You’re About To Be Fired. What Should You Do?

There’s a feeling in the air, an uneasiness about your job and the prospect of losing it in the near future. It might be due to rumors circulating that a downsizing is coming soon. Perhaps a new executive has started at the company and is evaluating which people she will keep for her team and which ones will be let go to make room for those she wants to bring in. Maybe things just haven’t been going well and the relationship with your boss has been strained for a while. Whatever the source of the anxious feeling might be, you recognize it might be time to prepare for the worst.

By the time you begin to sense that things are coming to an end at your current organization, and not by your choice, it’s usually too late to do anything to change the outcome. The most important preparations to take at this point is to make certain you land on your feet and are in the best position to find your next opportunity.

Actions to Take Before You're Fired/Let Go

If you have a few days or weeks' notice, there are many things you can do to make certain you are prepared. Many of these steps are things you can do proactively even if you don’t believe your job is in jeopardy.

1. Employment Agreements: If you have signed any agreements or were provided a copy of the employee handbook, be sure to have copies of these saved in your home files. It’s a lot easier and faster to access them from your own files versus needing to contact the HR department after the fact.
2. Personal Items / Files: If you have personal items and/or files at the office or on your work computer, it’s time to begin moving them to your home. If you use your company email address for logging into things like LinkedIn, be sure to change that to your personal email address. Be sure to only remove things that belong to you versus things that belong to the company.
3. Financial Analysis: It’s a good time to review your financial situation to assess your ability to take the time necessary to land your next job. If there are ways to tighten up your budget, it's better to get a head start on it. Also, take a look at the available savings and borrowing power you have to be able to pay bills for an extended period of time. Actively looking for a new job takes longer than most people anticipate, especially if it has been a few years or more since your last active job search.
4. Discuss with Spouse/Partner: If you are in a close relationship with someone who is part of your immediate household, it’s a good idea to bring them into the loop. It can be a difficult conversation in many cases, but you don’t want them to be completely caught off guard later. Your spouse/partner will have their own emotions to process, and you want to have their support. Assure them that it will be alright and you will both get through it in good shape.
5. Seek Guidance: It’s far better to have good guidance when going through something challenging, especially one that involves your livelihood and so many emotions. Be selective about the guidance you seek. Not all guidance is good and some might simply make the situation worse. If you have a good and wise mentor, seek them out. There are also professionals who do this for a living and might provide a free initial consultation to assess if it is the right fit for you.
6. Breathe and Take Solace: It’s not fun to be terminated from employment. It’s also not the end of the world and you will be alright. You are still employable and will be able to feed yourself and live in a safe and comfortable environment. Reaffirm yourself of this daily to keep the anxious voices at bay so you can focus on the tasks ahead.

Actions to Take on the Day You're Fired/Let Go

In some cases, you know the day is coming. It might be because of the unusual meeting that you were called to with your boss that has a fuzzy agenda. Perhaps it’s not even a secret. In other cases, the meeting comes as a complete surprise and there is nothing even scheduled. You are invited to a meeting and your boss, someone from HR and maybe the corporate attorney are already in the room. In either case, the next set of actions steps are the same.

1. Remain Calm: There’s no avoiding the adrenaline rush and the increase in heart rate. It’s your body’s natural defense mechanism being triggered when it perceives a threat. You can work through the physical part of it if you actively tell yourself that it’s going to be alright. Breathe deeply and slowly. Recognize that you are safe. You will have a good meal tonight and sleep in your own bed. Controlling your emotions will help you perform better in this critical moment.
2. Just Listen: All of the pressure is on the people in front of you. Believe it or not, this moment is even more pressure filled for them versus you. You don’t have any decisions to make. The decision has already been made. Your only mission at this point is to gather information and mentally record everything. There is no need to try and defend yourself. If they ask you to do so, you can let them know that the meeting is rather overwhelming given the circumstances and you would prefer to listen carefully to what they have to say and will respond to anything needed in the very near future.
3. Don’t Sign Anything: There might be pressure to sign some kind of separation agreement on the spot. If they are asking you to sign something, ask that they forward it to you via email so you can review it carefully and get back to them in a timely manner. If they apply a lot of pressure with some kind of threat of taking something away from you let them know you are not in a good emotional space to make these kinds of important decisions. The more pressure they apply the worse it will be for them in the negotiation process. There will be plenty of opportunity to more fully negotiate your exit later.
4. Exit Gracefully: Keep the meeting short and to the point. Once you have heard what they have to say, ask that they forward everything to you via your personal email address. Quietly exit the meeting as gracefully as possible. They will likely allow you to gather your personal items while someone is with you. Don’t worry about trying to say your goodbyes to friends and colleagues. You will have plenty of opportunities to visit with them later. Similarly, there is no need to vent your emotions to the person watching you gather your things. Quietly make your way to the exit with your things to your car.
5. Briefly Release Your Emotions: Drive a short distance to another location off site from the company property. Park in a place where you can have some privacy. Take a few minutes to release the emotions that have been bottled up during this very stressful time. Then, gather yourself together and be prepared to call whoever is closest to you in your life with whom you would want to share this news.
6. Document All of the Details: As soon as you get home, immediately send yourself an email documenting all of the details you remember from your separation meeting. Write down as many details as possible. Then send it to yourself. This provides you with a written account of everything that happened, and it is time and date stamped from your email showing it is still fresh in mind.
7. Contact Your Advisor: If you have a career advisor who has experience in guiding people through these kinds of events it is important to contact them right away. The next few days will be very important for guiding you through making decisions that will have a great impact on the rest of your career. An experienced career advisor can help ensure you land on your feet and potentially help you negotiate the best possible terms for your exit. Most people in the workforce don’t realize that there are plenty of things to negotiate on an exit. Employers have plenty of incentive to make sure the separation goes smoothly and you are usually in a good position to get some important concessions in exchange for your agreement to go quietly.

Being fired from your job is never anyone’s favorite day. The day of termination can either be a moment that sends someone’s career into a tailspin for years to come or a day that sees them land on their feet and pivot to new heights. The difference comes down to how the individual handles the situation. The ones who can see the signs in advance and take steps to prepare for it usually have much better outcomes. Those who utilize experts who have significant experience in guiding others through similar situations generally have even better results. A termination does not have to be a career-altering negative event. Life and your career will move forward if you take the right steps and make plans ahead of time.