What To Do If You Get Fired

Last week I met with a new client, a 57- year old man who lost his job early last summer. Losing his job wasn’t the worst part, since he’s lucky to have a successful wife who can pay the bills. The hardest thing was that, over the course of a few months of searching, he also lost hope. And confidence.

If you’re in your late 50’s and you’ve been fully employed your entire working life, losing your job qualifies as a catastrophic event. Many of us in this position experience feelings of shame, fear and depression. The world feels out of control. The job market and protocol for candidates today are very different from 15 or 20 years ago.

The situation is in fact less scary than you might think. As with many things, job search is simply a skill to be mastered, whether you’re just starting out post-college or you’re towards the end of your career.

Here are 6 ways to evaluate your career and yourself and jump-start your search:

1.     Reflect and Gather Information.

In many ways, getting fired is a gift. It forces you to take time from your busy life – which just got a lot less busy – and discover more about why this job was not a good fit. It could be the type of work, the volume, the people, or the company in general. The bottom line is that the job failed to bring out your best work, and you now need to deeply understand why that is. Here’s how to do it.

Many people find taking some time off, being in nature, taking a vacation, exercising, meditating and journaling to all be very useful. At the same time, you want to gather information. After you cool down, reach out to your boss and ask for a meeting to discuss your exit. Be friendly, non-defensive and very professional. An apology will go a long way here, even if you feel wronged. Your goal is to defuse the situation and seek feedback about your performance. This serves two purposes:

·       You will learn a lot by asking about your performance. Some of it should be good, which will go a long way toward healing your ego, which has taken a hit. There may be information that can guide you to your next role. And you will ideally learn what you could have done better, which will help you in the future.

·       Ideally you’d like to secure a good reference from your employer.

2.     Get Your Story Straight.

There’s nothing worse than going into an interview and being asked about the circumstances of your departure – and finding yourself unable to tell your story in a confident, concise way. Now that you’ve taken the time to reflect on what happened and what went wrong, you’ll be better able to tell your story, taking the emotion out of it and stating the facts, clearly and concisely, while sharing what you’ve learned from the experience. Whatever you do, never ever say anything negative about your former employer. If you do, you will lose the prospective employer’s trust, so tread very carefully. Stay positive and professional, no matter what.

3.     Inventory Your Skills.

There are three types of skills and everyone has hundreds of them. List your skills, and if you have trouble, send a note to your close network and ask for a list of skills that make you stand out. To help, here is a method of categorizing skills:

Knowledge-based: Knowledge of specific subjects, procedures, and information. Examples: Web Production, Accounting, Partnership Development.

Transferable: Skills used to perform a task, that can be used in different work functions and sectors. Examples: Organizing, Promoting, Analyzing, Writing, Presenting.

Personal Qualities that contribute to performance: Examples: Patience, Diplomacy, Flexibility.

4.     Know the Roles and Titles You’re Going For.

Once you’ve evaluated your skills in the context of your experience, identify the role (s) and title (s) most relevant to you. Review job specs and benchmark your skills and background against what employers are seeking. Your resume should tell your skill story in a compelling way that relates directly to the job you want. Be ready to back up everything that’s on your resume – and by extension your LinkedIn profile – both in writing and in person.

5.     Make a List of Contacts Who Can Help.

There are people in your field of interest who might be helpful, and there are people who care about you and want to help. While the focus is different, the plan is the same: Reach out to contacts with a specific description of the role and organizations you’re interested in and request their help in connecting you. The more specific you are, the more able they are to help you. Avoid sending notes suggesting that, “I’d appreciate any ideas you have.” It’s too much work for most people to creatively think about which of their contacts might be helpful to you. It’s much more effective to guide them by specifically mentioning organizations of interest and asking if they have contacts at those organizations.

6.     Ask for 20 Minutes.

Especially if the request comes with the imprimatur of someone they trust, most people will offer you a brief call. Be respectful of their time and assure them you only need 20 minutes. If things are going well and they extend the time, that’s great. At the end of the call, ask if there’s anyone else they think you should speak with and if so, can you use their name. The more conversations you have, the more people know about you and what you offer, and the better you get at promoting yourself for the right roles.

While none of the steps outlined above are easy, they’ll provide you with a structured plan to help move you forward. The more you reflect and practice telling your story, the more motivated you should become. If you get stuck, just reach out to me here and I’ll be glad to help.

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Next time I’ll share my interviews with two entrepreneurs who have had unusual and fascinating careers, so stay tuned!