On the move
I sold my house
In 1992, I put my house in Basingstoke up for sale. Selling in a recession is not easy, but I finally moved out in 1993 after disposing of a lot of my stuff and depositing most of the rest of my belongings in storage. I moved initially to a bed and breakfast in Bristol, a city with which I was reassuringly familiar but which was suitably distant from Basingstoke, for three or four weeks while I figured out what to do next. During this time, I continued looking for work in the usual places and contacted all the local IT recruitment agencies. Some of them knew me from the eighties, but even they couldn't help. Though there is much to like about Bristol, and I'd be happy to return to the area if there is work for me, I felt that it was not the best base at the time for job seeking and re-training, so I moved north.
I moved to Birmingham
Though not familiar with Birmingham, I decided that it was to be my permanent base for job-hunting because of its size coupled with its central location on the rail network. From there, I could attend almost any interview in England or Wales within a day by public transport, avoiding overnight stays. An interview in Scotland would provide an opportunity to visit my Scottish relatives in Montrose and use that as a base. I wasn't expecting to attend an interview in Scotland, but when I was eventually asked to attend one in Aberdeen, my plan worked to perfection, except that I failed to secure the job. (Of course, it helped that Montrose was on the route to and from Aberdeen.) Because I had no roots in Birmingham, I knew that re-location elsewhere would be relatively easy although, like Bristol, Birmingham has enough appeal that I could live there contentedly if work were available.
Job quest stepped up
Without worries about maintaining or selling property, I was able to put extra effort into the job quest, which was relentless from then until I secured employment, albeit some periods were quieter than others. I initially moved into a bed-sit, while most of my belongs remained in a warehouse.
"Yearbook" campaign
I spent much time in the Birmingham central library working my way through the Computer users' year book, noting details of employers who might conceivably be interested in my skills. I wrote, enclosing a summary CV, to every site listed with ICL computers and with twenty or more employees, with the exception of Rosyth Dockyard. Threatened with closure at the time but eventually sold as a going concern, I knew that the dockyard definitely wouldn't be recruiting computer staff just then. The Computer users' year book, good as it was, did not list all organisations and I added one or two that I knew were missing.
I can't remember how many employers I sent my CV to, but it ran well into three figures. The response generated was disappointing to say the least, but it caused me to start thinking about alternative careers, more of which later. Even so, I still thought my best chance of a job lay in a return to computer programming, bleak as the prospect seemed at the time.
Although that campaign failed, I secured an interview through normal channels with British Gas in Solihull. Even with fifteen vacancies to fill, they did not employ me although I thought I had done well at the interview.
More moves
In December 1993, I moved to a self-contained flat so that I could get my belongings out of storage. Much had been disposed of before I left Basingstoke including the vast majority of my vinyl LP collection. I disposed of a lot more stuff (though keeping my CD collection and my remaining vinyl LPs) before I moved to a different bed-sit in June 1994, where I remained until I found work four years later. In the bed-sit, I did not bother with a telephone as I'd never received enough calls to justify the cost. Only in 1997 did I start to find its absence a serious inconvenience, but I still eventually found work without one.
During 1994 and 1995, I continued to look for jobs in the normal way, still tending to concentrate on sites that used ICL computers but also looking for jobs where cross training might be available. I also attended recruitment events when they came to town.
Dudley failure
In November 1995, I secured only my second interview in the nineties, this time with Dudley metropolitan borough council. I think that it was the third time that I had applied there including the 1993 Computer users' year book campaign, but this time I quoted as a reference somebody that they knew well from their dealings with ICL. That reference secured the interview. Unfortunately, the actual interview did not go well although they knew, as well as I did, that I could have done a good job for them. They seemed to think that I had not done enough to get back to work, so did not deserve a job. I've long forgotten the details, but if they really thought I was the best candidate, they were punishing themselves as well as me.
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