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When you get fired from a job, it’s natural to feel like there’s something wrong with you. In reality, though, it happens to everyone—and there’s no need to beat yourself up over it.
“In fact, I was fire from my job no later than TWO WEEKS ago after fifteen (15) loyal years at the same company.”
It was devastating at the time, but I’m starting to learn a lot about myself and how to move forward that I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been fired.
Don’t get me wrong, it is VERY fresh in my mind and I still have a hard time processing it, but for you, if it ever happens, here’s what you shouldn’t do after getting laid off, and heck trust me, I would have wanted to do it!
Here are seven shitty mistakes that people tend to make when they’re hit by unemployment and this is what I’ve decided to apply to myself.
Don’t blow off steam by writing a nasty letter about your former employer.
source: freepik.com
Don’t do it, even if you want to and only God knows how I wanted to. It won’t help you and it will remain forever in a file or worst, online, and it will just make you feel worse and look silly on top of damaging your reputation for future potential jobs.
Your new job will be hard enough without the added stress of a nasty letter or offensive comments about your former employer.
You may think that writing “I just got fired!” online would feel good, but that’s not how emotions work—they don’t work like that, and frankly, online people might not care that much regardless, which would add even more frustration.
In fact, they’re actually quite opposite: when we are sad or upset our bodies release endorphins into our systems to help us feel better; when we are happy our bodies release serotonin which makes us more awake and happy.
However, when something bad happens (like getting fired) those chemicals aren’t released because no one wants to talk about what happened so instead all the endorphin production goes into protecting us from feeling bad again in case things don’t go well with their next job hunt…
Don’t make any decisions in the immediate aftermath of being fired, especially when it comes to other job opportunities.
This is a big one, and it’s absolutely important that you take some time (several weeks to months) before deciding where your next step will be.
You need to make sure that you are in a good place mentally before making any decisions—both with yourself and with your team members, take your time, and take care of yourself. You deserved it after so long.
“This is the step I am at above right now.”
Don’t keep the fact that you were fired to yourself.
After getting fired, the last thing you want to do is hide the fact that you were let go.
It’s a hard enough process as it is, as most people you’d think, but when everyone around you knows about your termination and there are no signs of remorse from either party involved in its aftermath—it makes things even worse.
You shouldn’t keep this information from friends or family for any reason other than privacy concerns; however, if someone asks about why they haven’t heard from or seen us lately (or if we tell them), then we might consider telling them about our situation so that they can offer support during these difficult times.
Don’t lie about being fired; don’t feel ashamed because of your past mistakes; don’t let those mistakes affect how much confidence and self-esteem you have left after being fired from a job
“I can assure you this is the hardest part I’m going thorough”
Don’t take it personally.
If you’re fired from a job, it’s natural to feel like something is wrong with your job performance. You’ll think that if only you were better at something, or if only there wasn’t so much pressure on the team, or even if only there weren’t so many crises every day…you’d still be employed at your position as you were supposed to be the right fit!
NOT!
No one ever said getting laid off would be easy—but don’t let yourself get too caught up in self-blame and guilt over what happened. Sometimes things just happen for reasons beyond our control (like when people are hired for jobs).
And sometimes the best way out of sticky situations is to let go and move forward with new goals in mind in preparation for your new potential job.
Don’t do anything rash, like quitting another job on the spot.
Don’t do anything irrational.
If you’ve been fired from your job and don’t have another lined up, it’s best to wait until at least a couple of days, weeks, or MONTHS have passed before making any rash decisions about what to do next.
That way, if you’re fired again for something else or decide that this chapter of your life is over for good (or at least until much later), there won’t be any emotional fallout from that decision because it’s already been made.
You also need time to think about how much money can be saved by staying at home rather than trying out new jobs every month or coming up with an interesting side hustle while searching for full-time employment opportunities elsewhere in town!
Don’t accept “offers” from friends who want your help starting their own businesses.
source: freepik.com
The first thing you should do is turn down any job offers from friends who want your help starting their own businesses.
And guess what? It rains on my side. Friends and “Friends” that keep telling me not to worry, just come work for me…I’ll help you.
“Thank you, but no thank you!”
Even if they promise to pay you, it’s not worth taking them up on the offer because:
- You can’t afford to lose that money. It’s better for you if no one gives you any work than if someone does and then doesn’t pay what they owe once they get their hands on it.
- Your time is valuable—and so are the skills that make up your professional identity. If someone tries to lure you into working for free (or worse yet, at a price), don’t go along with it! It won’t just be unethical; it’ll also set back both parties’ careers because employers won’t want someone who doesn’t have enough integrity or professionalism when working for themselves or others in their industry.*
However, this does NOT mean it will be typical for everyone. If your friend has an empire, or a corporation and asks you to be part of the team, then heck why not.
Just make sure this is all legit and it is not based on a cloud of smoke or a short-term employment relationship.
The job market is full of opportunities, take your time, and be picky.
Polish up those rusty interview skills, and build a powerful résumé (Curriculum Vitae) with your work history that will matter for your future employment.
Use former colleagues to build up your references, and of course, if you haven’t burned your bridges with your former boss, then by all means ask him/her for a powerful reference letter.
Don’t tell anyone who doesn’t need to know right away that you’ve been fired, it could harm your reputation.
One of the worst things you can do is tell people who don’t need to know right away. It’s a good idea to tell those closest to you first, but there’s no need to tell everyone else right away.
If someone asks why you’ve been terminated, then keep it short and vague—just say something like “I’m still exploring my options.”
If this happens at all, just take time later on in the day or week after getting laid off from a job (or even immediately after) when things have settled down enough so that it won’t be too much of a shocker…
Shitty things happen to everyone and there’s no need to beat yourself up over getting fired from a job.
Mistakes happen to everyone, including the best of us. It’s hard to blame yourself for making a mistake when you think about how many times we’ve all made mistakes and lived to tell the tale.
It’s important that we learn from our mistakes and not beat ourselves up over them, but sometimes it’s difficult to do so when things don’t go as planned in life.
When you get fired from a job, it can be very tempting for you to take out your frustrations on yourself by beating yourself up about what went wrong or how stupid something was (or wasn’t). Don’t do this! You’ll only make matters worse by feeling guilty about being fired in the first place—which defeats the entire purpose of getting fired in the first place!
Conclusion
The truth is, we’ve all been there, or I guess, most people: you get fired from a job, and it’s not the end of the world even if it feels like it on the day you are receiving the bad news.
In fact, it could be a good thing and the last thing you will remember in your other successful journey:
“Why didn’t I get fired a long time ago?! I would never go back there.”
If you’re willing to look at your situation through a fresh set of eyes and take some time away so that things don’t feel so urgent for you right now – as long as you have something else lined up already – then this can be an opportunity for growth rather than regretting what might have been.
The most important is to never do things on impulse after getting fired. This could ruin the long journey you are about to take for your future job.
What do you think? Did that already happen to you? How did you react?
Please comment below!
