How to cope with being fired from your present job ?

If you have ever been fired, you probably dread being asked about it in a job interview. Not only have you been fired, you now have to talk about it again and again. 
How you deal with questions about your firing will depend a lot on how you have resolved the issue with yourself. Whether you were fired under unfair circumstances or for something you did that you regret, write down your thoughts on how you would explain the instance. It is important to find out what your former employer will say, or not say, about you if called for a reference. What you say should be in sync with what your former employer will say. If you left the employer under agreeable terms, check with your former employer to find out what you can expect.
 Probably the worst way to handle the firing is by lying. One lie usually leads to another, and before you know it you are in over your head. People get fired everyday. They move on and get new jobs, and you will too. No matter what the circumstances, put it behind you. Deal with your feelings about the firing, and prepare to talk about the experience in interviews. Being prepared will make you feel more confident and less emotional about the situation. 
If you were fired and it was not performance related then say so. Also, come up with a term that will better explain the situation.....i.e. corporate policy, philosophical differences, job mismatch, etc. Some job candidates put terminated on the application and then add "will explain." It would be helpful for you to have a copy of your last "wonderful" performance review and even a former colleague with the organization who could serve as a reference and back that up. Being honest about a termination is generally respected by prospective employers and does not necessarily knock you out of consideration. Turn the firing incident around and tell them what you learned from the experience, accent the positive about yourself and your former employer. No whining or complaining or ' life is unfair ' statements. 
 
Annual Salary Negotiations

Your annual review is often the forum for haggling over a raise. People tend to go into these meetings assuming employers will note their accomplishments and reward them accordingly. Yet in the current employment environment, with a shrinking job market and employers tightening their belts, that's not always the case. In addition, Admin/Support message board members often write that they have not received a raise in two years or more. Worse, some employers have actually taken away certain benefits, such as bonuses or vacation days. These examples underscore the need to be prepared for your performance review. You must know how to challenge the suggested raise and how to negotiate for more, whether that means dollars or benefits. This doesn't mean you'll always get what you want, but if you do your homework, at east you'll be satisfied you did all you could to get a decent raise.

Preparation Is Key

Savvy employees keep a performance review file. During the year, they put in memos, lists of completed projects or additional work taken on during the year and other documentation of good performance. This file serves two functions. First, it provides you with proof of what you accomplished. Second, it jogs your memory when it's time to prepare for a review. If you're like many workers and don't have such a file, take the time to look over your calendar from the past year and recreate in your mind what you accomplished and write it down.

Do Your Research

In order to have some weapons at the negotiating table, it's a good idea to go hunting for industry figures. For example, it's important to know that according to Office Team's 2001 Salary Guide, salaries for administrative assistants in 2001 rose 5.2 percent and now range from $22,500 to $28,000. Senior administrative assistant salaries rose 3.7 percent, with the average range in 2001 between $26,500 and $37,250. These stats can help support your request when face-to-face with your boss.

Listen to the Grapevine

Word about raise amounts tends to leak out once the review process starts. After the first round of employees have been in the hot seat, observe how they look. Often dissatisfied employees will complain and let the world know they were treated poorly or cheaply. If salary increases are lower than expected, chances are you'll find out before your own review. Responsible employers will often notify workers if salary increases are lower than the previous year, and don't hesitate to ask your boss before your review if you can expect a good raise.

Have a Figure in Mind

Base this on your previous year's increase, plus the company's performance over the past year. If the company's sales were flat or there were layoffs, chances are you may not get as much as you did last year.

Stick to Your Guns

Once you have a salary figure in mind and your list of achievements in hand, let's say your boss says you'll get a much lower raise than you expected. This is where your preparation comes in. State your achievements and reasons for why you deserve more. Expect your boss to balk. Then it's your turn to throw out more reasons why you deserve a raise. Often your manager will say, "This is the figure everyone is getting across the board." Don't buy into that until you've played all of your "I'm a great worker, look at my achievements" cards. True, many employers do set aside a certain amount for raises, but there is always room for that special case, the employee who went above and beyond the call of duty.

Buy Time

If your employer refuses to give you the raise you feel you deserve, negotiate for a timeline to get what you want. For example, state your disappointment and that you'd like to revisit the issue in three to six months. You've got to walk the thin line between retaining good relations with your boss and fighting about money. Perhaps in six months the company will be doing better. Perhaps in six months you'll take on more projects and responsibilities. Set yourself up for another review that may allow you to get what you want. But be careful, Make sure the extra review does not replace your annual review. Another option is to find something else to negotiate for if a salary increase is not sufficient. This could mean asking for a flexible work schedule, more vacation time, educational opportunities or other benefits you deem worthy.

Get It in Writing

Whatever you agree on in the meeting must be put in writing immediately. Write a memo to your boss and HR and restate the conversation. Make sure everyone signs and dates the memo. Make three copies: one for your employee record, one for you and one for your boss.

Goal Setting in Career

MOST OF US DEFINE WHO WE ARE BY HOW WE DESCRIBE THE WORK WE DO.

If your work is compatible with the view you have of yourself, you will have no self-image problem and will probably feel good about who you are and what you do i.e. you're happy at work and have found your niche in life. On the other hand, if you're frustrated at work you probably think about it all the time and feel like a black cloud is following you around. That is a good indication you are not compatible with your job or; perhaps, with the people you're doing it with!
 If you feel like that, now is the time to complete our Goal Setting Exercises and find out exactly what you want to get out of your work at this point in your career - then we must write a good resume and launch a proper job search to find it. On a day-to-day basis most people are too busy to define realistic life and career goals for themselves. Most of us get up in the morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner and go to bed. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and all at once we find ourselves looking back on a few years wondering where the time has gone.
 If a goal is not clearly defined in the mind of an individual (and it is not clearly defined unless it can be written on paper) the goal is seldom achieved and the individual has a feeling of drifting along or being propelled by outside influences. Goal setting is therefore very important for career minded people. Without a clearly defined career objective, it is almost impossible to know how to describe what we're looking for to a prospective employer - or to know where to look for it. Lack of an objective can even make resume writing difficult because resumes should inform the reader about what we want to do - as well as about what we have already done! 
There are many reasons why people fail to reach their goals. This is generally because people often confuse goals with dreams, i.e. their ambitions are continually frustrated. Some people fail to reach their goal because the problems they experience on a day-to-day basis become larger than the goal itself and they lose sight of it. Other people fail to reach their goal because their goal is incompatible with them, and they try to change the organization to accommodate them. After a few years, it becomes apparent that changing the commercial environment to suit oneself is an exceedingly difficult thing to do. Eventually the individual leaves, or is asked to leave, and nobody seems to know why. Some people become frustrated because their heart is not in their work and they do not want to continue in that direction and are unhappy in the meantime.

A goal is only realistic if you can answer "YES" to these

1. IS IT WORTH IT TO ME?

What is the point of a student deciding to be a medical doctor if he or she is not prepared to work for little money for a long period of time, and study each part of the course in great depth. If he or she will not make the financial sacrifice and devote the time and effort required to prepare for the profession, the long term goal of becoming a doctor will fade away. There will be no final examination because the day-to-day problems and distractions have become larger than the goal itself.

2.DO I REALLY WANT IT?

People generally do best, what they like doing best. We cannot always be doing what we like, but if we are continually doing what we dislike, we invariably become unhappy human beings. This is generally because we simply 'fall into' our line of work. Personal preferences are important in any goal setting exercise and they are generally difficult to explain, particularly to oneself. In the final analysis however, a person who continues to struggle with something that he or she actively dislikes, generally leaves that particular area of activity - or is asked to leave. 

3.IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH ME?

What is the point of an officer in the navy planning to be the captain of a submarine if he or she suffers from acute claustrophobia? It is just a dream and there is nothing wrong with that - providing the officer doesn't blame the navy for failing him during underwater training.

4.IS THERE A NEED IN TODAY'S MARKETPLACE?

What is the point of looking for a teletype operator's job in an age where there are no teletypes to operate? In reality, many people have to retrain for a different occupation or move to an area where their skills are in demand; there is no sense expecting to live in the old neighborhood and continue working as a hard rock miner if the only mine in the town has closed down. Remember, you cannot create a need through this program, you can only find and fill an existing need.

IF YOU NEED TO DEFINE YOUR CAREER OBJECTIVE 

GOAL SETTING METHOD

Most people have been given the following advice at least once in their life. " Sleep on an important matter before you take action ", or heard the reply, " I'll sleep on it " to a difficult question. We all need time to think things through. For example, the letter which we wrote yesterday does not always reflect the thoughts we want to express today. In fact, every letter and report ever written could have been improved if the author had been able to "sleep on it" before letting the recipient read it! 
Why is that? The situation does not change overnight, but we think differently about it in the morning. The reason is clear. By actually working through the mental process of writing your letter, your thoughts crystallize as they become visible on paper. In short, your thoughts become tangible and firm. If thoughts are not firm they are very difficult to modify and improve because thoughts are hard to nail down. If thoughts are left unwritten, they remain figments of the imagination and there is nothing to work with in concrete terms; they slip into one's conscience - then slip out again and disappear. One is often left with a feeling of frustration and confusion. By writing your thoughts down, your thoughts become tangible as they become visible on the paper and your subconscious now has something concrete to work with and improve - often while you sleep. It helps you to sort things out in your mind before taking definitive action. If we write a letter (or answer a questionnaire like a goal setting exercise) today and keep it until tomorrow, we can be sure that tomorrow we will have

THREE OPTIONS.
1. Tear it up - and wonder why we wrote it in the first place!
2. Improve it.
3. Accept it as perfect and mail it.

Without a doubt, the more important the letter is to us, the more fine tuning it takes before we are comfortable and confident in the content and tone of the message which we are sending out. Our Goal Setting Exercises work along those same lines. By reading the questions, thinking carefully about the questions, writing down your answers and then thinking about them again and writing them down again, you will be crystallizing the thinking you need in order to make a career decision for yourself. The questions are carefully considered, as are the order of the questions. By writing your answers down on paper, then giving yourself time to improve them (sleep on them) you will set up a train of thought directed at describing a realistic job search objective. If done carefully, your goal will be right for you, compatible with your lifestyle, in line with your interests, part of a master career plan and attainable in terms of the commercial needs of the marketplace. Most important, - you will know it's right because you thought it through yourself. The objective of the exercise is to write one simple sentence which accurately describes your next job objective. From this you can develop a heading for your resume and the focus for your job search. 

 
" Is it time for me to consider changing my job……?"

This is a question which must have crossed the minds of many of you. It could have been triggered off by a particular situation that you faced or it could be something that has been on your mind for a while due to certain aspects of your current job.

For first-time job changers it would be a tougher decision as they would have no prior experience in what it takes to change a job. Whatever the situation, whoever the person, changing jobs is something that needs a lot of planning and thinking through. It is definitely not a decision to be taken in haste.

Be clear about the reason why you want to change jobs

You feel that you need to change jobs. This feeling is not reason enough. You should be able to look at your current job situation objectively and analyse the problem, if any, that is prompting you to consider a job change. A job change is a significant decision that can affect your career and your future plans. It should not be taken on an impulse, or on some thumb rule that you need to change jobs after so many years in a company. Nor should it be that you feel you could do with a substantial jump in your pay packet. Instead, your need for a job change should be based on some sound rationale. Some examples of reasons could be:

Work-related

a bad boss (who is a hurdle to your progress)

a boring and uninteresting job (not a challenge for you)

unsuitable organisation culture (you have problems relating to colleagues)

need for more responsibilities (to match your capabilities)

achieved the limit in what you can learn (you have a higher career goal)

high stress levels (more than you can handle)

Benefits-related

higher pay /more benefits (your work/skills are valued more than what you get)

more convenient location (you work too far away from home) 

Your reasons for changing jobs could be one, or a combination of these. What you need to do is to evaluate your reason against certain criteria that are important to you. Do a cost benefit analysis to see whether it is advisable to change now. Would you benefit overall by this move?

This is not meant to discourage people who consider changing jobs. Nor is it a case in favour of loyalists to one company. All that is being re-iterated is that use the problem solving approach in this decision to change jobs. Your overall objective should be to improve your level of job satisfaction at the new job.

For example, if you are moving primarily because of a bad boss, you have no control over the kind of boss you will have in your next organisation. You may need to consider other factors as well such as a higher pay or the job content to ensure that you at least improve your working conditions in your new job. The worst thing for you would be to be doing the same job with the same responsibilities, in a new organisation and with a tougher boss!

Identify your long-term career goals

Once you have arrived at the reason for why you need a job change, how can you go about it? When is the right time to change jobs?

The most important step here is to identify your long-term career goals. That is you should able to chart out a realistic career path for yourself. You could ask yourself the following questions:

When do you want to be at different positions/designations in an organisation ?

What is your job description at each of these levels?

What responsibilities do you need to handle to get there?

What skills do you need to be able to work efficiently at each level?

Do you have all the skills?

How will you acquire additional skills with increasing responsibilities?

If you are changing fields, do you have the functional skills that work in any industry?

How long will it take you to achieve this goal in your existing organisation?

With this clarity on your future plans, you will be in a better position to decide the right time to change your job. This will also help you aggressively go out looking for jobs that fit in with your career plans, or suitably evaluate offers that come your way.

In the meanwhile, update your knowledge and skills regularly. Stay well informed.

You need to look out for the right job which will give you a higher level of job satisfaction, and match your aspirations. Of course, there could always be a certain error in judgement, which you could not anticipate, of accepting an offer which later on turned out to be a disaster. But the idea is to avoid such situations as far as possible. Try and minimise such risks. This especially, despite the dangling carrot of significantly higher pay and benefits. You need to watch out for the following situation: (name has been changed)

Dheeraj passed out of a well-known management institute in 1986. He joined a large multi-national consumer non-durable company, in marketing. After working there for 2 years, he quit to join a small advertising agency. Within a month, he quit and then joined a publishing house. After working there for a 3 year period, he quit to join a large advertising agency. In two years time, he was ready to move on yet again. This time he joined another advertising agency where he stayed for just a year. Next move was to a newspaper. After a year, he moved on to another newspaper at a higher pay packet!

7 jobs in 13 years! Whatever Dheeraj's motivations were, his frequent moves just go to show that not much thinking and planning went into his decisions. His moves do not seem to have been backed by adequate research or sound rationale, regarding the company he was planning to join, or the reason for his needing a change!

The point, therefore, being made is:

THINK THROUGH YOUR CAREER PLAN, AND CHANGE JOBS AFTER PROPER RESEARCH!

Evaluate the counter offer objectively before you accept or reject it

What if the organisation you are currently working for makes a counter offer after you told them about your intention to resign? How should you react?

Well, the first step is that do not get carried away by emotion and feel so touched that someone wanted you to stay. Or do not let this situation inflate your ego so much that you suddenly feel indispensable to the organisation and develop unrealistic expectations.

Yes, it definitely feels good to know that your organisation felt that you were important enough for them to make a counter offer instead of just letting you go. But remember, you need to still do some thinking before you decide to accept the counter offer. Some of the issues you need to consider are:

Can the counter offer compensate for your reason for quitting?

If quitting for higher pay, can the counter offer satisfy your need?

If quitting for higher career goals which you perceived could not be met by your current organisation, can the counter offer influence you to stay?

Is the increment just a red herring to keep you till your replacement is found?

If you accept the counter offer, will you be seen as a dissenter who threatens to quit to get his promotions? Could this adversely affect your chances of future promotions?

Think through such issues before you get carried away to accept the counter offer. It may turn out that you did well to stay on in your current organisation. But, let that happen after you have gone through a thought process like the one above.

Do not resign and then look for a change

Before you consider your next job change, you could keep in mind the following tips:

1.Review your job situation to see if you are on the right track to achieve your career goal

Identify if there is a need for you to look for a change.

2.Do not resign and then look for a change.

It reduces your market value. It is advisable to continue working and then look out for better opportunities.

3.As long as you are not a compulsive job-hopper, there is no stigma in changing jobs.

In fact, a positive view to changing jobs is that it adds on to your experience and skills, allowing you to advance in your career. You can also contribute better to your new organisation by bringing your expertise acquired in your previous job.

4.Keep yourself aware of developments and information in your industry/field.

Stay up-dated as it would help you in your getting a better job.

5.Research alternative job options before taking a final decision

This would reduce the risk of job dissatisfaction after the change.

Whatever you do, let's hope that you find what you are looking for in your new job!