So you are fired. What now?
Blog gurus always say to have a nifty title. We basically go through these two phrases every single day of our lives: So…What Now? So, I’m awake, What Now? So, I’m going in a meeting, what now? So, I’ve got a date with the hottest girl in the office, what now? So, my darn car is dead, what now? The So…what now, event and action from that event happens to us every day, every hour, every minute…it just happens subconsciously.
Then, we have those big So What Now periods, like So I’m having a Baby, What now? So I’m starting a business, what now? And here, So I’m fired, what now?
So You Are Fired is not just for those who are fired, although there will be some posts on it. It’s also about career transition, managing it, knowing when it’s time to move, deciding where to go, and then what actions are involved. How to write CVs, Coverletters, what are some of the hooks in interviewers and how to respond to the innocent question: So, tell me something about yourself. It’s a darn TRAP!! WATCH IT!
Having gone through the highs and lows of corporate life for the past 11 years, working from a programmer to team leader to regional manager to being unemployed, it might be useful to track the experience obtained, from interviewing people, to being interviewed, to transitioning to a new job, to knowing what to do when you’re let go. Of course, for the sake of the blog title So You Are Fired, What Now?, the focus will be on career transitioning.
We often never think of the possibility of being fired. Even for an under performing employee, he or she still have the rights to a performance improvement plan and a gradual acceptance of the inevitable.
For us, after enjoying the most successful quarter and in the midst of planning for the next; being axed was unexpected to say the least. Restructuring is the usual reason given, yet, many of us felt the betrayal of the deed. One day you leave your home contemplating how to secure the next deal; in 3 hours time, you return home, contemplating how to make ends meet. It’s a sudden, violent change.
For many of us Star Wars geeks (which in some companies might be reason enough to rid us forever), this was akin to the Great Jedi Purge, where the clones used the Order 66 and turned on the Jedis and killed them off. The only difference was we had no light sabres to at least die glamorously.
You might feel the same way, you might be a Master Yoda in your company, forced to look after the family cat after the new management decide to purge the engineering or accounting ranks.
Hopefully this blog can compile some of the steps that can be taken:
1) Life After Retrenchment
2) Fight for your Rights!
3) Adjusting to Transition
4) Branding Yourself
5) Career Management and Transition
6) Advertising yourself
7) Getting a Job!
8 ) Writing your Resumes – Dos and Donts
9) Interviews Dos and Donts
10) Sample Resumes, Interviews, Cover Letters
And more.
I hope you find this useful, not just for those searching for jobs, or changing jobs, but for those who are also currently working, in corporate or in your business. There is always something new to think about, another career beckoning, always a greener pasture waiting, a better tomorrow dawning. Change is always exciting, isn’t it?
