Losing your job is everyone’s worst nightmare, especially when you don’t expect it. It can be hard and is certainly a knock to the confidence, regardless of the reason why your employer fired you.
The most terrifying part comes from the fear that you’ll never get another job. However – being fired doesn’t make you any less employable.
Don’t believe us? Take it from these people:
Steve Jobs:
Fired from Apple, his own company that he started. Went on to found Pixar Animation Studios, and NeXT. Then even returned to Apple as CEO and invented the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, bringing in new heights of success to his company.
Oprah Winfrey:
Fired early on in her career as an evening news reporter. Told that she was “unfit for television news” Then she was offered a job to do a daytime TV show where it took off, became famous and now has her own show.
Walt Disney, Elvis Presley, J.K. Rowling, Madonna, Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson
If you were previously fired, you have something in common with all of these now exceptionally successful people, and you can be too!
“Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s a part of success” – William Ritter
How to deal with getting fired?
1) What to do immediately after:
Dos
Read over the termination papers and ask yourself:
- Are your vacation days being paid out?
- Is the termination fair?
- Will it give you enough time to get back on your feet?
- If not, negotiate
Though a termination really feels like a huge disadvantage, you must remember that you still have rights that you can benefit from. If you see that there are vacation days that you still haven’t used up, claim them as part of your pay. If the termination is of too short notice and does not fulfill the required notice period, negotiate. It would be against workers rights to terminate someone immediately without a notice period.
Don’ts
- Cut off all professional ties
- Delete all files
- Rant about former company on social media
The first few days after losing your job can be very emotional. It’s important to keep a level head and act rationally. You must remain professional and stop yourself from doing anything that could be harmful like jumping on to social media to rant about your now-former company or boss. This will most taint your professional reputation. Not only does it make you look unprofessional, you could even be susceptible to a lawsuit.
2) Take care of your emotional and physical well-being
Take time and allow yourself to grieve
The only way to be able to move forward is to acknowledge the hurt
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Uplift your mood by going out and doing the things you enjoy
Get some fresh air and do things that motivate you
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Pamper yourself
Remind yourself that you are special and deserve good things
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Reflect & Improve yourself professionally
Think about why it happened & learn from the experience so you can become better
3) Prepare financially for the upcoming months
Establish emergency savings
Everyone should have an emergency savings account. You never know when you’ll get hit with an unexpected expense or a sudden loss of income. If you don’t yet have savings, get started now!
Look into unemployment benefits
If you have been making monthly EIS contributions from your salary, you should have been automatically enrolled into the EIS system. EIS stands for Malaysia’s Employment Insurance System and for up to six months, EIS will provide cash allowance, as well as other unemployment benefits like job counselling, training, and matching.
To claim your EIS benefits, all you have to do is apply via the EIS Portal or go to the nearest SOCSO branch or office
Pause non-essential subscriptions
Think about your entertainment accounts, like Netflix or Spotify. Putting aside these non essential subscriptions for a while will help you save on money while you are still looking for a new stable income.
Find a way to earn money on the side
In case money is going to be a bit tight that month, it’s definitely good practice to find other ways you can make money while you are still jobhunting. You can use this extra money so you don’t have to be too cautious about your spending. If there’s no need to spend the extra money, you might as well save it!
Though being fired is a relatively negative experience, most often than not, people look back and attribute it as one of the biggest stepping stones for their future success.
This is because depending on the situation, being fired can teach you many things whether it be about yourself, the company or other people.
It’s important to think about what could have been different and reassess your skills.
Sometimes things just are not going to work and that’s okay. It’s best to move on and make sure that you are set up for success in the next position you take.