Making the most of getting fired
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Nov 20/00) - Fired. Canned. Let go. Down-sized. Right-sized. No matter how you try to dress it up in yuppy-speak, it still means the same thing. Somebody didn't want to look at your smiling face any longer.
Hard to take certainly, but one of the realities many of us are forced to face during our time on the planet.
A 'nobody likes me' aura crawls up your spine and leaves you crumpled smack dab at the bottom of the wheel of fortune.
Martin Elkort can help change all that. Something of a pro at being on the losing end of the kiss-off, Elkort has been fired three times. The first two were rather inconsequential, but the third experience left the former executive vice-president with an international tourism association completely debilitated.
"I was fired in a brutal and cruel manner two weeks before Christmas after being assured by the board of directors that they were happy with me," said Elkort, the author of Getting From Hired to Fired.
He learned to keep an updated resume on file and he now knows it's important to maintain relationships with a network of people with access to future job opportunities. As for the best time to look for a new job, Elkort said it was the day after being hired at your current position because no one, and he stressed no one, was immune to getting fired. Preparedness was the key he said, to warding off a deep depression.
"The cemetery is full of people who didn't plan to be there," he said, adding that the first step in getting over being fired was to let off steam in a healthy manner.
"Go out and have a good spicy meal, make love to your mate, run until your legs can't carry you any longer, scream or get drunk. You've got to have some way of letting that out," he said.
Jim Garland, the co-owner of the Latin eatery Jose Locos in Yellowknife, said he preferred to look on his personal misfortune as a learning experience.
Fired more than 20 years ago from a gig as a dishwasher, Garland, now 38, said he learned an important lesson from the man who sent him packing.
"I worked that night and he gave me my cheque at the end of the night and fired me," said Garland.
"I laughed. I honestly didn't feel (dejected). I just thought that was one smart man. He was mad and he wanted to fire me, but he needed someone to work the shift so he waited," he said.
Now on the other side of the employment fence, Garland said he tries to explain to workers he periodically has to set free that they should view the event as a positive life experience.
"Some people get stuck in jobs they hate for 40 years. Don't get angry and don't dwell on it," he said.
Suzanne Laliberte, the owner of the Baffin Hair and Tanning Studio in Iqaluit, said firing people could be easy depending on why they were being let go.
"If somebody steals, it's easy. You don't feel guilty," said Laliberte.
"But if you fire somebody because they're no good (at hairdressing), but they're a nice person, that's hard."
Laliberte said she's had to fire about 15 people during her lifelong career in aesthetics, but that she'd never been given the axe herself.
