So you've been fired

In 2018 I have been chronically ill, so have spent a lot more time watching movies, TV and reading that I usually would. One of my favourite movies I’ve watched this year is The Big Short, a movie about the lead up to the GFC in the United States. It has some fabulous scenes, but one of the most depressing is the streams of people exiting Bear Stearns as it closes. They’ve all lost their job, they’re angry, they’re in shock.   Two of the film’s protagonists go into the building and view all the empty scenes and it’s bleak and confronting.

In 1997, I was working at an analytical laboratory analysing soil after I’d finished university. I had got the job with the help of my flatmate, who was working for an environmental firm that was a client of the lab.  The job involved measuring out soil and performing various tests on it, to check for organic contaminants and to understand what made up the particular soil in a site. I was paid $11 or $12/hour, and spent hours spilling chemicals over myself and running tests. I hated the job. I was bad at the job. I was constantly calling in sick because I was so depressed about the job. I was in the wrong job, at the wrong time, in the wrong industry. Yet when they rang me one day to tell me I had been fired (I don’t think they even told me face to face, I think they told me over the phone), I was incredibly shocked. 

In retrospect, I am hugely grateful that it happened, otherwise I could have spent a substantial more amount of time in an industry and a job I hated. But at the time, it was a huge blow.  I had no savings. I lived literally pay check to pay check. I ended up going and getting work through a temping agency that I’d done some work for while at university, which led to an admin job at a construction company, which led to temping at uni, which led to getting a maternity leave position at uni, and ultimately to the job i have now, that I love, that I’m good at.

But at the time, far out. It was hard.  So here’s some things I want you to know if you get fired:

1.  Sometimes it’s about you. 

That’s the hardest thing I found about getting fired. I *was* bad at the job, I *was* unhappy and I *was* in the wrong place.  But fundamentally, I’m not good at work where I don’t interact much with people. I’m not good at work where I have to measure precisely to the micro-litre, I’m not good at work with my hands and chemicals. So I had to reassess who I was, what I could do, and where I should go. 

I think a wise person would ask when you get fired: “What in retrospect could I have done differently?” It doesn’t mean that you did everything wrong, but it’s also a moment to reassess. We are all sinful, broken human beings. Nobody is perfect in the workforce, nobody is omniscient except God alone.  How can I change and grow from this experience is a hard but necessary question I think everyone benefits from thinking about. 

I really owe the managers of that company a favour. They saw I was in the wrong job, in the wrong industry, in the wrong place.  And they did something about it. Over 20 years later, I can thank them. Though at the time, probably not so much!! 

2. Sometimes it’s not about you.

Those people who got fired from Bear Stearns - ultimately, they were victims of a force much bigger than them. Years and years of risking housing loans, of building on a sandy foundation. An industry that when it crashed, it took them and many others with it.  Sure, individually, they might have made some small decisions about how the GFC came about, but often they were just doing what they were paid to do, by people way above them in the hierarchy.

Sometimes there’s a change in the structure, a change in the direction of the company, a downturn in the industry, a reassessment of staffing levels. Sometimes it’s just out of your control and you’re caught up in the fall out. 

3. It’s an opportunity

If you’d said to me, way back in 1997, that this firing was the best thing that ever happened to me? Well, I might have hit you. So please don’t hit me. But if you, like me, believe in a God that works things out for the good of those that love him, then can I say to you - ask why?  Sure, you might be like me and have to turn around the next day and find another job, but at some point, reflect! Am I heading in the right direction? What matters to me in my work? What am I good at? What can I realistically do with my skills and qualifications at the moment? What can I aim for?

It’s no coincidence that in economic downturns, education goes up, particularly post-graduate education. This is because people are reassessing and working out what qualifications they need to move forward in their lives.  Similarly, in positive economic conditions, education decreases. 

4. It’s a threat

I think being fired is one of the hardest things you can possibly go through as an adult. It reaches deep into the heart of us - who we are and what we do are inextricably linked. It’s why I try to never ask: “What do you do for a job?” and rather ask “How do you spend your time?” because people who are unemployed are often deeply embarrassed and ashamed about it. It’s such an incredibly challenging time. So: 

5. Look out for your well being

I just met up with a friend who had just been fired. It was a particularly difficult and challenging situation and there was a lot of things out of her control that led to the company’s decision, but it was also easy to see that her confidence and feelings about her professional self had taken a bit of a battering. So I did what I could: I listened, I encouraged, I indignantly reacted at the injustice perpetrated, I counselled, I spoke truth as much as I could, I encouraged her to reflect. But I also bought her brunch.  Because sometimes we need our friends to look out for us when we’re reeling from being fired.  So let your friends and family help. Let people send out your resume. Let your friends and family care for you if that’s going to help. And also, look out for yourself. Try to still make sure you’re eating ok, you’re exercising, you’re sleeping and you’re talking to others. It’s a big shock: cut yourself some slack.

6. Try not to equate your worth with a job

At the forefront of social justice and advocacy for the poor and disadvantaged, for the disabled and marginalised, for the unborn and the unwanted, are many Christians. There’s a reason for this. Christians believe that every individual has worth in God’s eyes. Every single person, whether seriously and chronically disabled, or super high functioning, everyone matters. They don’t matter because of what they do, or how they contribute. They matter because they exist. So even if you’re not Christian, know that you matter, you have worth, because you exist. Not because you are working or not. Just because you are.

So there you go: there’s some thoughts about getting fired. Hope it’s helpful.