For most people, it’s perhaps one of their worst nightmares: hearing the words “You’re fired.” It can be a confusing, traumatic and even devastating part of your life. No sane person ever seriously imagines getting fired.
You’d really love to think, and understandably so, that you’d love to stay at your current business for years and years so you can grow with that business and be a part of something bigger than you. If you plan on parting ways with your employer, you’d more than likely would want it to be on your own terms with a mutual understanding between your and your employer. Sadly, the latter two situations sometimes just don’t play out and you get fired from your position.
The rather harsh reality is that you will likely have a job at some point in your life that you will be fired from. It might not always be your own fault, but to live in some sort of ‘bubble’ where firing is unheard of, is just not an accurate way of thinking. Odds are you will likely be fired from a job at some point in your life and there are a number of reasons why.
Underperformance
One of the primary reasons for termination is underperformance. Now this might not always be an indictment on you, which is one thought that rarely crosses peoples’ minds when it happens. Underperformance could be a matter of ‘square peg, round hole’, which is more of an indictment on the employer’s recruitment tactics and evaluation of talent. A company could be turning over employees quite frequently, they may find themselves in a tough position to acquire new talent and they end up ‘shoe-horning’ people into their organization. Simply put, you weren’t put in a position to succeed.
Personal
A slightly underrated and frankly, horrible, reason for being fired is tied to emotional. Jealousy and Hatred, for example, can serve as reasons for an employee being terminated. Although, you’ll almost never hear that directly from an employer. Your employer was jealous of your talent, something about you rubbed them the wrong way or they were intimidated by your skillsets and work ethic. This is a highly subjective reason for termination that, ideally, shouldn’t happen. As long as humans are part of the equation, there will always be emotion involved in decisions.
Poor Attitude
Another common reason for termination is a poor attitude. Companies are placing more and more emphasis on company culture. If you do not fit into that culture then you will probably find it difficult to work there and you will probably eventually either leave on your own terms or be fired. If you came in to work everyday with a toxic attitude, it was noticeable. If you were constantly arriving late, missed too many days of work (no matter how valid your reasons were), or showed disinterest to your job or your company, that probably played a part in your being fired. If you talked poorly to your boss or your co-workers, this likely contributed to their decision to fire you.
Nobody ever wants to be fired from their job, especially if it’s a job that you love. Plenty of people change jobs, even careers, at some point in their life. It’s likely you’ll find yourself set up for failure or you just didn’t work well within a company’s system. It’s not something to obsess about all the time, but at least try and understand that there’s a possibility that it may be coming your way.