HEADLINES from Business Mentors, Inc.
What
is HEADLINES?
HEADLINE: I’VE
BEEN FIRED…!
Alex called me after he had begun his new job search. He thought he could handle the search without any outside assistance, but he found that he was being "haunted" by a recurring question during interviews: Why are you no longer with your former organization? He had struggled with the answer to that question; furthermore, his interviews were not resulting in offers so he knew that there was a problem somewhere. So, he decided to reach out for professional assistance.
IT’S THE ROMANS VS. THE LIONS
Alex had been recruited to join a high tech sales organization over one year ago. He had
previously worked for seven years in national account sales for a leading
Fortune 500 high tech company but he felt that a move to a
smaller, rapidly growing high tech organization would be good for his career.
He blew through his sales targets after his first quarter there and was consistently the number #1 sales person
for his business unit.
He noticed, however, that the environment in which he found himself was highly competitive. Not only was the market for his products and services competitive but the organization had established a highly competitive internal sales environment. Their organizational philosophy was that it was a good thing to pit one sales person against another to see who could perform the best under the competitive pressure. Sales campaigns were planned this way, and any chance of teamwork was shattered. In fact, teamwork was frowned upon. It was all about: "May the best man win".
WAS THAT A KNIFE I FELT IN MY BACK…?
Alex knew himself quite well. He felt that this new job was a bad fit for him after only a few months in the role. He preferred working as a team. While he was exceeding his sales targets, he was not happy with the work environment. He felt as though he had to constantly watch his back and "shoot before he got shot" with his team mates. Even managers seemed to thrive on playing favorites and undermining the sales efforts of a particular sales person to accommodate the needs of another. Alex knew that his time there was short-lived and it began to show in his production and in his attitude. His boss began to question him about his change in behavior and his slowdown in performance. Within a short three months, his manager and the Sales Vice President called him in and terminated him. He had been fired! Alex had never been fired. He had always been a model employee, and his ego was shattered.
COUNSEL FROM
THE COACH
Whether you resign or whether you are terminated, you have to explain to a potential employer what happened. Many individuals who have been fired from former
positions have gone on to be very successful in their careers, and
the stigma that is associated with being
terminated is not as bad as it appears to be. However, you must remember
that the key to success in communicating the reason for the termination is all
in the positioning of the information!
I have always counseled clients to remember that when it comes to a
termination, there is "always an elephant in the room". It's there,
whether you like it or not, and it's important that you acknowledge it immediately in a networking or interview process to get it out of the way.
I advise clients to step up to the plate at the beginning of a meeting and say: "As you can see, I am no longer with my former employer. After a very successful year in the position where I consistently exceeded my sales targets, we mutually agreed that the environment in which I found myself was not the right fit for me. Both my employer and I concurred on this, and I moved on from the company." Or, if the client waits to be asked the question: Why are you no longer with your former employer? I counsel them as well to respond in a similar manner. Today's workplace is far more volatile than those of the past and most hiring executives are familiar with or have experienced downsizing, right sizing, termination, etc.
I am pleased to convey that Alex landed a Director-Sales role with a mid-sized high tech organization, a role that he should have sought originally. He manages a team of 8 sales managers, and he is thriving in his new position.
Invest in Yourself,
Al Stewart
President/Owner
Business
Mentors, Inc. is a career management organization that was founded in 1995 by
Al Stewart, a former corporate executive with background in the transportation
and communications industries with such industry leaders as Eastern Airlines,
AT&T, GTE and Sprint and an educational background in Adult Education. His firm, Business Mentors, Inc., offers a
broad range of services focused on successful management of professional careers
including: Career Exploration, Career
Transition, Career Outplacement, Becoming an
Entrepreneur, Executive Development and International Transition. With a powerful record of success using
counseling, consulting and motivation of over 3500 executives in the past ten
years, the firm founded the executive coaching movement and continues to enhance its reputation as one of the leading and
most highly regarded career management firms in the country. For more information about our services or
questions regarding how we can assist you, please consult our website: www.business-mentors.com Or,
you can choose to email us at alstewart@business-mentors.com
or call our offices (Atlanta, Fort
Lauderdale or Paris, France) at our global number: 404.644.8618.
Our associates are available in person at one of our three offices or
via teleconference worldwide.
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