Redundancy Support Platform: The Invisible Queue Founders on Why It Matters
Now What? - Life after redundancyShow Notes
theinvisiblequeue.co.uk
Over the past six months, I've spoken with dozens of people navigating redundancy. Through the podcast, messages and numerous conversations that started with "I thought it was just me." Every single one echoed the same thing, this experience isolates people in ways most support systems don't acknowledge.
So we built something different.
The Invisible Queue is a community platform for anyone in that strange, grinding period between losing a job and finding solid ground again. The name captures what this actually feels like — you're standing in a queue, but you can't see how long it is, who's ahead of you, or when you'll reach the front. You just know you're in it.
In this episode, I'm joined by Lisa, Vicky, and Russ — the team behind The Invisible Queue — to talk about why we built it, what it actually is and why the usual options don't cut it. Recruitment sites treat you like a pipeline problem. Wellness content offers breathing exercises when you need practical help. LinkedIn encourages performative-positivity (while your inbox stays empty).
We're doing something else: practical tools, honest conversation and a space where you don't have to explain why this is hard.
If you're in this position right now — or you know someone who is — this episode explains what we've built and why it might help.
More from Now What? - Life after redundancy
After the best part of a year and somewhere north of a hundred applications, I've been offered a role and this episode is the honest version of what that actually feels like, recorded a while before I've even started, with none of the hindsight smoothed in yet.
There's a particular kind of unlucky where one thing goes wrong and you can just about laugh about it. Then there's Dan Roberts's 2025, where the wrong things queued up to take turns; right up until the week he finally caught a break and then redundancy turned up two days later like it had been waiting for an invite.
Most people navigating redundancy have spent years being good at their jobs. The doing was never really the problem. The bit that catches people out is the presenting — interview panels, networking rooms, video calls with recruiters — where suddenly you have to articulate your value out loud, to strangers, in real time, without your brain quietly filing everything under unavailable.
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.
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.