Work, Interrupted: The kids, the mortgage, but no job. What next?

Sunday, 13 July 2025

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Redundancy in your 30s and 40s. Ageism at 50. Dead ends at 22. Our new Work, Interrupted series reveals how different generations are dealing with the job market as unemployment bites. In part one, Stewart Sowman-Lund talks to mid-career professionals who have found themselves out of work, and wondering what’s next.

When Claire Lyons lost her job with a major engineering firm earlier this year, she had a decision to make.

After more than two decades with the company, and with the infrastructure sector constantly changing, she was aware redundancy was a possibility.

But when she finally lost her job as an associate engagement and change advisor, she had to make the choice between trying to re-enter the workforce, or doing something for herself.

“I think it took me probably a good three months for… what was going on to register. I thought I was doing really well about it, and I was being proactive, and I thought I was handling it really well,” Lyons tells the Sunday Star-Times.

“But it wasn't until, probably just more recently, I realised: ‘Ah, OK, this is actually the reality of it all.’ So I think when that sinks in, you make different decisions.”

Lyons, 53, spent three months tossing up the option of looking for another secure job, having already had “quite a few rejections”, or working for herself as an independent business consultant.

She’d been thinking about the latter for a while but was aware in its infancy it might not pay the bills.

Eventually, she made the call: “I'm choosing to back myself starting a business.”

Lyons’ story is a familiar one at the moment: an experienced employee pushed out of work and forced to get realistic - or creative - about what to do next.

For many, such as Rory O’Sullivan, 39, a former journalist turned communications specialist, they may have also have a young family or a hefty mortgage to contend with.

“We had a baby in January, and my wife's not back from mat[ernity] leave until December,” he says.

“So I haven't got the luxury of us having another income. It's kind of all or nothing.”

O’Sullivan is fed-up with working contract to contract. When his current role ends this month he has nothing lined up.

Employment figures from the end of June show that seasonally adjusted filled job numbers were up by just 0.1% between April and May, but down year-on-year by 1.4% - or just over 34,000.

Meanwhile, data provided to the Star-Times from specialist recruitment firm Robert Walters showed that while applications per job ad rose 2% in May compared with April, ads themselves had declined since the same time in 2024 - by 8%.

The trouble, said Oli Sanford-Scutt, a senior director at Robert Walters Auckland, was the number of people looking for work at the same time in a stagnating market.

“We’re seeing extremely high application volumes for live roles,” he tells the Star-Times.

“It’s not uncommon for employers to receive over 100+ applications within just 24 to 48 hours of posting a job. However, the challenge lies in the relevance of those applications - on average, only around 10% of applicants meet the core skill set requirements for the role.”

Lyons says that was something she had to consider when deciding whether to try and find another steady, full-time position.

“It's tough when you've been at a company for so long - you don't really understand how your skills are transferable,” she says.

“The last 20 years, where I've gone with my career has all been taught in-house, so I really didn't understand for a long time what that meant externally, and that's the hard bit. So I don't even really know what jobs to look for.”

Flexibility, security - or something else?

Many people in this situation find themselves deciding between a complete pivot, or settling for a more flexible, but perhaps lower paid job.

The number of people accessing JobSeeker support rose by 11% between May 2024 and 2025, to a total of 213,831.

The Restaurant Association’s chief executive, Marisa Bidois, says hospitality operators would welcome mid-career professionals with open arms.

“The industry offers strong pathways for growth and leadership, and there’s real opportunity for those with transferable skills from other sectors,” she says.

Data from rideshare service Uber provided to the Star-Times shows that the number of drivers and Uber Eats delivery partners has increased significantly across the country.

In 2023, the service recorded 22,000 registered drivers and delivery partners, which has since risen to “more than 40,000” in 2024. Some of these people may not be regular drivers, however, and Uber has expanded into more parts of the country since 2023.

“For those that choose to earn with Uber, flexibility remains the most important factor,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Flexibility is also key for a lot of new parents.

Mela Lush is the founder of Jobs for Mums, a social enterprise that helps match parents looking to re-enter the workforce with flexible work opportunities.

She started the service after experiencing first-hand the challenges of finding work with two very young children.

“I had worked corporate pretty much my whole life in a senior position, and was told that if I wanted that role to continue I had to take a step back or have no flexibility. And I was like, ‘Well, hang on a minute’.”

Lush says the last 12 months have seen a “lot more competition” for roles, with women often disproportionately affected.

“71% of our community have five-plus years of experience, and 70% have a formal qualification. But … when they become parents we're seeing this basic shift where they're looking for flexibility. They're looking for school hours, they're looking for employment that suits their family and themselves,” she says.

“What's happening in a wider scheme of things is that AI … and automation is here. We're seeing a lot of roles already being shifted. What we know … is that a lot of people, especially in these repetitive roles, will need transitional occupations because these roles won't exist.”

Jobs for Mums has had over 1.3 million views in the last year, with 220,000 users - “a huge increase,” says Lush.

“Obviously it's hard for employment, so they're looking, but also the roles that we particularly focus on are roles that are breaking employment barriers.”

‘Unprecedented’ competition for roles

For O’Sullivan, the possibility of pivoting into a different industry is also looming. Currently at the end of a fixed-term contract role, he’s feeling a sense of “deja vu” after finding himself in a similar situation last year.

“It's been bleak - [that] would be an enormous understatement. If anything, it feels worse,” he says.

“It's certainly no better than this time last year, when I finished another contract and was looking for work and then ended up getting this … one pretty much at the eleventh hour. It was three months out of work last year, and I can't let that happen again.”

The “ultimate line in the sand” would be having to sell the house, says O’Sullivan. It’s a terrifying possibility but one they have to consider if he can’t find work.

“We would have nothing to live on. We wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage.

“And so it's really bleak … just generally in terms of your own well-being and livelihood.”

O’Sullivan says he graduated during the peak of the Global Financial Crisis, but managed to find work soon after entering the workforce. This time around, things are even harder. He has seven “live applications” at the moment, and has engaged with recruiters who he says are “kind of fighting my corner”.

But the competition for work is “unprecedented”, he believes, with a shortfallin opportunities combined with a large number of people applying.

“It's a very dispiriting experience when you either find out by being ghosted or … by getting a blanket, generic rejection that you haven't even made an interview,” he says.

“It's a combination of, obviously, the actual labour market factors, there not being enough jobs to go around [and] too many people looking for work.

“The symptom of that, unfortunately, is the experience that job hunters go through. And it's not a pleasant one whatsoever.”

Glimmers of hope

Bidois, from the Restaurant Association, says that the latest data from their members survey showed 40% of hospitality businesses reported an improvement in recruitment conditions over the last six months. It suggests people are exploring the industry as either a potential career path, or a shorter term option while the job market lulls.

However, there remained difficulty attracting top talent - which could suit professionals looking for a new career.

“Nearly half of our members (46%) have been actively recruiting for senior positions over the past three months. While it’s encouraging to see that the proportion of businesses saying it’s ‘Difficult’ or ‘Extremely Difficult’ to fill these roles has decreased from 75% in September 2024 to 46%, this is still a key pain point for many operators,” she says.

“In contrast, just 20% now report difficulty recruiting for junior roles.”

Sanford-Scutt, from Robert Walters recruitment, said the “misalignment” between the volume of jobs and candidates’ suitability was making it harder for qualified candidates to stand out.

But there are some glimmers of hope.

“Top-tier talent remains in high demand. In fact, we’re starting to see a shift where candidates with in-demand skills are receiving multiple job offers again - something that has been rare over the past 18 months,” he says.

“While competition remains high, the renewed interest in top-tier talent suggests that the market is starting to shift, with signs of greater confidence and hiring momentum returning.”

For Lyons, she’s content with her decision to go all in on her own business - but acknowledges it’s not easy. Actually getting “work” is the hard bit.

“It feels easier because I'm doing it how I want to do it, and I'm setting my own rules and stuff - but the work's not coming in. So if I was relying on doing it and hitting the ground running and winning work … yeah, it's really hard, because getting the work’s a slow build,” she says.

“There's setting up working for yourself, and then there's getting work, and they're not the same.”

It was about “understanding what your pipeline needs to be, or how long you can work without earning”, she added.

People say redundancy isn’t about the employee, but about the role, adds Lyons. She doesn’t think that’s true.

“It's about the person as well. When it affects someone, it's absolutely about them.”

Read part two in The Post and The Press tomorrow: The young people who are desperate to be given their first break.