When James Cracknell was made redundant from a 28-year career in finance, he felt he was in limbo.

Having worked in the City for 24 of those years, he realised he didn’t know anyone in the business community in Colchester.

“I knew a few people at the railway station, but that’s about it,” says James.

“My network was based in London and I had no confidence to go out and network with businesses here to get myself work.

“I also felt I didn’t have the skills small businesses in Colchester needed as they were too specific to my industry.”

So Mr Cracknell went on to set up the Colchester Executive Job Club last December.

Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the club aims to offer those like James the chance to network in supportive surroundings, develop new skills to make them more marketable to businesses in the area, and identify opportunities for work – whether that is to find a traditional job or become self employed.

“I set the club up to fulfil my need, but I found there were many people like me, wondering what to do next,” says James, who now runs his own tutoring agency in and around Colchester.

“I want to stay engaged with the community, with businesses and voluntary groups and make sure our members’ skills remain engaged with those groups.

“People in my situation often have a portfolio career, which means they don’t have a traditional job as such, but market their various skills to relevant businesses. They have various outlets for their skills.”

One member in this situation is mum-of-one Kayla Conley, who was made redundant four times from different jobs.

After a career in banking, she went on to work in the public sector, but explains: “I was scratching around for things to do and I just lost myself completely.

“Everything felt wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. So I decided to turn to a career coach, who put me in touch with the Colchester Executive Job Club.”

Kayla, 41, attended the monthly workshops held by the club, which include emotional resilience, rebranding yourself and widening your horizons.

By attending some workshops, Kayla realised she needed a portfolio career, spreading her skills across various consultancy-type roles for different organisations.

She explains: “The session on emotional resilience was extremely helpful. None of us know how many setbacks we will go through in our personal or working lives, and we need to be able to respond to them effectively when they happen. We’ve also looked at the spiritual dimension of connecting with people, through personal space, mediation, and developing our emotional intelligence which was very useful.

“I’ve decided that I will work towards a portfolio career, where I do a number of different jobs, rather than focus on one role.”

Colchester Executive Job Club’s 150 members include ex military, police, teachers, people working in agriculture, IT, HR and marketing.

By offering members a chance to network with each other, they are able to pick up new skills and also hear from businesses that come in for the workshops.

James adds: “We meet weekly at the Quaker Meeting Rooms in Colchester as well the monthly workshops.”

The next workshop will be held on September 3 at the Pavilion at Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club in Castle Park, on the topic of Delivering Yourself into the Marketplace.

Entry for Colchester Executive Job Club members is free, with tickets for non-members priced at £35 including a light lunch and refreshments. To register, e-mail info@cejc.org.uk.

For more about the Colchester Executive Job Club, visit www.colchesterexecutivejobclub .org.uk.