You’re Fired

Many of us have been fired from a job. At times it might have been called a “right sizing”, which is corporate speak for “downsizing”; it’s supposed to make us feel better. Other euphemisms include “separated”, “let go”, and “relieved of duty”. The only problem is that doesn’t feel “right” when you have done reasonably good job and now you’re unemployed with a mortgage and bills to pay. For me, even though I didn’t like the job and didn’t trust the leaders of my company, being fired just didn’t feel good. I can relate well to the range of emotions one experiences; shame, fear, guilt, sadness, and anger are all part of the equation. I hated the feeling that I wasn’t good enough or had somehow failed.

Or maybe the firing was “for cause”, which sometimes is the term used because the employer wants to avoid paying severance and/or unemployment benefits. In either case, it certainly doesn’t feel good and can be downright scary. Even when you end up in a better place and might have been wanting to leave anyway there’s something about being “terminated” that hurts. We would much rather say “You can’t fire me, I quit. Take this job and shove it!”

My advice is to not internalize it and beat yourself up. Frankly sometimes we just aren’t a good fit for that organization’s culture or for that particular job or industry segment. I, and many of my career coaching clients, have found we were much better off after the termination and were able to find a place and a role that better suited us, so we thrived, were happy, and grew our career.

Frank Manfre www.frankmanfre.com/career-coaching