#CareerAdvice #Engineering #DreamJob
Totally devastated… I recently got fired from my dream job at a luxury car manufacturer, and I’m feeling lost and hopeless. Have you ever been in a similar situation? Here’s a rundown of my story:
– Got hired at my dream company, but struggled with being perceived as inactive
– Received feedback that I needed to be more engaged and active
– Ultimately got let go from the job, leaving me feeling depressed and unsure of my future
Now I’m left wondering, is it possible to ever get another chance at this company or a similar one in the future? Here’s what I’m thinking:
– Focus on gaining more experience and skills in the next few years at a different company
– Consider reapplying to my dream company in about 5 years with a stronger skill set and more confidence
What do you think? Have you been in a similar situation where you were let go from a job you loved? How did you bounce back and find a new path? Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated! 🚗💼 #CareerAdvice #Engineering #DreamJob #FutureOpportunities
I would say the odds of you being rehired in any capacity are very low in the short term, but in five years with some experience, they would likely reconsider your application.
If you connected with any of the engiineers on LinkedIn you should stay connected to them for the future.
Take this as a lesson learnt.
I wish I had the audacity to go on my phone in my first week at my first job…lol
“Not active” means get out on the floor and see how things work and ask questions. Don’t just read a book. That’s the difference, you’re not in school any more. Books are reference material now, you need eyes on what’s going on, then ask questions about what you’re seeing relative to what’s in the book.
This sucks and a bummer. I don’t think all hope is lost for returning to the company in the long term. Learn your lesson, kick some ass in your next job and try again in about 3-5 years.
Phones at work emergency only
Reading to learn? This is not univarsity!
You learn on job and read at night
Good luck in next job, lesson are important
You’re dealing with obvious anxiety and need to see a therapist.
If this was a dream job for real, you’d be reading at night and working during the day.
You were paralyzed by something and we can’t tell you what it is or why you didn’t call your parents for advice or why you didn’t pal around with your coworkers
Obviously nobody gets paid to read so we’re all scratching our heads why you were reading, since that’s not a job.
as someone laid off from their dream job in December, it can feel like you’re grieving. you dwell on what you missed out on had you stayed. it’s okay to feel that at first, give yourself a week to recover, but what keeps me going right now is that things will get better. you should look ahead to what you could be doing and to work on getting there.
while I wasn’t fired, I too was sloppy at first in my job. i wasn’t putting the right effort in to the right things and my work wasn’t as good because of it, and my boss let me know that. however, once he made clear what my role and responsibilities were, I stepped up and got up to standard. it sounds like your boss unfortunately didn’t spell out what you had to do to match his expectations, which is a fault to him as much as you. to fire you so quickly without any performance improvement plans or clear actionable goals for you (like “talk to 5 people on the factory floor” type things” shows he wouldn’t have been good to work for.
keep your connections, reflect, and get right back to searching. we’re young, and things will be good again. at least, they it eventually not be as bad as this
“It’s cool that you know so much about coffee and it’s history… but the customer is waiting for you to **make** their latte, not give them a culinary lecture.”
You’re young yet. Take this as a lesson learned. When you are on the job, you are there to do the hands on work, learn from your colleagues, and apply what they tell you to the role. In the real world, theory building and going over documentation, textbooks, etc. happens on your own time unless it directly relates to your day to day. You cannot just sit around and say “I don’t know what to do.” Your colleagues do not have time to introduce themselves one by one to you and teach you what you’re expected to do. You have to take the initiative to introduce yourself and jump in to whatever they’re doing to learn how it pertains to your role.
Wow some strange advice here lol. Here’s my opinion.
There’s nothing wrong with looking at your phone during work. As long as it’s quickly to send someone a text or answer an important phone call, then by all means use it. People here acting as if you were playing Call of Duty on your phone.
Regarding being active. You need to be more proactive and ask questions. You can do this by shadowing people (watching them do work, take meetings etc). Ask colleagues to review your work and shadow you as well so you can get feedback.
Self learning is important, so reading etc is the right thing to do. But you need to combine that with shadowing more experienced employees
Anyway, sorry this happened to you but it’s by no means the end of the world. You will have plenty of opportunities in the future and you can now use this as a lesson.
For context I got to the last round of a 6 step process to what I thought was my dream job. I never got the role and felt down for a week. 3 weeks later I landed a new job which was even better than the original opportunity I didn’t get.
You just gotta keep on trying, learning and adapting. You will get there again :).
A few points from side:
– first of all, very sorry for this happening to you, it is a traumatic experience, especially so early in your career;
– you can try, but I am 99% sure that you will not be rehired for now by the same company. This is because HR files exist across the whole company, and the moment you apply or anyway at some point in the process, it will appear to HR that you’re a former employee and that you’ve been terminated, which is an automatic rejection (the only exception being people terminated for economic reasons, when companies are struggling, but this is not your case);
– companies usually have a certain time limit on this kind of HR records, and therefore on your effective “ban” from the company. This is often in the 5 to 10-year range. This is also sometimes restricted by geography i.e. there might be not be a global HR file, but only country-specific ones, but that really depends on the company;
– after some time, most people won’t remember about you considering you only stayed a few weeks and were very discreet. Your direct boss may, though.
– speaking of your boss, this is something I don’t understand in your story: did your boss ever give you any direction? any instruction? any project or task? Cause it sounds like you were just put in an office, left there with nothing to do, and somehow expected to deliver something…? It’s normal for a new joiner to be given materials to read, but it’s even more normal to be brought into actual projects and assigned tasks/deliverables/deadlines. And it was your boss’ responsibility, even though showing proactiveness is good.
– on the phone thing, you might have been underestimating how often you used it. It easily happens. That being said, if you did not, it’s a bit of a petty comment from their side. I work mostly in offices and use my phone as and when I need/want to, unless I’m in the middle of something. As long as I deliver and I’m not watching loud/inappropriate stuff…Bottom line, you might have dodged a toxic environment here.
– now the most important: THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. It is a challenge that you need to and will overcome. Once you do, you will look back at what happened, what you have learnt from it, and how you’ve grown as a person from this tough time.
– what’s next? Take a few days “off” and do something that will make you feel comfortable. Eat whatever you want. Play video games. Go out and get drunk. Anything. The point is not to forget, you won’t, it’s to do stuff so that you start putting a little bit of mental distance with the trauma, so that your day brings something else or in addition to replaying those past few weeks in your head. Don’t do anything job related.
– once you’ve done that, next steps:
1. Call HR from the company and understand exactly what will be in your records and for how long. This is your right. I think they used probation to fire you, and you haven’t done anything crazy, so I don’t think there will be some very negative messaging. The point is that you need to know what the company will say if someone calls them for background checks.
2. Craft a story for your new applications. A story which you can use during recruitment that omits the fact that you’ve been let go, but that at the same time, gives a reasonable explanation if and only if it ever comes up in the conversation (this would heavily depend on what the company would say about your reason for termination). The base story should not mention that you’ve been fired. It should be sharp and straight to the point.
3. Start applying, and if this company is still your dream employer, target their competitors, their suppliers, or companies with related technology (for instance electric engines companies, smart driving startups, etc etc).
4. If you made a few friendly connections at your former employer, call them and ask them if they can help to find new opportunities. Mobilise your network to find a new position. Call, email, message, anything but please use and create your network. With people close to you AND potential connections from former employer, you can disclose that you’ve been let go. With others, don’t unless you have no choice. Leverage your school alumni network. Reach out to strangers on LinkedIn. Use your prepared story everytime, and do just enough of tailoring your approach to everyone you approach.
5. Do not keep thinking again and again why it happened. It doesn’t matter anymore. You’ll think about it once you got a new job. The why has no importance, the fact is that it happened, but it’s not of ANY HELP for finding a new position.
6. Accept the fact that you’re going to feel bad and anxious. It is going to hurt at times. You will cry at times. It’s ok, every time you cry, it’s part of the process. It’s already programmed. Keep your head up and stay focused on the objective. Don’t worry about how long it takes and about rejection. Keep improving your story until you crack this nut open. Again, you WILL get a new job. Don’t put yourself targets like “within X weeks/months”.
7. Do not restrain your applications to only that sector and companies, btw. Priority is to return to a good qualified job that matches your profile. Making it back to your dream company/industry can wait – even though as I mentioned above, you should apply first to the right opportunities at those companies.
8. Good luck my friend.
Interesting story. Sounds like you are introvert? Anyway, as I see it, workplace is more about managing relationships than only knowing stuff and getting things done.
Talk to people, learn by doing, ask for smaller tasks and get hands dirty…
Since you are new, knowing coworkers and allowing opportunities for them to know about you is important. It does not have to be all work related. It can be small talks, hobbies, weekend, etc.