Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 05.14 EST After more than 20 years in the corporate world â at Vodafone, Virgin and Costa Coffee â Eleanor Tweddell found herself, at 40, unemployed for the first time. Struggling to process the loss of a job she loved while applying for those in which she had no interest, Tweddell went into a tailspin. Asked in interviews why she wanted the role, âI wished I could say: âI donât, I just need the money,ââ Tweddell says. âThat was all that was going through my head.â That was in December 2016. In 2020, with redundancies in the UK rising at the fastest rate since records began and the numbers set to peak at levels higher than during the 2008 financial crisis, many more people will find themselves in that desperately hard position.