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

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].

The Identity Crisis Nobody Warns You About - with Geoff Curtis, author of Embracing Your Own Purgatory

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 joined by Geoff Curtis — former c-suite communications executive and author of Embracing Your Own Purgatory — to talk about what actually happens to identity during career transition, why high achievers often struggle most when the professional scaffolding comes down, and why the instinct to sprint back to normality as fast as possible might be working against you. We get into the difference between chosen and imposed transitions, the stories we tell ourselves to maintain the illusion of control, and what it actually looks like to sit with uncertainty rather than outrun it. If you've ever felt like the job loss was straightforward but the identity loss wasn't, maybe give this a listen. Embracing Your Own Purgatory by Geoff Curtis — https://amzn.eu/d/0fpfEGUn [https://amzn.eu/d/0fpfEGUn] Connect with Geoff on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreycurtis/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreycurtis/] For community and practical support during redundancy — https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk [https://theinvisiblequeue.co.uk] Get in touch with the show — https://thenowwhat.co.uk [https://thenowwhat.co.uk]

When the Red Flags Are in the Job Ad

"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 nobody's allowed to use, there are phrases doing a lot of heavy lifting to make chaos sound like culture. In this episode, I break down some of the corporate red flags hiding in plain sight in job descriptions — what they may actually mean, why companies use them, and the questions you can ask in interviews to find out what's really going on before you sign anything. Because redundancy already knocked your confidence once, your next role should be better than the last one. To connect with the show please visit ⁠thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ [thenowwhat.co.uk] If you're navigating redundancy and want practical support that actually gets how messy this bit is, head to theinvisiblequeue.com [theinvisiblequeue.com]

Navigating Unemployment: Recent Experiences from the Job Search

thenowwhat.co.uk⁠ [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 comes from smiling at a webcam while three people take notes), what motivation actually looks like when your laptop autocompletes "jobs in" before you've finished typing, and how to handle rejection emails that all start with "thank you for your interest." No neat solutions here. Just the reality of what this phase looks like when you stop pretending you've got it all figured out. If you're navigating your own unemployment or career transition, head to theinvisiblequeue.co.uk [theinvisiblequeue.co.uk] to connect with others going through the same thing.