And what happens if I get sacked?
Being sacked is a situation you have to face The dismissal option
The dismissal option is one possible option and is not too infrequent, especially nowadays.
Let’s leave aside struggles to safeguard employment and the welfare system that I’m not interested in addressing here.
Take a look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself: "I’ve been sacked!".
It can happen!
This statement ( "It can happen!" ) – in its simplicity – is fairly significant for a culture like ours. It means that dismissals are quite common: people aren’t sacked because they’re at fault, because they may have stolen company property or skipped work, or at least not just for these sorts of reasons. The majority of dismissals occur because of changes in markets, strategies and the organisation of companies.
So it’s best to face up to the situation even if it can be one of the most difficult times in your life, along with illness, the death of a loved one and the end of a relationship.
A lesson from the US
In America people seem to take things in their stride… because the labour market is different: it’s easy to get in and easy to get forced out!
It's a not a big story of loss. In the scheme of life, being moved aside from a job, however much you love it, is a small thing.
– Katty Kay
I found an article online about a dismissal which describes in a very open and transparent manner a person’s experience from the moment they lose their job to the time a new opportunity presents itself. It also highlights that we are "human"
and that emotions are the same for everyone.
Good reactions might involve:
I have been lucky, indescribably lucky. So much so that I almost hesitate to write it down for fear of jinxing my good fortune. My four children are healthy, my husband is fit and well and my parents are still alive. I have not yet suffered the agony of losing a loved one - the death of my childhood hamster "Pig" doesn't really count. But it will happen, I know. My parents are 84 and 86 and I have a constant nagging dread of that midnight phone call. I'm afraid of grief. Will I be up to bearing the pain? How do you cope, every hour? One day I will find out.
– Katty Kay
Bad reactions might involve:
I cried again, properly this time, in private. Once I'd retreated to the safety of the lockable changing room, my humiliation poured out, wet and sniveling. It made it no easier that my replacement was a friend who genuinely felt bad about the change in roles. I wish I could say I was angry. Who the hell was this man telling me I didn't have enough character? That I was a moldy apple or an insipid orange. Why didn't I thump the table and put up a fight? Was I really that meek? But my overwhelming feeling was humiliation. Everyone would know, and talk about the fact that I'd failed. It would be breaking news in a newsroom full of 'who's up who's down' obsession.
– Katty Kay
What the article suggests and what I like about it is the acceptance of a new job opportunity even if it’s not ideal.
1. I hadn't learned the lesson that none of us are other peoples' headlines for very long. People are far too wrapped up in their own lives to care about what's happening to other people. Even if it is a moment's hot gossip, it's only that, a moment. 2. Fortunately, a quick dose of the kind of reality that only comes with a visit to the ATM made me realize quitting was not an option available to me, and my rather large family. I needed to pay the bills.
– Katty Kay
The person in question is not fixated with their former role and prestige, but instead finds and happily accepts a similar job despite it appearing to be inferior, indeed it’s referred to as “option B”.
When the show's new editor offered me the job of political correspondent, I swallowed the temptation to tell him, and the network that had humiliated me, to fxxx off. I did say I needed some time to think about the offer, a small face saving measure. Of course I took the job. I didn't have much choice and maybe sometimes that's a good thing. I wasn't thrilled but I did it.
– Katty Kay
It doesn’t matter! A job has a meaning and a value in itself, regardless of the social status that may be attached to it.
But then life goes on …
And that's when something good happened, when failure became success. The year was 2007 and little did we know it but we were on the doorstep of one of the most exciting elections in history. Thanks to my new job, I got a front row seat. I crossed the country covering the race, first between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and then between Obama and McCain. It was the political story of a lifetime. It turned out I was really good at it. The experience stretched me and I rose to the challenge. I exercised reporting muscles I hadn't used before, became confident and quicker and smarter. And, yes, I developed a stronger, more authoritative on air presence. My reporting was noticed, I got invited on US networks and my career took off.
– Katty Kay
Like in fairy tales option B can lead to new success.
Take a look at the article yourselves!
