You’re Fired!

“You’re fired”, I would think would be the last two words anyone would want to hear on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon. In these times of a troubled economy, and with unemployment on the rise, job stability is something that truly isn’t guaranteed. Just yesterday, I heard from a friend via text message that she was laid off from the corporation she was with for 9 years. First of all, I can’t even count how many people, myself included, has stayed with one corporation that long. Second, when I spoke to her over the phone, she was pretty happy about the situation which was amazing to me. She eventually told me about her 18 week severance package and then it made sense why she wasn’t stressing over it & considering she was about to quit in a matter of weeks because of stress, she’s just happy that she waited it out.

Unlike my friend, most people aren’t fortunate enough to receive such a large severance package, or any at all. This holiday season alone, layoffs will definitely come as a huge blow to anyone, whether they’re single or raising a family. I told a couple of friends of mine that the best advice I could offer was to keep their resume updated and always keep their options open. Unlike employees who should give at least a two weeks notice before resigning, companies are not held to the same obligation.

I remember the first time I was fired from a job. It was definitely a huge blow to not only my ego, but to my confidence. Here I was during my probationary period at a luxury hotel as their HR Director, implementing various employee programs; everything from on-site ESL, flex-time and other employee incentive programs and one morning it all came to an end for myself and a few other coworkers. I think that was the first time I cried over a job. Actually, now that I think about it, it was the first time.

I think what saved me was the fact that I had connections through various people that I knew. They were either direct hire staffing firms I worked with when it came to staffing positions I had available, or random people I met at conferences and seminars. As I sat in my car crying, the first thing I did was reach for my cell phone and started to dial numbers, and collected email addresses to who I could send my resume to. After I pulled myself together, I knew it was up to me to put myself out there and market myself.

Considering that I already knew what employers wanted to see on a resume, the easy part was done. The hardest part is definitely following up and getting to speak to the right people. And to think, networking was something I never liked doing, but in a time of crisis, you learn that you have to do what it takes. In less than two weeks, I was sitting behind my desk in a brand new position. I breathed a sigh of relief that it didn’t take months to find a new position, because sitting at home and not doing anything is something that becomes boring pretty fast. So my advice to anyone who doesn’t feel that their job is secure, is to spruce up that resume, circulate it, and network with the right people. It’s always better to have options, then to be caught off guard when lay-offs come around!

Do you feel that you have job ’security’ in your current position? How would you handle a possible lay-off/firing?

Here is the Season 4 Winner of The Apprentice, former classmate of mine from Rutgers, Randal Pinkett, who wasn’t “FIRED”, but was actually quite successful before his win, several years ago.

Tags: economy, employment, fired, layoffs, networking, resumes