Try to understand what new things you learned about yourself in connection with the dismissal. If, for example, you left a company due to a conflict with your boss or disagreement with the company culture, it is worth considering what kind of environment will contribute to increasing your productivity.
“You need to figure out what type of company is best for you,” says Fernandez-Aráoz. If you are aggressive and compete with everyone, you will not be able to get along in a company where it is customary to work as a team. But there are many companies where you will be considered a valuable asset.
If you were fired for a serious reason - for example, accused of lying or stealing - you need to approach your job search “strategically”. Find a firm that is willing to consider candidates with a similar situation, advises Fernandez-Aráoz.
Before you start actively sending out resumes, make a list of people who can give you excellent recommendations, because your credibility is important to the HR department, advises Fernandez-Aráoz. “Most people find jobs through personal connections,” he says. Think about people who are not part of your immediate circle, but have known you for a long time at work and can vouch for you - former bosses and colleagues. It is very likely that such contacts will help you find out about suitable vacancies.
Prepare your version
Removing a previous job from a resume and leaving a gaping pass is unwise, notes Lis. You should focus on your skills, previous responsibilities, or aspects of your record in which you stood out. In your cover letter, you should not pay too much attention to your previous place of employment. “Of course, you need to indicate it, but then quickly move on to say that you are actively looking for new opportunities,” advises Fernandez-Aráoz.
During the interview you will be required to exercise caution and forethought. “You don’t have to bury your head in the sand and hope that there won’t be any talk of dismissal. You need to prepare answers to direct questions in advance,” says Lees.
You should take into account the rule: don’t lie, but don’t talk about what you’re not asked about. Fernandez-Araoz recommends rehearsing with friends or during interviews with recruiters from companies that are not on your list of priorities. The goal of the exercise is to confidently tell your version of events. Make it short and as optimistic as possible. Here are some possible options.
1. “If you're fired because you didn't meet goals, the best strategy is absolute honesty,” recommends Lees. Say, “This is what happened. I analyzed this situation. She taught me a lot. And here’s what I would do if I found myself in it again.” Everyone understands that every person gets into trouble from time to time. You should not blame everything on others, but you can mention that “you were unable to complete the task in an environment where only a few succeed.”
2. If you were fired for a more serious reason, you need to show that you realized your guilt and changed. Recruiting managers are especially susceptible to this tactic. It gives them a reason to think, “We're not hiring a problem employee, we're hiring someone who has something to offer because they've been through a lot.” Fernandez-Araoz recommends immediately mentioning references that can confirm that you can be trusted.
3. If you were fired due to a personal conflict with your boss or colleague, under no circumstances complain during the interview. Instead, Lis suggests saying: “We have different views of the world. We disagreed about the company's development strategy, and one of us had to leave." Be generous and speak respectfully of your former colleagues.
4. If you didn't stay long at your previous job, you should describe this job as a project. There is no need to lie, but you can approach the description of your activities constructively. Lis suggests saying this: “When I was hired, I knew that I wouldn’t stay long. The company had a number of specific challenges, and I was hired to help solve them.” This is a pretty good explanation for why you only worked at your previous job for seven months.
Experts give advice on how to survive after losing your job
Find a new business
“The travel agency where I worked as a manager for 3 years did not survive the spring lockdown. I tried to get a job at other agencies, but in vain. Staff cuts are everywhere. They say come back next year. Vaccination will begin, maybe tourism will revive after that,” says Tatyana Bogorodko, a resident of Chekhov.
At first Tatyana was not discouraged, she had some savings for a rainy day, again she considered herself a valuable employee - after all, she has two foreign languages and many years of experience in the tourism industry. But in September, the woman realized that tourism would not soon return to its previous pre-coronavirus levels, if at all.
“I have always loved indoor flowers; during quarantine, when it was impossible to go outside, they really saved me from depression. So I decided to turn my hobby into a source of income. I bought soil, cassettes for seedlings - I spent a couple of thousand rubles on everything, then I cut cuttings from the flowers that were already growing in my house. Two months later, the children grew up and they could be put up for sale. I didn’t even bother going to flower shops with my goods, there are wholesale deliveries - everything is covered. I decided to sell through my Instagram. I started promoting my account in April, and by September I already had 3 thousand subscribers. Of course, the net income is small - no more than 20 thousand rubles. per month, but there are practically no costs. I sell the most common flowers: ficus, monstera, violet. But there is always a demand for them. The main thing is that thanks to my flowers, I never went hungry or lost heart.” – Tanya admits.
Get rid of excess
Igor and Olga just last year bought a 100-meter three-room apartment with a mortgage in a new residential complex in Krasnogorsk. Things were going well for them at that time; they rented space in the city center for a confectionery shop and were thinking of expanding. But Covid ruined all their plans.
“We bought equipment for a coffee shop on credit and had a supply of food for the kitchen. Therefore, when they announced the closure of public catering, for us it was tantamount to a shot to kill. Some of the perishable food had to be thrown away, some were sold, some we still eat ourselves. Our supply of sugar, flour and fats was taken at half price to a nearby restaurant. They were also sold bar stools. And the coffee machine is still at our friends’ dacha; we were sorry to give it away for next to nothing,” the couple say.
After the death of the business, the spouses, of course, were not in danger of starvation, but something urgently needed to be done with the mortgage. The monthly payment to the bank was almost 70 thousand rubles. For some reason, the deferred payments that the authorities so generously announced did not work in real life. The bank popularly explained to them that accumulating debt was not profitable for them, and then it would be much more difficult to pay it off.
“The decision to sell the apartment came unexpectedly. We were sitting in the kitchen, thinking about what we should do next, and suddenly we realized that for the two of us such a huge, luxurious apartment was an unnecessary luxury,” recalls Igor. – We were lucky, we quickly found buyers, successfully sold the apartment, paid off the bank, and still had money left. Now we’re looking for a new business.”
According to him, he and his wife decided to radically change their field of activity. They are going to start building a tourist center in the summer and will develop ecotourism in the Moscow region. In the meantime, they are looking to buy a beautiful plot of land for glamping - this is a type of outdoor recreation on an all-inclusive system. It’s like living in a tent, but at the same time the comfort is like in a five-star hotel.
Olga and Igor believe that they will succeed with their new business. They believe that foreign resorts will not soon become available to Russians, but everyone can afford to go on vacation to their native Moscow region.
Ask the government for help
Unfortunately, not everyone who has lost their job or business has the strength and money to start a new business. But labor experts advise not to lose heart; you can ask government agencies for help.
If your search for a new job has not been successful, register as unemployed. From April 1, 2020, this can be done without leaving home, via the Internet. It is enough to send an application to the “work in Russia” portal (trudvsem.ru). There you will also have to fill out a special resume form, on the basis of which the Employment Service will offer you suitable vacancies. If after 11 days a new job is not found, the person will begin to receive monthly unemployment benefits. By the way, it will be possible to register your unemployed status online only until December 31, so hurry up.
According to the Ministry of Social Development of the Moscow Region, from April to October this year, the number of unemployed in the Moscow Region increased 6 times to 150 thousand people. 4.6 billion rubles have already been spent on unemployment benefits. from federal and regional budget funds. Alas, if you divide this fantastic amount among all those in need, it turns out not so much at all. Until September, the maximum payments were 15 thousand rubles. Currently, the maximum monthly payment to the unemployed is 12,100 rubles.
What about those who work “in the dark” - without official registration and an employment contract? Alas, they are entitled to a minimum allowance - only 1,600 rubles.
What else is important to know when counting on unemployment benefits? First. Payments are assigned only at the place of your registration. Therefore, if you come to the Moscow region from another region, then you should be paid where you are registered. Although vacancies will, of course, be offered where you actually live. Second. You can count on the maximum payment only if you worked for at least 60 calendar days in 2020 and you were not fired for a disciplinary offense. Third. Pensioners, full-time university students, founders of LLCs and private entrepreneurs who have registered individual entrepreneurs and peasant farms are not unemployed. And self-employed people who were not registered and did not pay taxes will only be able to count on the minimum benefit amount – 1,600 rubles.
By the way, residents of the Moscow region who find themselves in a difficult life situation can apply for one-time financial assistance in the amount of 50 thousand rubles. An application requesting financial assistance must be submitted to the deputy of your constituency, and he will then transfer it to the local social security department. Illness, disability, orphanhood, unemployment and even loneliness are equated to a difficult life situation. So people who have lost their jobs can get good help for the first time. The main thing is to never lose heart.
Control the situation
Fernandez-Aráoz recommends taking immediate control of the situation during an interview. This will help avoid discussing a number of topics. “Say what you're looking for and show that you have what it takes. According to research, hiring decisions are made within the first 3-5 minutes of an interview; everything else is just a rationale for this decision,” he says.
“Oftentimes interviewers don't mind leaving a lot of questions out of the question if they see that you've dealt with your problems a long time ago. Don’t allow yourself to get bogged down in the past, otherwise you will only reinforce to your employer the idea that you are hopeless,” advises Lis.
Eating well, being physically active, and getting good sleep can help reduce stress during the job search process. Surround yourself with friends and don't let yourself get bored, advises Fernandez-Aráoz, adding that volunteering or a hobby can do wonders for your emotional well-being. It's a good idea to add freelance or consulting work to your resume during your job search, says Lees.
About the author: Rebecca Knight is a Boston-based journalist who writes for The New York Times, USA Today, Financial Times and The Economist.
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What to do if you have already lost your job?
They say that disease is easier to prevent than to cure, and this is true. But what about those who have already lost their place, a source of permanent income and joined the lists of the unemployed?
The situation, of course, is not pleasant. And here it is important not to “be a nurse,” but to take a confident, dynamic position, focused on the end result. First of all, you should think about what factors led to your dismissal, and how you can improve your professional qualities.
You should not indulge in self-criticism, so as not to fall into despondency and depression. It’s better to think about it, maybe it makes sense to take advanced training courses or undergo professional training
Out into the world
Moving is good. But even if you manage to overcome the laziness and apathy of the first days (weeks, months) after dismissal, a reasonable question arises: where to go? To begin with... just for a walk.
Sitting in the office, you probably haven’t wandered the streets for a long time. And there are many large and small points of sale and service, there are sandwich people and couriers, there they hand out newspapers with free advertisements, there are windshield wipers rattling with shovels and public transport is humming. What am I hinting at? Not for anything in particular. It’s simple – life is in full swing, life is varied.
After losing your job, you can try to look at the world around you as if you were looking at a clothing store. Try out the most dull or, on the contrary, outlandish outfits. I could probably do this if I really wanted to, but I couldn’t do this, no way. No one is forcing you to immediately jump into delivering pizza - it's just a game. And even if you decide to participate in it, it, like any other, will not last forever.
Hard times come and go - it's a historical fact. And if you don’t decide, in any case, conduct an autopsychotherapy session. The letters “Emergency Exit” will light up in the surrounding fog. You don’t have to rush there right away, but it’s there, you know that for sure.
Where to go?
After the walk, you can start looking for a job directly. It is very important to remain calm while doing this. It's unpleasant, it's nerve-wracking, it's humiliating in many ways. But it’s not fatal. The main thing is to start, then you will quickly get involved.
Where to look? A modern person, left without work, first of all throws out a cry on Facebook, VKontakte and other social networks. Very often you don’t have to do anything else: the employer responds very quickly. Many of you have probably witnessed dialogues in the comments that are similar to Christmas fairy tales. Many people reposted job search advertisements themselves. The truth is that people in this situation turn out to be very responsive and really like to help each other.
Networks are networks, but there are also special organizations: the good old employment service, sites dedicated to job searches. If you are no longer 35, your resume will most likely not be torn away with your hands, but trying is not torture, right? For people like you and me, they are now organizing all sorts of courses and employment programs for us. There is even a term – “silver economy”. Of course, they won’t hire you to be a ballerina, and it’s unlikely that you’ll be a director. But they promise to help.
There are also exchanges for freelancers on the Internet, where the most desperate and desperate people collect a pretty penny by writing thoughtless texts, sending all sorts of spam, comments, etc. However, there is quite decent work there. My friend unexpectedly found an amazing income on one of these exchanges: a large online store needed a Russian-speaking consultant on the phone.
There are sites on which some people ask for one-time services for a fee, while others perform these services. Personal experience: if during a period of despair and lack of money you earn at least a few hundred rubles, you will feel better – mentally, for starters. And there - there is such a completely inexplicable pattern - the work will catch up. Apparently, even this penny gives a person self-confidence - and without it there is nothing to do in the labor market.
Psychology of a neurotic
Discussion: 6 comments
- Oksana:
Very good article and very useful tips. If I had read it earlier, I would have avoided some problems.
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- RomanB:
Well, they fired me. Can you still buy a piece of bread? Is there a roof? Find a job, don’t worry about the main thing, sitting on the couch and feeling sorry for yourself. Send out your resume, find a temporary job for now, for example, remote work, so you can do it at home.
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- Christina:
Dismissal is not a pleasant procedure, but no one has died from hunger in our country. There is a reason to change your life.
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- Rema:
Thank you:)
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- Lyosha:
A very good article for Olga Seryabkina (Serebro group), who fell into depression. Although this is an old article.
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- Sergey:
Thank you
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