Job Searching After a Termination

It’s Monday morning and you walk into your office after a nice restful weekend. As you open your desk draw to put your purse away, your boss approaches you. He asks to see you in his office right away. From the tone of his voice you sense that this is not going to be one of those “how was your weekend?” kind of conversations.

 You grab your pen and notebook and march into his office. His desk is clean, with the exception of your personnel folder and an envelope, the same size as your paycheck. A weird feeling comes over you. Your stomach starts to churn as he starts the conversation off with, “it’s never easy to have this type of conversation.” You can’t recall the rest of the dialogue since all you really heard was, “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” It’s not until you leave his office, paycheck in hand, that you realize that you have just been fired. The thought that you will never work again keeps playing over and over again in your mind.

Bouncing back

Believe it or not, you will work again but it may take a while for you to pick yourself back up again and put your career back on track. More than likely, your ego has been bruised and it will take some time to heal. While that is happening, there are some things that you can be doing to get your career back on track.

Take time to mourn

Hearing the words, “you are fired,” can be devastating. It’s a lot like having a stake plunged into your heart.

Your first tendency might be to ignore your feelings. Don’t make this mistake. It’s natural to feel a real sense of loss. Take the time to work through your feelings so that they don’t come back to haunt you when you least expect it.

It’s helpful to have someone to talk to about your job loss. If you need to, seek professional help.

Getting back in the saddle

At some point in time, you will need to get back on that horse. When you are ready to get back up in the saddle, consider putting together a plan for your job search. Your plan should include concrete goals and deadlines so that you can measure your success.

Work the plan

Going through the process of developing a plan can be very empowering. Once this is done, don’t put your plan in the draw. Keep it close by so you can check your plan daily to ensure that you are staying on track.

Hardest calls first

Procrastination is common when job searching. We tend to make the easy phone calls first and then if we get around to it we might make some of the harder calls next.

Try reversing the order and see how much better things work. Start your day by making the hardest calls first. This way you won’t spend countless hours cleaning out your closets just so you don’t have to make these calls. These “extra” hours can be put to better use.

Stay networked

It’s easy to want to crawl into a hole and not come out when you are not working. If you were a bear, that might work fine for the winter. But since you are not, you need to stay visible.

Networking is a critical component of any job search and usually requires some face-to-face contact. It’s important that you push yourself to get out and stay visible. Start small and attend one networking function or meeting a week. Then when you are more comfortable with your situation, try bumping that number up.

Manage your references

Sooner or later you will need to provide your potential employer with a list of references. It’s a good idea to get this in order before you start interviewing.

Yes, this list might need to include the boss who just fired you.  Contact your old boss and ask him or her if they would be willing to talk with potential employers about some of the positive contributions you made while working for them. Be prepared to remind him or her of some of your more significant accomplishments.

If they won’t agree to give you a positive reference then line up other people in the company who can attest to your attributes. It’s easy to cross you fingers and hope that you won’t be asked for references, but it’s very unlikely that this will occur so you are best off being prepared.

Before you know it, you will be gainfully employed again. The experience of being fired will stay with you for a while but you will have learned that their really is life after hearing those words, “You’re fired.”

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