Who is actually
waiting for me now?
Harry is a participant in an outplacement program. After working for 33 years at a company, he was told that his position no longer fit and would be eliminated. He was released from work and entered the outplacement program with advisor Jan Rozema.
A gut feeling
‘After the summer holidays, we were informed that there would be a reorganization. That was understandable given the huge drop in revenue. About 100 FTEs needed to be reduced. November 1, 2019 was the day. I had a gut feeling it would go wrong for me. My wife was surprised in the morning that I left for work so late. I replied that I might be home early today. And that turned out to be true. By 1:15 p.m., I was already on my way home, knowing that my position no longer fit in the new organizational structure and had therefore been eliminated. I was immediately released from work.
An employment of 33 years
Fortunately, I quickly realized that, with my 33 years of service, I would come out financially pretty well. I could manage until my retirement. After a week at home, I started helping my son. He was able to take on a big job, and I was happy to help him—I had the time. My son runs a catering company for construction projects, providing food and drinks for the people working there. I was immediately on the road for him seven days a week.
Getting started with my CV and motivation letter
Because of my dismissal, I also entered an outplacement program at MEPD. Jan Rozema became my contact person. He guided me through the application process. Since I could spend a lot of my free time assisting my son’s business activities, I wasn’t really looking for another job yet. But Jan regularly tipped me off about interesting positions. This encouraged me to start looking around as well. That’s when I saw the vacancy for a sales engineer. The job description seemed written for me! I met almost all the criteria. Together with Jan, I perfected my CV and wrote a good motivation letter. I received a response to that letter the very next day. I was told that the position had been filled internally. However, the HR lady still wanted to have a coffee with me.
From a cup of coffee to a job
After I shared my story and motivation to get back to work, we parted ways. She was going to discuss my story with the sales manager. Within 14 days, I would receive feedback. The next day I already received an invitation for a conversation with the sales manager. After an hour-long interview, he told me that he would love to add my seniority and experience to his team. The next day I received a great offer, to which I of course responded positively.
If the corona crisis doesn’t impose too many restrictions*, I will start with my new employer on May 1, 2020, even before my contract officially ends on June 1. One application and a 100% success rate, unbelievable!’
Unfortunately, Corona did spoil things
*Harry was told that if the situation improved, he would be contacted again by the company. At the end of January 2021, we received a message from Harry that he had good news!
‘Given the current societal problems, I no longer counted on it and had more or less accepted that finding a job had become a utopia. The current job market and my age certainly contributed to that. But despite the crisis, I was finally hired yesterday for the position that fell through back then. We still need to figure out how I can start, since almost everyone is working from home; the goal is March 1. I’m very happy about it, because the company fully matches my knowledge and experience. It’s even within cycling distance, in a brand-new company building that was occupied in July 2020.
I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Only my son now needs to look for a replacement, since I had become quite busy working for him. But he’s confident that will work out,’ according to Harry.
