The recession is getting closer

Some of you might have noticed this article in The Bookseller:

[HarperCollins UK CEO Victoria Barnsley said:] “We have restricted pay increases to those earning under £30k, cut back on hiring and halved our travel and entertainment expenses. But now that the full scale of the recession is becoming clearer, we’re going to have to take further action. We will have to look at reducing the size of our workforce, possibly by about 5%.”

At the moment very little is clear – consultation can’t begin till employee representatives have been elected.

However, it does look like the Language Division might have to bear a higher than average proportion of the workforce reduction, and it does unfortunately look like my role might be affected.

So I have to prepare for the worst and find out what my options are for the future.

Can I find a job that allows me to use my rare combination of linguistic and computational skills? Within commuting distance of Newton Mearns?

If not, should I go for a regular computing job? I’m obviously well qualified for this, although it seems like a shame to mothball my linguistic skills.

Alternatively, should I aim for a freelance career? Perhaps even set up a company with Phyllis providing linguistic and computational services?

Is the latter option more or less risky than usual given the recession that the world is going through?

Please leave your suggestions in the comments section!