What to do when you hear “You’re Fired”!

There are some words in the English language that cause an immediate sickness that just goes through your whole body. Phone calls that start with “We’re all ok, BUT….” or “I’m glad we caught it early, but… and “you’re fired” can all cause immediate pain deep down inside your gut. So what do you do when you hear “You’re fired!” coming from the other end of the telephone?

The words may come sugar coated like this:

“This is not performance based, but we are restructuring the company”.
“We really appreciate all your work, but we need to move the job to someone who has been here longer”.
“Please don’t take this personal, but we just need someone who is able to be in the office instead of working from a remote location”.

No matter how the words are phrased, they still mean the same thing – “You’re fired!”.

The popular LEGO Movie has a line in the theme song that says this: “Lost my job, it’s a new opportunity. More free time for my awesome community”. But when you lose your job, you are not worried about the free time, you are just worried about how you’re going to pay the bills or buy groceries.

The first reaction is to just crawl in a ball and cry. That is a perfectly normal reaction that has its place in the process. But once the initial shock wears off, it’s time to get up and create a plan.

Three Ways to get past “You’re Fired”

Look at your skillset.

It may have been a while since you had to enter the job market. Take this time to evaluate your skillset. Have you been improving your skills over the past few years? Do you know new things that you didn’t know last time you went to a job interview? Are there things that have changed in your industry that you can do better than you did when you applied last? You may be surprised at how much you have grown in the time at your job.

Dust off your resume.

Most of us have a resume that looks as old as we feel when we first hear those words “you’re fired!”. So dust it off. Update your address. Add your linked in profile and professional email. Delete the old aol email or the address that you started when you thought it was cute to be brandnewmommy, littledarlin or something else that shows your age.

Share your resume with a group of friends. They will probably have suggestions to help you capitalize on your new skills.

Start promoting yourself.

Scroll through your mental list of friends and professional connections. This could be the opportunity that will force you to really sink or swim. Have you dreamed about the perfect social media job? Are you ready to reenter the work force and be in a professional office again? Is there something you’ve been wanting to try, but have not done it yet because you had a safe job? Now’s the time to really stretch.

Momma birds often have to push their babies out of the nest and make them fly on their own. I’m sure they are scared and not really ready to take their first flight; but the momma knows what is best. Once that baby bird has tasted flight, they’re never the same.

Use these two hideous words “You’re fired!” and turn them into an opportunity to really grow!

Have you had these words thrown at you recently? Did you start to fly? I’d love to hear how you turned this into an amazing life changing opportunity!