Losing A Job That Really Matters

Happened to me. I felt terrible and in despair for the whole following year.
The experience has changed me.
But current job is a great place to learn new things and improve.
I always think that If I did not lose that one I would not have got this job.

I had this happen to me as well, found that perfect fit and everything was great and it all went belly up, company gone. My way of dealing with it was to continue you what I was doing when I had the position. In other words, I kept up the social network connections I had and pursued others as well to build the network out. Used other networking sites and got more involved along with find other employment and working on projects directly related to my passion. I also joined orgs I didn’t before, offered free advice and started just recently blogging again as well.

In this day and age nobody else will look out for you but you! You need to brand yourself, your skills and keep the connections and knowledge you have fresh and share it. People appreciate it that and it’s amazing what it can do for your self-esteem as well. You also have to realize that you are your own best advocate, so when interacting with others, don’t just say hey I’m great, but offer up some good advice or information that sets you apart.

Oh yeah, and always, always have fun… enjoy what you do, more important then anything.

That happened to me as well. I loved what I did and then when the company was going through being bought out by another mega giant corporation, I was downsized. It was devastating to me, but I got through it and have a new job now. It may not be exactly what I’d like, but the people are decent and the type of work I do is benefiting this new company I’m with. So I can say there is life after the old job. I never was really the same after I lost my job of over 15 years of service. It was a job I was proud of and to be affiliated with such a good company. I guess that’s the way it goes. I can say however, if you have your health and people around you that you love and love you back and are willing to stand by you through the worst of times, you are indeed a wealthy person. As the song goes, “You pick yourself up, brush yourself off and start all over again.”

Yes, it hsppened and a year later it still bothers me over a year later. I worked in the automotive field for a company that was required to get rid of people to get a “loan”. Performance, seniority, talent, education meant nothing as it boiled down to who you knew, or better put, didn’t know. Recently promoted, I was finally at a level I worked hard to achieve. I could now make difference. Now it is gone and many of the people left behind coast as always. I am insulted when they state in the media they need to keep high salaries and perks to “keep” their talent…they got rid of talent without thinking. This will always be a sore spot in my career as nothing I did mattered in the end. We were scarificed so they could keep their jobs and that is a tough pill to swallow. I had moved on, found new work, but trust no one nor the situation.

I imagined it happening to me. I guess the trick is not to get too attached to the ‘job’ and think of job as something different than a ‘career’. And career can extend beyond your job through blogs, networking, community events and all that. If you look around, many well respected people in their fields are known for who they are and not which organizations they are attached to. In fact, in some case, the organization gets attached to the person.

Went through significant job loss twice; about to go through it again.

My best advice has come from my adult children. Paraphrasing: It’s a game Dad, learn how to play it- daughter. Your job is just one small piece of your life, the rest goes on- son. My other daughter has enthusiastically become my career coach. She is involved in brand development and has been working with me to develop and control my personal brand, hence my recent membership in LinkedIn, and Twitter. When you understand your brand and its positioning the marketing is like falling off a log. Sometimes now I feel eager to re-enter the job search; I certainly feel less dread than before. One of my LinkedIn contacts used to interview for jobs, just for fun.

If I ever manage people again, I plan to strongly encourage each maintain a LinkedIn profile and will look the other way if they do it at work. When people feel good about themselves they’re easier to manage, and managers should never forget they can and will lose their best performers. It’s basic Deming and free market economics. -PBB

Hi, interesting article. I lost that job & a year later I’m still unemployed. I have been writing a blog about this for a while, which is well received, please visit it at http://www.petemarshall1.wordpress.com, its in the category, My Struggle With Unemployment, have a read from the first to the most current, & then pass this on as I am getting so many positive comments from people that this has help. cheers Pete

I’ve worked in the music business my whole adult life, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was a child. Now that my place in it is gone, I’m at a total loss at what I want to do as a career for the rest of my life. Music is my life, my only real hobby and only career I’ve ever wanted. Figuring out the next step is really tough.

Three years ago I left a bank job I really cared about to take on a position in a telecommunications company that at that time, looked perfect.  It doubled my salary, gave me a corner office with a secretary, and had other benefits that in the bank were reserved for senior officers.  It was a strategy-focused, executive level position, and when it was described to me I felt ripe for it.  It involved directing customer communications, and I prided myself on being a good communicator.  It involved pitching my department’s (contact center) services and capabilities to internal business units as a support for their initiatives, and I had 5 years working as salesman for transaction banking services.  In all, I felt just right and ready for it, and it compensated really well.  I felt that I made a quantum leap into the big leagues.  

Alas, once I was in, I struggled to become well-versed in contact center operations in a short span of time.  I had difficulty adjusting to the pace of change in the company (over just 9 months, we changed our org structures 3 times, and I changed supervisors 3 times as well), and I had to contend with a workplace where people routinely tried to expand their turf by volunteering for jobs beyond their scope (and sometimes abilities), ready to walk all over you if you stood in their way, and were quick to copy your boss in follow up emails (sent a day or two after your first meeting).  I found friends too, with our common thread being griping about work.  I felt tired everyday, and yet I was not accomplishing anything.  In the end, I actually felt relieved when my boss said, “It’s not working out, and I  have to let you go.”  After I resigned, I took a month-long vacation abroad, and returned to work in my previous company after 2 months.  It was as if I never left (back to the same rank, although my tenure wasn’t restored).  And yet, I was back to an industry and field I knew very well and was recognized as an expert.  Although my rank was relatively lower than my stature in the job I left, I feel that I have more influence and respect in this job.I still feel a tinge of sadness over that previous telco executive job, and I try to think what I could have and should have done to have thrived.  For a time I felt like a failure, but in my present company, I have regained my self-confidence, with the respect I get from my colleagues and workmates.And yet now my eyes have been opened to the possibility that there are other jobs out there that will be energizing for me and will engage my strengths, at the same time,compensate me better than my present job.  I remain engaged, but at the same time, am open for new opportunities.  That telco job changed my life and made me more mature, helping me better recognize what works for me and what doesn’t.May I be wise enough to recognize another great opportunity, and brave enough to grab it when it comes.