So the last week has arrived. Seven days to R-day. And the last feverish tidying up and sorting out of accumulated stuff is pretty much done. It’s half term and I’m on leave. Which is just as well because something odd has happened.
I’ve been offered and accepted a job. Yes, we have to pause to let that sink in too.
It’s a strange and rather unreal sensation after so many ‘no thank yous’ to discover that you might be useful somewhere after all.
Logistically it’s going to mean long absences from home. But after a massive pros and cons exercise we agreed that we should take the offer. So after months of drifting away from the employment spacecraft on my spacewalk around the debris field of redundancy I find myself being tugged back towards a place of safety.
Of course I’m excited and a bit daunted by what’s to come. It’s been twenty years since I started a new job. Will the other public servants speak to me? Will my dinner money be safe? But these are a different set of worries to the ones that prompted me to start blogging.
I cannot, in all honesty, keep writing about redundancy and all it brings at third hand. So I am working out what to do with the RPS website. And we will be reflecting on what we’ve learned along the way as a family before our final sign off.
Knowing that there’s been a group of folks out there reading the blog, finding useful bits in it and wishing us well has been a powerful source of strength to all here at RPS towers.
Thank you all.
Clan RPS
Resources for redundant public servants 
Delighted to hear your news, congratulations; I’m sure you will make a huge contribution to your new organisation. Thank you for sharing your experiences on this blog. All best to you & clan RPS.
Congratulations!
From a nameless username on the internet I know it doesn’t mean much, but I for one find this happy news.
Glad to hear you have something on.
We went through the same exercise as I was being made redundant and got offered a new job which meant another 8 hours away from my family every week.
We came to a similar decision (it’s better to have a role in the current climate – god I hate that weasel phrase).
Oh congratulations – I’m so pleased for you! I’ve been reading your posts for a while and seeing your story mirrored many time over amongst good friends and colleagues. I wish you every success in your new job and, whilst I’m pleased that you’re no longer an RPS, hope that it won’t mean the end of your blogging career.
Congratulations RPS!
Public Sector redundancies are yet to peak, and you now have a well established blog. I’d suggest you cast around for a RPS II to keep it going…
Wonderful news! I’m delighted for you & your family. Best wishes, BG Xx
Congratulations, well done!
Congratulations! (I will miss the blog, though.) I hope the whole RPS tribe will be having a reckless celebration.
Congratulations! It would be a shame if you stopped blogging altogether. Perhaps you can adopt a new guise?
That’s excellent news! Congratulations! Look forward to the blog re-invention 🙂
Wonderful news, well done! I concur with the others though, I will miss the blog very much – fab job done all round. All the best 🙂
Ditto, ditto, ditto… Fab news, well deserved and I hope the move works out really well for you all – best wishes to all at RPS Towers and enjoy half-term 🙂
Gill
Congratulations! And with all those new connections you’ve made in looking at other avenues, the back burner may well be kept busy too!
Hoping the new start brings more than just stability to your family, but positivity, hope, and the opportunity to make a difference somewhere new 🙂
Let the party start!
Absolutely fantastic news – in the nick of time! Good luck with whatever it is you’ve found, I hope you enjoy it.
Congratulations. I’ve been reading for a while and appreciated your insights. it’s brilliant that you have found a role.
Congratulations, so lovely to hear some good news for you and your family amongst all the despondency and rubbish going on.
Thanks for the blog, it’s been encouraging and enlightening hearing about your experiences. Hope the new job turns out well, they’re very lucky to have you.
The RPS blog has been one of a (very) few things keeping me sane throughout my own period of imminent redundancy. I, too, have had a last minute reprieve, and re-adjusting to being employed, after months of adjusting to the thought of redundancy, has been harder than I thought (although of course the removal of the threat of having the house repossessed has helped with this). Please keep blogging – I would love to hear about your experiences in your new job.
Woo Hoo!!!!!
I’d like to say we all knew it would turn out alright in the end, but no-one really knows anything, so I’ll just add my own meagre words of congratulations to others already given!
Redundant Public Servant is dead: long live Re-employed Public Servant!
Congratulations – that’s great news!
I completely understand your decision to stop blogging as RPS now/soon. After all, you’ll have new challenges, and it makes no sense to dwell on a period in your life that you’ll probably look back on as being negative.
But given your following and all the hits your website receives, I’m sure you still have an interesting message to convey. For example, is your new job in the public sector, or the private sector? If it’s the private sector, then I’m sure you’ll have an interesting (and hopefully positive) message to convey to the thousands of public sector workers who are contemplating a move into the private sector. If it’s the public sector, then you’ll have interesting insights into cultural differences between different public sector organisations, and (possibly) how it feels to be arriving while others are departing.
It’s a very personal decision for you. But personally, I think you have a huge amount to offer the blogosphere (even if it’s under a new and more optimistic title!), and I hope you continue to post.
Thanks again for everything you’ve written, and the time you’ve taken to write the blog. I’ve (hopefully) navigated this public sector redundancy round successfully – but after all that’s happened, I now have one eye on a move to the private sector in the next few years.
Finally, good luck with whatever happens next!
RL
Very many congratulations, although like many I shall be sad to see your blog go.
Huge congratulations RPS, although I have never (as far as I know) met you, I have felt a real affinity with you on this none too pleasant journey. So pleased to hear it has come good for you at almost exactly the right moment
Serious congratulations to you and the clan RPS! I’ve also been reading for a while and been recommending this site to many colleagues. I like the suggestion of an RPS II taking it over, but, I think the blogosphere would be the lesser without your thoughts – even from an employed perspective! So, maybe a “Recovering Public Servant” blog? Anyhow, I know and understand it’s your personal decision. Good Luck, your dinner money will probably be safe!!!
Congrats, this is wonderful news for you and your family. Glad to see that the company that has employed you is not one of those companies that think all Public Servants are totally unskilled for the workplace, BBC breakfast!
Seeing this is my first time in world of blog I do not have anything to compare your blog with. However, I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this one, looking forward to login on and seeing what you have to say. I hope you don’t give up blogging, your insight into many subjects has provided me with an interest into what is happening out there in the world.
Good luck for the future .
Troodles
Congratulations from me too. And what a lovely thing it is to see so many other congratulations above.
Jonathan
Firstly, well done you on the job offer! Delighted for you.
Secondly, you have a REAL talent for writing. You are so good at expressing your values and combining your thoughts and comments with a great sense of humour.
Please, please consider keeping a blog in some shape or form moving forward.
Good luck! x
Congratulations 🙂 Best of luck for the future. I do hope you continue to write!
Well done!!
Fantastic news. I’m completely delighted for you and your family.
Superb news. Scary news as well for you. Its about adaptability and in all jobs ‘staying true to yourself’.
I have to echo others – please don’t drop the blog – let it metamorphose over time.
Oh wow what fantastic news, congratulation to you and your family. Your new employers are lucky to have you.
I do hope you continue to blog, you have a real talent for writing. Find a good way to deal with time away from home in this new job.
But now do some serious celebrating x
That’s brilliant news!
Very happy for you and for the whole RPS clan, it must be a huge weight off your mind.
Congratulations! Excellent timing too. Awesome news. Wishing you all the best in your new job!
Amy
Congratulations to you and your family. I work in performance management in local government and am about to find out in the next few days whether I still have a job. Your blog has been a source of inspiration & motivation during these unprecedented times. Hope you can find time in your new world to continue blogging. Wishing you all the best.
Great news, congratulations to you and your family. I have really enjoyed your blog and will miss it. All the best.
Well done! and me! after 33 years and a 90 day letter I was really dispairing- but offered and accepted another Public Service job last week. Life in the old Cat yet.
Well, how wonderful. I echo the congratulations of all your blog fans. And such great news for the whole RPS household. Whatever you decide to do next, will be the right decison for you. Best wishes and thanks for all the fish . . .
Oh I’m so glad to hear you’ve got a new job! I’m sitting here smiling at my laptop! 🙂
Please keep on blogging though – as others have said you write really well. And now we’ve got to know you a little it’d be sad to lose touch.
A bit late to the party, but congratulations! I had a similar communting change after redundency 12 years ago – I went from a 10 minute bike ride to a 2 1/2 hour train journey. But that led to good things in the end.
Don’t stop blogging – you have a talent for it and I want to know how it all works out in your new world. And besides, what else can I read at lunchtime!
Once again many congratulations.
Great news for the RPS gang – congratulations!
Don’t stop the blog though – it is going to be a interesting phase for you and us, of course!
It keeps me feeling positive and hopeful that something is around the corner.
I’m a bit late to the party but just wanted to say massive congratulations…
Good on you! I’ve loved your work and hope the new job turns out to be everything you and the rest of the RPS family hope it will be.