My girlfriend just lost her new job. What now?
March 7, 2007 5:53 PM Subscribe
My girlfriend just lost her new job. What now?
She got a position at a notable local non-profit institution as a meeting event planner for some upcoming events. She was there less than two months and the whole time was wondering why her boss didnt give her more work, always was asking for stuff to do, and felt isolated early on despite making many many efforts to do more work, getting involved, and planning many meetings. Without much warning her boss called her in today and told her she was still on a new hire/probationary period and fired her because "she did not fit the position." She was pretty much told she wasnt a good fit for job and told to clean her stuff out and leave. She did not give any specific criticism or anything.
So the real question now is what to do now? Getting fired isnt the end of the world I say, but she'd like to know a few things:
1. How do you put a 2 month job you had and got fired for for just 'not being a good fit' in an interview?
2. How do you present this to an employer in an interview properly?
3. How bad is a firing like this professionally? Will finding work now be an even more difficult task?
4. Should this be mentioned in a cover letter? (im assuming not)
5. After she gets a new job, does this 2 month position forever stay on her resume or can it be removed?
6. Any other advice.
Thanks guys, all advice will be greatly appreciated right about now.
She got a position at a notable local non-profit institution as a meeting event planner for some upcoming events. She was there less than two months and the whole time was wondering why her boss didnt give her more work, always was asking for stuff to do, and felt isolated early on despite making many many efforts to do more work, getting involved, and planning many meetings. Without much warning her boss called her in today and told her she was still on a new hire/probationary period and fired her because "she did not fit the position." She was pretty much told she wasnt a good fit for job and told to clean her stuff out and leave. She did not give any specific criticism or anything.
So the real question now is what to do now? Getting fired isnt the end of the world I say, but she'd like to know a few things:
1. How do you put a 2 month job you had and got fired for for just 'not being a good fit' in an interview?
2. How do you present this to an employer in an interview properly?
3. How bad is a firing like this professionally? Will finding work now be an even more difficult task?
4. Should this be mentioned in a cover letter? (im assuming not)
5. After she gets a new job, does this 2 month position forever stay on her resume or can it be removed?
6. Any other advice.
Thanks guys, all advice will be greatly appreciated right about now.
My girlfriend just lost her new job. What now?
Dump her.
Oh! That wasn't the question. Well, in that case, what Baby-Balrog said. Two months is nothing. I spent the summer backpacking in Peru, but I'm not going to be putting that on any resume in the future, even though there will be a small gap in my employment history. People take two months or more off from work for any number of reasons. If a future employer really presses your gf, she can simply say that it didn't work out. If they press further, she can say that it was only a temporary position and that she got a lot out of it. In fact, that may be a good thing to say from the get-go. Also, she shouldn't fret that her supervisor didn't like her. Most people are complicated, and some of them make horrible bosses that sabotage their underlings for no good reason other than their own weird issues. Tell your gf not to fret - at some point I'm sure she'll even see the letting-go as a good thing.
posted by billysumday at 6:14 PM on March 7, 2007
Dump her.
Oh! That wasn't the question. Well, in that case, what Baby-Balrog said. Two months is nothing. I spent the summer backpacking in Peru, but I'm not going to be putting that on any resume in the future, even though there will be a small gap in my employment history. People take two months or more off from work for any number of reasons. If a future employer really presses your gf, she can simply say that it didn't work out. If they press further, she can say that it was only a temporary position and that she got a lot out of it. In fact, that may be a good thing to say from the get-go. Also, she shouldn't fret that her supervisor didn't like her. Most people are complicated, and some of them make horrible bosses that sabotage their underlings for no good reason other than their own weird issues. Tell your gf not to fret - at some point I'm sure she'll even see the letting-go as a good thing.
posted by billysumday at 6:14 PM on March 7, 2007
Kind of similar situation for me, except I wasnt fired, I was an on-call person and had a falling out with management, and they just stopped calling me. I dont imagine management there would say constructive things about me either, so I simply leave it off my CV/Resume, and it doesnt get mentioned. Unless it's a small niche industry and the employers are likely to know each other (and even then, i doubt it) it wouldnt come up.
It sounds more like the position the boss was offer changed, or the employers expectations of the position changed. I'm sure it wouldnt take nearly 2 months to figure out of someone was suited to the position or not. So tell your gf not to think it was something lacking on her part.
posted by chrisbucks at 6:15 PM on March 7, 2007
It sounds more like the position the boss was offer changed, or the employers expectations of the position changed. I'm sure it wouldnt take nearly 2 months to figure out of someone was suited to the position or not. So tell your gf not to think it was something lacking on her part.
posted by chrisbucks at 6:15 PM on March 7, 2007
Just leave it off the resume. Sounds like the organization was pretty cliquey. I've felt that at times, especially in nonprofits, where it seems to be rampant, just in my experience. Leave it off but I would feel compelled to come up with some answer for if anyone does know about it and bring it up in any interviews in the next little while.
posted by Listener at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007
posted by Listener at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007
Forget it, move on as if it never happened.
I have been laid off on jobs twice in less than two months. I don't even mention those short term jobs on my resume. A few times it came up in interviews and I very honestly explained the situation I was put in and what happened, just as you just did in your post and the interviewers seemed to understand. No, this will not hurt her future prospects. Try not to dwell on it and just move on. Having said this, I know it's a blow and a real let down, but honestly, I think the problem is theirs, not your girl friend's, and I suspect she's better off this happened sooner rather than later. Just forget it and move on, that's my advice. Hopefully you guys will be laughing about this after a while. I wish her luck looking for work!!!
(I start my next new job on monday)
posted by BillsR100 at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007
I have been laid off on jobs twice in less than two months. I don't even mention those short term jobs on my resume. A few times it came up in interviews and I very honestly explained the situation I was put in and what happened, just as you just did in your post and the interviewers seemed to understand. No, this will not hurt her future prospects. Try not to dwell on it and just move on. Having said this, I know it's a blow and a real let down, but honestly, I think the problem is theirs, not your girl friend's, and I suspect she's better off this happened sooner rather than later. Just forget it and move on, that's my advice. Hopefully you guys will be laughing about this after a while. I wish her luck looking for work!!!
(I start my next new job on monday)
posted by BillsR100 at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007
I agree with leave it off the resume. The only problem I can see that might arise if she left her last job for this one. Then she'll have to figure out what to say in future interviews about why she left her last job. But there's any number of vague "dealing with a family issue" or "pursuing another opportunity" that would probably satisfy potential interviewers.
I didn't work for almost five months after being laid off from my previous non-profit job, and that didn't concern my current employer at all.
I'm sorry for your girlfriend. That kind of thing stings no matter what the circumstance. (I worked at my last job for 5 years, my whole department was canned, and I knew for months that my job was ending. But when they let me go a month earlier than planned, I still found myself in tears, and mildly depressed. Tell her to hang in there).
posted by kimdog at 6:26 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
I didn't work for almost five months after being laid off from my previous non-profit job, and that didn't concern my current employer at all.
I'm sorry for your girlfriend. That kind of thing stings no matter what the circumstance. (I worked at my last job for 5 years, my whole department was canned, and I knew for months that my job was ending. But when they let me go a month earlier than planned, I still found myself in tears, and mildly depressed. Tell her to hang in there).
posted by kimdog at 6:26 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
Leave it off resumes, to be sure. Resumes are marketing tools and some omission is not only permitted but required to tell a story sensibly.
Don't leave it off formal job "applications" of the sort that get filled out for government jobs or that many employers have you fill out after they've hired you. These often require the disclosure of every job hired and omitting a job held is as bad as putting on one you didn't have.
posted by MattD at 6:28 PM on March 7, 2007
Don't leave it off formal job "applications" of the sort that get filled out for government jobs or that many employers have you fill out after they've hired you. These often require the disclosure of every job hired and omitting a job held is as bad as putting on one you didn't have.
posted by MattD at 6:28 PM on March 7, 2007
1. You don't. It never happened. You were on vacation.
2. See 1
3. See 1
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5. See 1
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posted by pompomtom at 7:00 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
2. See 1
3. See 1
4. See 1
5. See 1
6. See 1
posted by pompomtom at 7:00 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the great answers so far, just one follow-up. Should she leave it off the resume now while looking for jobs and then bring it up at the interview or just never bring it up? Because I'm wondering if you never bring it up you have no justification for leaving your previous previous job.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:06 PM on March 7, 2007
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:06 PM on March 7, 2007
Unless she left with the understanding that she could use her former boss as a friendly reference, I'd really leave it off. Unless the interviewer is the ex-boss's ex wife/husband, or the ex boss has really good things to say about your girlfriend, the whole experience is going to raise eyebrows. Remember, employers need to know that a candidate is smart, as well as honest.
The only exception would be if she is in a small, tight-knit field where everyone knows everyone else. Then she can bring it up at an interview.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:13 PM on March 7, 2007
The only exception would be if she is in a small, tight-knit field where everyone knows everyone else. Then she can bring it up at an interview.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:13 PM on March 7, 2007
Why do you want to talk about it? Leaving it off seems to really bother you, but it shouldn’t. A resumé is a collection of facts that demonstrate you to be a good hire. Any fact that does not demonstrate this is therefore not included.
Has your girlfriend never worked before? Is that the issue - that this job is the only one she’s ever had, and without this job her resumé would be empty?
posted by kika at 7:33 PM on March 7, 2007
Has your girlfriend never worked before? Is that the issue - that this job is the only one she’s ever had, and without this job her resumé would be empty?
posted by kika at 7:33 PM on March 7, 2007
left a job after less than two months. agreed: it never happened. am currently employed. no loss.
the emotional ramifications of leaving said job were more powerful than the professional ones. she may be kind of depressed for awhile, but hmmv. tell her to take a week or two off, take lots of walks, and then start sending out resumes.
posted by atayah at 7:39 PM on March 7, 2007
the emotional ramifications of leaving said job were more powerful than the professional ones. she may be kind of depressed for awhile, but hmmv. tell her to take a week or two off, take lots of walks, and then start sending out resumes.
posted by atayah at 7:39 PM on March 7, 2007
I have a TEN-month gap in my resume (six months' travel, four months' looking for a new job). No one has ever asked about it in an interview. Maybe it's because my resume says "Relevant Experience," not "Work Experience." I don't know.
posted by lunalaguna at 7:57 PM on March 7, 2007
posted by lunalaguna at 7:57 PM on March 7, 2007
further: I'm 21 and probably havent exactly been in the workforce long, but I do have a few jobs behind me, (some quite thankfully), and I dont mention some of them on my CV or at interviews simply because they do little for building a good character for me (some short term security and telemarketing jobs which i promptly left after 3 months or less due to them being of no benefit)
Just to state again what everyone else has said, the resume is a marketing portfolio for yourself, and thus you wouldn't do well to mention 4 or 5 short term jobs which you aren't pleased with, when in that space you could have put the more serious ones. That being said, if that was her only job that she's had so far,then perhaps it would pay to mention it on the resume if only in brief. eg: simply state that she had a brief trial period at XYZ organization which didnt eventuate into long term employment.
By the sound of it she wasnt exactly "fired", (as in: having been working there a while told they werent performing to standard etc and been dismissed), rather she was on a trial and during the trial she wasn't found to be the material they were requiring. It doesnt reflect badly on her, just she wasn't what they were expecting, perhaps the nature of the position changed or they were hoping a specific skill set would arise later during the trial period. Although I wouldn't expect them to give a shining review of her if asked by another employer.
this might be going off the scope of the question/answers but: did she know she was on a trial? if not then, were they legally permitted to dismiss her on the grounds that she had only been on trial and she wasn't up to standard?
posted by chrisbucks at 8:05 PM on March 7, 2007
Just to state again what everyone else has said, the resume is a marketing portfolio for yourself, and thus you wouldn't do well to mention 4 or 5 short term jobs which you aren't pleased with, when in that space you could have put the more serious ones. That being said, if that was her only job that she's had so far,then perhaps it would pay to mention it on the resume if only in brief. eg: simply state that she had a brief trial period at XYZ organization which didnt eventuate into long term employment.
By the sound of it she wasnt exactly "fired", (as in: having been working there a while told they werent performing to standard etc and been dismissed), rather she was on a trial and during the trial she wasn't found to be the material they were requiring. It doesnt reflect badly on her, just she wasn't what they were expecting, perhaps the nature of the position changed or they were hoping a specific skill set would arise later during the trial period. Although I wouldn't expect them to give a shining review of her if asked by another employer.
this might be going off the scope of the question/answers but: did she know she was on a trial? if not then, were they legally permitted to dismiss her on the grounds that she had only been on trial and she wasn't up to standard?
posted by chrisbucks at 8:05 PM on March 7, 2007
My advice? If you haven't already, take her out for a really nice dinner. She also needs a backrub.
posted by crinklebat at 9:37 PM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by crinklebat at 9:37 PM on March 7, 2007 [2 favorites]
She can say anything she wants about why she left her previous job. She can say that the position was going to shift dramatically into [other role, one which a person who does what she does wouldn't do or want to do] or she can make a vague reference to political battles occurring well over her head that made it expedient to leave, or she can just say that the job/company wasn't going where she wanted to go.
Leaving things off a resume is not a problem, it's not a legal document. She only needs to acknowledge that job for tax purposes, and possibly if she applies for a security clearance in the future (because of the taxes, there's a record she worked there).
It stings like a sonofabitch to get fired, but it's only going to ruin her week - maybe two or three - not her life.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:58 AM on March 8, 2007
Leaving things off a resume is not a problem, it's not a legal document. She only needs to acknowledge that job for tax purposes, and possibly if she applies for a security clearance in the future (because of the taxes, there's a record she worked there).
It stings like a sonofabitch to get fired, but it's only going to ruin her week - maybe two or three - not her life.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:58 AM on March 8, 2007
Agreeing with the concensus here. She is not required to add this to the list of relevant work experience on her resume. A position that short-lived will not matter in the long run and she (and you) shouldn't dwell on it. If it appears in a background check down the road, she can simply say it turned out to not be the position she was ultimately looking for. Done.
Sometimes things just don't work out for whatever reason.
posted by SoftSummerBreeze at 9:56 AM on March 8, 2007
Sometimes things just don't work out for whatever reason.
posted by SoftSummerBreeze at 9:56 AM on March 8, 2007
The good news is that most employers don't care to know this stuff. It sounds like she's young/first job (under 25 or so) and so gaps here and there are fine. I would list up to 3 key,relevant-to-a-new- position jobs on the resume.
Don't need to explain anything: she should just say she was taking a break or living off savings, that could make her sound financially responsible and a good employee!
Also she really, really shouldn't take it personal. I've seen/heard of people let go b/c a crony or girlfirend needed a job or other dumb reasons and these are always covered by vague explanations.
I read Corporate Confidential and other books to learn how to cope with corporate life. Loved it.
posted by Freecola at 10:05 PM on March 23, 2007
Don't need to explain anything: she should just say she was taking a break or living off savings, that could make her sound financially responsible and a good employee!
Also she really, really shouldn't take it personal. I've seen/heard of people let go b/c a crony or girlfirend needed a job or other dumb reasons and these are always covered by vague explanations.
I read Corporate Confidential and other books to learn how to cope with corporate life. Loved it.
posted by Freecola at 10:05 PM on March 23, 2007
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posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:59 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]