago.

 

Redundancy

There had been rumours about my employer talking with Administrators a month or so before myself and about 400 other people lost our jobs.

The whole process was horrible.

I felt let down, lost and mildly terrified about being able to keep providing for my family.

I’d only been at M&Co for about 5/6 months when the lockdown kicked in and it still stung to find out that I was being made redundant, and that I’d lose out on any kind of notice pay for good measure.

Others had been with the company for decades! I can only imagine the feelings they must’ve experienced during that time.

 

Remote Onboarding

Being an opportunist, I’d started brushing up on my skills and my portfolio as soon as the Administrators were mentioned.

This headstart proved to be useful when a job listing for VisitScotland came up – I applied right away, though I found an error with the form that let me skip some of the *required fields.

I skipped them to see what would happen, only to find my submission was sent.

Shit! There goes that one then!

Well, apparently not.

The whole interview and subsequent onboarding process with VisitScotland took place remotely.

Going through introduction calls with my new teammates has proved to be a little awkward, but only at first. I imagine the in-person equivalents would follow the same process.

 

Really Weird Year

The year is nearly over, at least in the calenders eyes.

For the rest of us, things are likely to continue as they have been. Filled with a daily dose of uncertainty and ongoing refinements to my working-from-home workspace.

I am looking forward to finding myself in an office again sometime in the not too distant future. If only to be able to go for a beer after work on a Friday again!