Friday, June 10, 2011

When I was fired


Yes, I have been fired, not once but twice. Not a proud moment to write about having been fired. Not many may want to write about bad news, bad news is semi-impersonal; it can appear in newspapers or other mass media only, for people to feel, oh, it’s not me, yet. Being fired has perhaps been less written about, if written, it has been with a lot of bitterness. Writing about being fired is not an easy thing to do, as it is no claim to fame being fired. Being fired in general is always taken as inefficiency of the person being fired. For a lot of us it still comes with a “Self disclaimer, oh, it’s not me, yet”.
There is no wrong or right being fired, many of us do not have control over being in the firing line. Rationality and logic fail to explain someone being fired. In both incidents, I had joined on my credentials, with back up of unparalleled domain knowledge, overseas experience in the field and history of excellent performance etc. 

You could have left behind a good company, joined a new company thinking it is one great company, you want to work with. There will be sea of difference between what you know and what the actual scenario could be; Company may not have the depth of investments, may not have a sound business plan, and may not be paying proper taxes, levies as per the demand of the law of the land. As to many of ills, self inflicted or otherwise, cutting costs by firing employees is seen as a panacea. Some mergers, acquisitions, buy-over happen without employee control. At an individual level, the fired employee's reactions are listed below, these may not follow the listed sequence, but most frequently the fired employee goes through.    
  • Why me?
  • The way in which it was done is not right
  • Life is unfair
  • How much time do I have?
  • Any alternatives?
  • What are my next options?
It has been a long time since I got fired; not that I wish that be closer. It can happen to anyone, anytime. At times like this, for many sensitive people the devil is within us, we could sulk, get negative, avoid people and many such things could happen. Some people can just move on. Yes, it took a lot of time for me to write my learning of the situation, these learning’s are not merely my own but a lot of other people who have been fired. I have also been audience to many of their narratives. These tales are nothing short of piece of action of a fiction movie or a novel. There is a sense of defeat, disgrace, “How can it happen to me”, “why didn’t I see it coming”, “Life’s not fair”, additionally there is pressure of insecurity, financial uncertainty and social obscurity. Where do I go tomorrow becomes a big question, you are used to going at a fixed time to office every morning and doing a certain things, all of a sudden that certainty is not there. My kids asked me, why am I not going to office, I had to fill in office address in a school form, in situations like these you feel very uncomfortable.
In both the companies that I was fired, I had the unique distinction of being envied by many of colleagues for the attention, recognition, my role, status, salary, travel and many more of the unique attractions of my job before being fired. I have also seen the softness of the employers when being lured into the same jobs that I was fired from. I was interviewed by many senior people, spoken to, tested, tried, sought, recommended before being hired and all these credentials seem to have lost value when being fired.    
1.    Not always you are wrong when you are fired; the company could also be, so stop blaming yourself.
2.    Situation may be beyond control of someone who made the decision.
3.    Someone is sacrificing you to show solidarity/efficiency/control.
4.    Life seems unfair
5.    Relationships that were close, thick, binding all seem lost in thin air
6.    Once blue-eyed boy could look villainous
When I went through the aftershocks of being fired, I received some great support from some people. One of them is Wg.Cdr. Murthy, a fatherly figure. I met him, when I was completely down, at almost breaking point, he said, “No one has taken away anything from you, you still have your education, experience, intelligence, creativity and all the skills, only you lost your monthly income”.
These words changed my life; I started teaching at management and Media Institutes, did corporate training, did some unconventional things, I had a family to feed and needed some confidence boosting. I would have missed a lot of experiences if I had not been fired. Yes, I missed a few monthly salary packages, but received abundance of experience of greater value. In 2000, started a company called “Bask Media Technologies”, a company that would create solutions and services for Media and Entertainment companies. Those days, Media and Entertainment practice in technology services was at its infancy, too early, may be ahead of its time, few Indian IT companies had a practice dedicated to Media and Entertainment. I always believed that, every company is a media company; all companies have media assets to be reviewed, created, saved, retained, accessed, archived and put to reuse. Re-purposing of content has always been a kind of doctrine, I have nourished from my media days.  I know a lot of people may not believe in luck, the company had 3 orders and the markets started recovering, my partner found a job in the US. With heavy heart, I had to wind up “Bask” with a lot of changes taking shape. This time, I had fired myself.
Murthy’s words were the best wisdom; I could receive amongst the dark clouds. I woke up, felt better, energized, never felt so good about myself anytime better. I have had the pleasure of working with the best employers, great managers, some not-so-great companies, and my learning on being fired are
  1. Be Prepared, to be fired
  2. Don’t blame yourself if you are fired
  3. Not all relationships work well in your bad times
  4. Save some money for a venture
  5. Know where else, how you can use your skills
  6. You can pursue career in a total different domain
  7. You could be doing something you never done before
  8. Be prepared for small, humble beginnings of income flow
  9. Be prepared to work for remunerations against performance, it swells faster than you think
  10. You may not be an expert at job search, get some understanding and help


25 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very nice post Mr Thakur... I could relate to this one very much.

- Christina

Netscavenger said...

Simple....touching...resourceful!

Very thoughtful writeup and true to every word. I am sure it will self-help many people in distress.
All the best.

Anonymous said...

A nice post for all in the workplace. Read and face every situation better!

Anonymous said...

A nice post for all in the workplace. Read and face every situation better!

- Rajgopal Bhutada

Home Medicines said...

Wonderful post .. Something similar to what i can relate to also ... Good Work

1139 said...

Nice post.
One door closed, the other door opens many opportunities.

Chandrashekhar

maruti said...

very good life lesson.very useful to biginers and also to those who are not yet fired and to those who are fired and to those who are going to be fired in future - from MARUTI

pregnantfather said...

It is an interesting article on a subject that is not written or discussed about. I agree, that all of must understand the emotional impact and learn to deal with it. What I liked the most is the rational and practical approach to such a sensitive issue. Thanks for sharing..

Jitendra said...

Excellent post Thakkur !! Thanks - Jit

Anonymous said...

Quite interesting.. Never knew there was such a story hidden..

Vikrant Nadagouda said...

Quite intresting & a good booster. :P

Basu said...

Sir, Very useful post. I came very near to being fired very early in my career and can relate to some if not all feelings expressed by you.

So kind of you for having shared your experiences.

Cheers & best wishes,
Basaveshwar Aniyappanavar

Paraddi said...

Thakur Sir, It was very heartening to read and there was lot of good intentions behind writing this up. There are quite a few amongst us who would be fired because of industry saturation and this article will help more than one soul to stand up upright and move on.

- Sangappa Paraddi

Anonymous said...

Very good article on boosting one's morale and rising when in the doldrums and not sulk for the rest of your life.Hiring & Firing has become the order of the day and may not be always because you are at fault.
No advice can be a better example than the one which is backed by a sincere narration of one's own experience

Colonel Ravindranath said...

Your story proves everything happens for the best, as long as you are ready to accept and see the situation as it is rather than as you want it to be. From there you can work towards your goal.

If you are lost always find your own grid reference( that is the location on the map) first they taught us in the army . The route to your destination then becomes clear.

I see it is true for a work place, in fact to life itself. Find your own position and march on. Great!!!!

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Sanjeev Undri said...

Sir,

after reading this. I have no inhibition in telling that I was fired from my first job, your words of motivation are really good. 10 points mentioned are really good. It can help us be prepared well
sanjeev Undri

Unknown said...

Firing you is not always brings negativity to you but it may be a break to choose the more sharp and suitable way to your future.


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Jemma Taylor said...

As hard as it may be, and it is hard, you need to get over getting fired and move on. Nice article thanks !!

Sarah said...

Hello: I was fired for just gossiping. I didn’t even feel like I was do that at all. I should have been warned about it but not let go. How do I explain this situation to a possible employer?

Victoria Kats said...

Great article. Anyone who has had a long career has been fired at least once. For me, I once won a huge client because they trust me. But my employer at the time violated the trust and screwed the client, taking a cavalier "We don't care" attitude. I was done there. I can't work for those people.

Judy Foster said...

Great one yar....thanks for sharing it.

Katherine Noto said...

There plenty of state where you can get fired for anything and there does not need to be a reason..

manpower recruitment agency in nepal said...
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Raj Groups said...

nice post