Submitted by RDHodgson on
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...except when it is, and it gets you fired. I'm taking a leaf from Mark's thing about how to communicate with high I's, and trying to get to the point as soon as possible. My problem is I got fired, I don't really know why, I don't know what to say to a future employer about why I got fired, and I don't know what lessons to learn. You can skip the next two paragraphs to get to the point:
*** CONTEXT ***
To give context to my worries: this isn't a small dint in a long and productive career. I'm 22, have spent most my adult life in higher education. Got my degree (2:1 in Philosophy - yeah yeah, I know what you're gonna say) last year. I worked the year before Uni in promotions (sampling, leafletting, demonstrating products, whatever), and took lots of random gigs whilst at Uni to pay bills. Nothing steady. Took a job in video game store. Then a general electronics store. Both christmas temp positions. Tried working in a kitchen (proved TOTALLY to be something I couldn't do!). This is all just to clarify why I'm worried: because it does look particularly bad for me, a person with such an odd work history, to be *fired* from anywhere. It just makes the already odd look bad.
Now I'm moved in back with my parents, working at their hotel in the reception, and then got a job - the one I am now fired from - at a venue that does corporate events and weddings. Office work: routine, computer, desk, chair, indoors, minimal public contact - lovely. Can you tell I'm a high C?
*** END OF CONTEXT ***
WHY I GOT FIRED: So I got fired, for making too many mistakes. Well not "too many" even, just... the people before me were *really bad* in the post. Made some colossal foul ups, one of them actually *stealing money*. From what I can understand, they were worried I was showing signs of just being another one of these people. I made no particularly big mistakes, but for whatever reason they felt that when I misread something and assigned 5 chairs instead of 6 to a room, or mailed out an invoice to the wrong address due to getting mailing labels mixed up... y'know, they weren't just mistakes but omens of me being incapable of correction, and just *being* a screw up.
And I just don't know what to make of that. No one sat me down and told me these worries existed. I was just called up today and fired. Make of that what you will.
MY WORRIES: I feel it's unfair, but it's hardly productive to go on railing about what is and isn't unfair. What matters is results, and here's what I'm worried about: (a) I'm worried that this will result in employers being turned off by me, as being inherently sloppy in my work, (b) I worry this about *MYSELF*. I'm already the kind of person who takes every mistake really seriously, and worries over every slip-up, as if it might be evidence that I am truly just a mistake-maker at my very core (again, can you tell I'm a high C?). And... this event does not help my esteem in anyway.
WHAT I WANT TO KNOW: Is there anything I can learn from this? What should I say to my next employer when they ask me what happened? Because honestly, I just don't know... I just can't say what I did wrong exactly. Any mistakes I did make were only small ones, and only the ones you make in learning what you're meant to be doing (but, of course, bear in mind that this is *me* talking here, I might be biased - maybe my former employer sees them as more serious?).
I just... don't understand what's just happened or what I'm supposed to do with this.
Tough break
Ouch... sounds like you got bitten by a management that was too slack in the past, and overcompensated a bit too much. At the same time, you did make mistakes, and mistakes have consequences... but I think you've acknowledged that, and hopefully you're learning from them.
I think the important thing now is to make sure you're acknowledging the problems, but not letting them get you down -- you're young, inexperienced, it's natural that things aren't going to go smoothly. You've probably done more than enough reflection and self-analysis, so it's time to pick yourself back up and attack the next job with more knowledge and experience than you had before, and hopefully make a better job of it this time.
It might be worth thinking about how you responded to your mistakes, in the eyes of your management -- I know you said that "No one sat me down and told me these worries existed", but did you really have *no* indication that the things you had done were mistakes? I'd find that unlikely. Far more likely is that you knew about the mistakes, but downplayed their importance to yourself (and others), perhaps providing the mistaken impression to your boss that you didn't care. *That* is a big no-no in my world -- I don't care that you make a mistake, but not caring about the mistake gets me wondering about whether you're the right person for the job.
Saying that, I don't recommend that you prostrate yourself before your boss for every typo in an e-mail, wailing "I am not worthy!" and asking for your fingers to be chopped off in punishment. A simple "I'm sorry" followed by either "I'll fix that up by e-mailing a follow-up to the customer", or (if you don't know how to fix it, or it seems like a really big deal) "How would you like me to deal with that?", is all you should ever need. Don't be too surprised if, on a really big screwup, your question is rebuffed with "Don't touch it, you've done enough damage already!" -- in that case, sitting quietly and not protesting vehemently (ie, don't say "No, no, please, let me help!") is probably your best strategy.
As far as explaining what happened to future employers, the podcasts on this topic are pretty useful:
http://www.manager-tools.com/2011/03/getting-fired-part-1
http://www.manager-tools.com/2011/03/getting-fired-part-2
In short: acknowledge you were fired (lying about *that* is a quick boat to never getting another job), that you were fired due to making mistakes due to your lack of experience, you learnt a lot from what happened, and you're eager to do much, much better this time around. Keep it short, sweet, and positive. The casts explain it all much better than I can.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice! As
Thanks for the advice!
As I said before, I might be biased. Of course *I'm* going to say that I don't think any mistakes I made were a big deal. I do want to clarify I was in a low-down position in the company, what I had responsibility for was very proscribed, and I although I touched money none of my mistakes lost the company money or had anything to do with money going missing (or, perhaps more importantly, lost reputation, which is probably more important in financial cock-ups).
Now you mention it, that might be it - not the mistakes themselves, but a failure to communicate how much they mattered to me. Because they did matter and I worked to correct them (after admitting them - taking Mark's advice to admit *first* and then work to correct). Perhaps I wasn't clear enough however in how they affected me and how I wanted to change as a result of them. The very thing I was worried about though was coming off, like you put it, as prostrating myself before them and being all grovelling. I just wanted to register my error, correct it and get on with things, not faff about talking about things. Again, can you tell I'm a high-C. :D
Ah well. On with the job hunt!
One day it WILL be a small dint in a long and productive career
It's really good that you are trying to learn from this, - learn what you can from it, but accept that this might not be much. It might be very difficult to get feedback from your former employer now; if you ask for it they may clam up fearing that you might have unfair dismissal proceedings in mind.
One day it WILL be "a small dint in a long and productive career". A big disadvantage of being 22 is that you don't have a track record to help you decide whether setbacks are freak events or part of a pattern. If there is not much data to the contrary, why don't you make a preliminary decision that it was a freak event; it will be much better for your frame of mind looking for other work.
Then move on with making that long and productive career.
Best of luck!
Indeed, indeed. I sent
Indeed, indeed. I sent them an email just to ask for an official letter of dismissal with my P45, but clarified that I hold no hard feelings and am not looking to pursue legal action of any kind - I would just appreciate some written feedback, and something I can point to as a hard data point.