Opinion: Why Getting Fired Could Be the Best Thing for Your Career

This article was originally published on Monday.com’s Startup for Startup blog. The following content has been translated from Hebrew.

By Sharona Mizrachi, HR and recruiting specialist at Blumberg Capital

While working as a HR and recruitment specialist for Blumberg Capital, I meet incredible people everyday who are looking for their next opportunity – some boldly take a chance and listen to their inner voices telling them “This is your moment,” while others may be laid off and “forced” to reorganize and seek the next thing, whether it’s a new job or the next challenge.

I recognize that the experience of being laid off is difficult, and for many, lead to a sudden and unplanned change, feelings of anger and disappointment, shock and hit to their self-confidence. Many people affected by layoffs have never experienced failure before and find it difficult to view it as an opportunity for growth and development. It’s important to stop and assess at every stage in your career, reflect on experiences and skills acquired, and how you can recalibrate, even if there are challenges along the way. This ability is a game-changer.

Here are some insights from many conversations I’ve had with amazing people who were let go from their jobs:

1. Wait a minute. Don’t immediately start running around looking for another job, meeting many friends in your networking circles and planning to do as many interviews as possible to prove to yourselves that you’re relevant. Stop for a moment, you’ll have days where you wander without purpose, with thoughts and questions running through your mind. This is an opportunity to consider the difficult questions that arise (no matter how painful that may be), because they will rise again during your future interviews. Remember, losing a job isn’t necessarily a failure or a reason for embarrassment.
2. Appreciate the gift. This is an opportunity to use the situation to take an internal look at who you are, learn lessons and ask the big question—what’s right for me and the person I am today? High achievements who haven’t experienced “failure” often have difficulty explaining why they’ve failed now. But it’s an opportunity to place a mirror in front of you, with the help of colleagues and friends, to focus on yourself.
3. Leap into a new challenge. Being let go from a job is the point in time when it’s right to examine the goals you’ve set for yourselves so far, as they may have been achieved in which case recalibration is necessary, creating new goals that won’t be stuck in neutral. It’s an opportunity for you to experiment with something new. Ask yourself: is it time to take the leap?
4. Self-confidence. Even if you’ve been fired and you feel a sense of disappointment, this can be a significant learning process that will enable you to deal with rejection, being brave and locate the opportunities that are right for you.

Here are suggestions when looking for the next opportunity:

• Define the fields of employment that interest you, and accordingly, the characteristics of the jobs you’re seeking.
• Prepare a list of your professional experience and/or alongside the managerial experience you’ve accumulated in recent years, which are relevant to the future directions you’re aiming for, or in other words: what are you bringing to the next opportunity from your illustrious career?
• Invest time in researching all the companies that interest you as avenues to further develop your career and growth, alongside your professional and managerial influence on their business goals. Conduct thorough research on the companies in the ecosystem, don’t just go to the familiar ones, take an interest in those you’ve never heard of as well, because perhaps they’ll become better-known with you.
• Update your CV and LinkedIn profile based on the directions you’re aiming towards and in accordance with the professional, interpersonal and managerial experience you’ve acquired thus far. Between the lines, it’s best to pass on messages to your target audience, meaning the relevant employer you’re aiming for, so that they understand why they should meet and get to know you, even if this does not produce the result you hoped for. Opportunities come from unexpected directions.
• Based on the opportunities you’ve highlighted for yourself, and with the understanding of what you bring with you, ask your good friends to connect you to their relevant networking, for the next stage. Use your connections correctly!

It may seem difficult at the moment and that the mountain peak is far away, but remember that you’re building a career, not just seeking work. Best of luck to you!