Sometimes Being Fired From A Job Can Be Quite A Blessing in Disguise! Oh Really Now!

In these precarious socioeconomic times, more people are either terminated for cause and laid off. Yes, many employers are streamlining the workforce in order to save monies and to create a more efficient workforce. If you have been terminated for cause and laid off, oftentimes you believe that you are a failure and at fault for the situation you are in.

Yes, there is a marked difference between being laid off and terminated. People who are laid off are often so through NO FAULT of their own. Many times, the socioeconomic circumstances of a corporation and/or company precludes layoffs in order to save monies. However, if you are terminated, most of the time, it is for cause meaning that you did have a part in your termination.

There are many reasons for termination for cause ranging from plain work carelessness, time and attendance issues to the most egregious acts of misconduct. When you are terminated for cause, oftentimes you feel as if you are a failure, destined for either career oblivion or if you become reemployed, having a lesser or worse job. Many people who were terminated for cause often feel quite stigmatized and believe that they are personas non gratas.

Now their status has changed from being employed to unemployed. To many people's estimation, there is nothing worse in the world than being unemployed, especially to those who had lifetime careers and jobs. Now they are in quite a quandary. They want to work but are quite apprehensive as to how to respond when the interviewer will ask the dreaded question if they were ever terminated and if so, why. They now wonder how they should respond to such a question or is it better to complete avoid answering that question.

Many people who are terminated from their jobs often become quite depressed with some actually verging on suicide. They believe that they have lost their livelihood therefore they have lost their personhood and selfhood. By being terminated from their jobs, the will to live and go on is often lost. Many terminated people sink into an anomic despair.

Many people have their childhood script dictating that once a person is terminated for cause, it will be quite difficult for them to obtain any form of employment. In essence, they are in socioeconomic hell. Some become quite frightened, believing that they will be quite penurious and homeless. There was a news article long ago which a terminated employee killed his wife and five children before committing suicide. He believed that because he was terminated for cause, he and his family would be reduced to abject penury and there was no other recourse but to commit suicide.

This man was not the only person to commit suicide after job termination. Countless others commit suicide after they are terminated as they believe that there is absolutely nothing left in their lives and the situation is utterly hopeless. There is a marked correlation between the increase in suicides and job terminations.

Reasons for job terminations vary from not having a job fit, personality conflicts between a supervisor/superior and an employee, and time/attendance issues to more egregious acts such as sexual harassment and fraudelent acts. Many times, employees are terminated because they are simply not aligned with their jobs.

People instinctively know when they are either not aligned with or not suited for their jobs. First of all, they do not like their jobs, often viewing the job at hand as a means to an end. They also perform their job in a perfunctory manner, just doing enough work not to be terminated. However, their attitude subsequently become manifest in their job performance which often progress from mediocre to barely satisfactory and then the termination ax comes.

Oftentimes, people are terminated because of the corporate politics of the job. This employee can be a stellar employee but because the particular boss does not like him/her, he/she is slated for termination. Another word for this precarious relationship is that there is a personality conflict/ difference between the boss and the employee. Sometimes in this case, the termination can occur without warning but oftentimes there are warnings regarding the impending termination in one form or another.

Many times when there is marked personality conflicts and differences between a superior and an employee, the former have the machinations and power to make the latter's life quite uneasy so to speak. There is such a thing as constructive discharge on the part of the superior. The definition of constructive discharge is that the superior can make life so arduous and precarious for the employee that he/she is left with no other choice but to resign. However, if the employee elects not to resign, the superior can create such a hostile and difficult work environment for the employee which makes it very easy for the latter to be terminated. Listen, the work environment is not utopic but realistic with all its corporate foibles. In other words, there is often writing on the wall when there is a conflict between the superior and the employee which the latter often refuses to acknowledge until it is TOO LATE!

Job terminations, of course, negatively impact on some people for the reasons I have detailed above. Many people become so depressed by their job terminations that they need psychological and psychotic intervention before they can function normally again. Many hospital and social service centers have counselling centers regarding employment and job issues if a person believes that his/her socioeconomic situation is hopeless.

Then there are extreme cases of job terminations. These people have not been fired once but several times, oftentimes for the same or similar reasons each times. There are people because of their personalities are clearly unsuited to be working in a corporate setting. These people are often independent and unconventional types who prefer going their own way and not conform to the corporate agenda. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. These people are better off becoming entrepeneurs and/or freelancers working on their own schedules and setting their own rules.

Many people are working at jobs and careers which they are clearly not passionate about and this lackluster attitude is oftentimes reflected in the way they perform their jobs. Plenty of people work at jobs and careers which are either selected by their parents and/or guidance and career counselors. In other words, these people are in the wrong careers but are loathe to change careers because they have invested so much time into the specific career or they are fulfilling their parents' dreams of a career. They are in their particular comfort zone and are afraid to venture into a different and/or unknown career.

Many people are in jobs even though it is not the best job in the world because it offers the magic nirvana of job security. These people are often risk aversive, preferring to be in their own job hell than to quit their job and venture out to a job more suited and satisfying to them emotionally and psychologically. These people are in job inferno and sometimes something forces them to wake up and assess their lives- and this something comes in the form of job termination.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer stated in one of his speeches that oftentimes people are terminated from their jobs in order for them to find a more fulfilling career. The book, WE WERE FIRED!.... AND IT'S THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO US, clearly illuminates that many people who were terminated from their jobs often find better and more fulfilling jobs than they previously had. Sometimes a job termination is the impetus to have the career one always wished for and not to look back in life with regret for what could have been.

In summation, a job termination can be quite traumatic. First of all, there is still a negative connotation to being terminated for cause. People who are terminated for cause are often considered damaged goods in the eyes of future employers.

People who are terminated often become personas non gratas because they believe that their jobs were them and when they lose their livelihoods, they lose their personhood and selfhood. For those people, the worst thing is to be unemployed because unemployment is equal to failure and uselessness. Many people become quite depressed and often suicidal when they are terminated for cause because they believe that their socioeconomic status is hopelessly precarious with little or no hope for improvement.

For many others, being terminated is often a wake up call to find another, more fulfilling job and career. They are forced to assess their lives and realize that they were in the wrong job and/or jobs just to conform to others' , not their expectations. Many people have obtained better jobs and careers more suited to them after their terminations. Many times, there is a better job awaiting those who were terminated if they only believe in themselves and work towards it.