One of the consequences of the credit crunch will be sizable lay-offs in the finance and associated sectors. I think the ripples will be felt in terms of redundancies throughout the economy.
However it will mean that here in Yorkshire I would guess more than 1000 people will be made redundant from some of the large financial employers. This is a rapid acceleration of a process that has been happening anyway for a while now. Big businesses are destroying rather than creating jobs and it is the SME sector that is still creating employment.
So what does the credit crunch mean for enterprise professionals? Well lots of skilled employees coming into a contracting labour market, with strong work habits, mortgages to pay and redundancy cheques in their hands sounds like a good market place to me.
I just hope that in planning their outplacement support the banks don’t just commission the usual ‘interview skills’ and ‘CV clinic’ type stuff – but actually help people to consider the potential for self employment and entrepreneurship as well.