Here's a feel-good article for the disenfranchised.
Most people who get sacked lack high-powered connections. That's why you should solicit support from co-workers before packing your desk says Steven Phineas Cohen.Moral? Those who can't do, coach. Mike's not sure he agrees with another point in the article either.
Cohen recently took his own advice. He alerted fellow faculty members when he suspected an academic institution intended to dismiss him as a part-time instructor. "If they shaft you, you can use my name at any one of the following schools," a colleague volunteered.
Now, he is negotiating a teaching assignment at a school recommended by his colleague.
Unless you're fired for a horrendous act, it's probably accurate to say that "your goals and those of your prior employer were not congruent," he says.
Three years ago, a scientist was fired for publicly disagreeing with the sales director. When potential employers inquired, he said he and his superior "had opposing ways on how to achieve our goals."
A big microelectronics company eventually hired him because he emphasized ways he could help solve its problems.
It never pays to badmouth your former boss. "Nobody wants to hire a loser," observes Damian Birkel, exec director of Professionals in Transition.
He vividly remembers the fury he felt in 1984 when a hostile new supervisor canned him as a senior cookware buyer for a Cleveland department store.
Birkel released some rage by digging a 50-foot trench for a relative. He poured his remaining anger into a forceful job campaign, and landed a position with a rival retailer.
He attributed his exit to a personality conflict. "If you are perceived as being hostile, negative or carrying significant emotional baggage, it will send a mixed message that can significantly hinder your job-campaign efforts," Birkel says.
Serious introspection can also help. Maybe you belong in a smaller company, a bigger city or a different profession.
When a government agency in Northern Ireland reorganized and then fired administrator Nancy Morris in fall 2000 because she was overqualified in her new capacity, she knew she "had to take advantage of adversity."
She enrolled in a 12-week class by phone from Comprehensive Coaching University in North Wales, Pa. Today, she says she is "150% happier" -- as a career coach.
Unless you're fired for a horrendous act, it's probably accurate to say that "your goals and those of your prior employer were not congruent."Listen, if you feed me a meaningless line like this during an interview it will make me angry because I know you're not being straight with me. And how about this:
Serious introspection can also help. Maybe you belong in a smaller company, a bigger city or a different profession.Please! Isn't it possible that you were just doing a mediocre job and you need more discipline or more training?
Listen, friends, if you get fired don't go around telling people that you are a load of garbage but don't try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes either by trying to sugar-coat the problems or simply refusing to say what they were. I mean, who wants to hire a liar? OK, a CEO looking for a Communications Manager. But, generally speaking, where there's smoke there's fire. That doesn't mean you were dismissed for a good reason. But there was a reason and if you don't tell us we don't think you're smart; we just think you're hiding something.
PS: The networking suggestions in the article make a lot of sense. When I go looking for referrals I often get them from people who tell me about the recently departed. But, of course, a referral is not a reference. And, often, when I get the former I try to get the latter at the same time. And, I know Anthony does too.
Source article is here
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