Redundancy – Now What?

At the start of 2021, we were contacted by Talk Sport Rugby commentator, Andrew McKenna, after he was given the difficult news that he was no longer required by the Radio Station. This is such a hard message to take, so being strong enough to dust yourself down and go again, is something that takes a lot of courage.

Andrew picks up the story to tell us more…

“When you get told you’re going to be made redundant your heart sinks……when you get told you’re going to be made redundant from a job you’ve being doing for 20 years it sinks a little further. That’s what happened to me in December 2020. My working life has seen me have just 2 full time jobs – both with big companies – the 2^nd job was a staff position with all of those assurances that it brings.

When it ended I decided that I wanted to continue in my field, and I would give it a go as a freelance commentator. The question was how. I had no idea whatsoever about how you set yourself up, what you have to do regarding creating a business, registering for VAT, paying tax, opening business bank accounts, etc.

I therefore contacted World After Sport and basically said …… “please, help me!”

They did, and how. I lost count of how many conversations I had with the team, be that via email, phone, or in some cases video calls as they talked me through how to fill in yet another form. The hours must have just flown by, although I’d hate to think how many it would have taken me if I were trying to do it on my own .. and how many more hours it would have needed to redo everything, to correct the mistakes I would surely have made.

Martin, and the team, took me through things at baby steps rate, explaining it in a way even someone with no knowledge of business could understand; suggesting things to consider, things that I would have never have thought of in a million years. This was the part of the process which had concerned me the most – the business of business; however thanks to WAS it was as painless as it could have possibly been.

I left my previous job in the 2^nd week of December 2020, by the end of January 2021 I had a registered company up and running, and earning money. It’s a phrase that’s often used, but I genuinely can’t thank World After Sport enough“.

For World After Sport it was a pleasure to help Andrew and his this story as this is just one way we support our clients, as some was to look for work and others want to work for themselves. We are here to provide that direction and sometimes handholding, as we know how daunting it can be.

Also If you want to hire Andrew as a commentator or to host an event get in touch and we can share his details.