How to Work With a Recruiter (Before You Actually Need One) - with Neil Johns, Merje

I Got the Job. Now What?

After the best part of a year and somewhere north of a hundred applications, I've been offered a role and this episode is the honest version of what that actually feels like, recorded a while before I've even started, with none of the hindsight smoothed in yet. The specific flinch of not trusting good news, what it costs to lose a routine you didn't choose but got attached to, and what genuinely felt different about this last stretch of interviews compared to the ones before it — including the one piece of real feedback that changed how I answered questions from that point on. This also closes out season one. Season two returns in a couple of weeks on a fortnightly cadence, with a shift in focus towards the voices of people still navigating this in real time, and specialists who can bring perspectives I don't have on my own and topics that I know have supported me as I navigated my own journey. Thank you for forty episodes of company — genuinely. To connect with others on this journey, visit https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk/ [https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk/] To connect with the show visit https://thenowwhat.co.uk/ [https://thenowwhat.co.uk/]

Coping With Redundancy When Everything Else Falls Apart Too — with Dan Roberts

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 only thing falling apart. Dan talks through the actual mechanics of getting through a year like that, including how he decided which job applications were worth caring about and which weren't, why the people around him mattered more than any spreadsheet ever could and what he'd say to someone reading this on day one of their own equivalent mess. Part practical, part perspective, part pep-talk without the cringe. Dan's also shared this story in more detail over on the Invisible Queue - www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk [http://www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk] - if you want to sit with it a bit longer or talk it through with people in the same boat. And if you want to get in touch with the show directly, that's www.thenowwhat.co.uk [http://www.thenowwhat.co.uk]

How to Present Yourself After Redundancy - Speaking Without Freaking with Dave James

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 between knowing your stuff and being able to say it, under pressure, while someone looks at you. That's what this episode is about. Dave James is a twice TEDx speaker and speaker coach who spent years in healthcare before moving into coaching. What he took from nursing, A&E and podiatry was a single transferable skill: building rapport fast with people who are frightened and don't know what's coming next. His framework is called Speaking Without Freaking, and his approach has little in common with the presentation training you sat through once and immediately forgot. We talk about why confidence is the wrong thing to go looking for, why memorising interview answers reliably backfires, and why your redundancy story (the bit you're most tempted to skip past) is often the most powerful thing you've got. There's also a Bon Jovi misheard lyric, which I stand by to this day! Connect with Dave: www.davethecoach.co.uk [http://www.davethecoach.co.uk] https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamdavejames/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamdavejames/] Book a conversation: https://cuppawithdave.youcanbook.me/ [https://cuppawithdave.youcanbook.me/] Find the show: https://www.thenowwhat.co.uk [https://www.thenowwhat.co.uk] The Invisible Queue community: https://www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk [https://www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk]

How to Work With a Recruiter (Before You Actually Need One) - with Neil Johns, Merje

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 like from the other side of the desk. We get into the patterns Neil sees regularly — the habits that quietly work against candidates, what a CV does and doesn't tell a recruiter and why the people who tend to do well are usually the ones who built the relationship before they needed it. If you're in redundancy, back on the job market, or just keeping an eye on things, this'll be worth your time. Find out more about Merje at https://www.linkedin.com/company/merje-ltd/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/merje-ltd/] Find support from others navigating redundancy: https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk/ [https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk/] Contact the show: https://thenowwhat.co.uk/ [https://thenowwhat.co.uk/]

Salary Expectations After Redundancy - What to Say and When

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's useless. This episode unpacks why this conversation is specifically harder during redundancy than a standard job move, the traps people fall into that are entirely understandable given the circumstances and what useful preparation looks like before you're ever asked the question. That includes where to research a credible UK salary range, what to say when they ask first and you're not ready to commit, the difference between what you need and what you want, and why knowing your household floor number before the conversation is more useful than any negotiation script. Connect with others on the same redundancy journey at www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk [www.theinvisiblequeue.co.uk] Find the redundancy runway calculator or contact the show at www.thenowwhat.co.uk [www.thenowwhat.co.uk].