[Editor's note: This guest post comes from a good friend of mine, Jason Cook, who recently lost his job at a magazine. A talented writer, you can find his musings on sports, video games, music, and more over at his site. If you have a story you want to share, let me know!]
I considered myself one of the lucky ones. I had a (granted, part-time) job in my desired field at a comfortable location with co-workers I got along with that paid enough for me to at least pay some bills. I decided to finally move out of my parents house and move to a new city. But the Rhode Island economy is not exactly stable, so finding another part-time job to supplant my income became difficult.
My bank account began to dwindle, but I was trying to make it all work. Then rent and utilities, student loans, and health insurance started to catch up to me. I had a few leads on some part-time jobs and I still had the magazine to pay some bills. Plus, I had some freelance work to earn some extra cash. I wasn’t living the high life, but I was getting by.
In my six short months, I had seen people leave the magazine, as it’s — to understate it — belt-tightening time in the print journalism industry. I had never thought I was next.
Then, as they say, life got in the way.
I was let go — in part for financial reasons, in part for performance reasons — for the first time in my working life. By e-mail!
But my story is far from unique and not the reason I am writing this. I could be bitter. Maybe pull some proletariat dream scenario and go to the office and tell everyone to go to Hell. I could beg for my job back, promise better performance and ask for one more chance.
That’s not me.
I decided to take this situation as a kick in the ass. A wake-up call. A motivator. With no more tethers to my home town, I am now free to pursue seeking employment in my field in Rhode Island with renewed vigor. I decided to take my superiors criticisms — taking my job more seriously, improving on accuracy in editing and writing, and a score of other remarks — as constructive, rather than derisive. Call it a “I’ll show them” attitude.
Things will certainly be hard for a while, but they’ve been that way for a month or so now. No (or much, much less) going out. Cutting back on frivolous spending. Focusing on managing my money better.
I never wanted to stay forever at my first job in the magazine business anyway. I often felt like a rat on a sinking ship. The future is passing them by. That’s not to say I hated my job — far from it. But it was the first step on my career path. And even though we left on poor terms (in that it was not a mutual decision), I was assured to be given good recommendations should I ask them.
I had never before bought into all these “I was fired from my job and now I have a new angle on life blah blah blah” stories. What did I care? I had a part-time job in my field right out of college. This stuff was easy. Well it’s not easy.
I am hoping to take a lot of lessons from these next few weeks. Reflecting on my time at the magazine — what I could have done better, what I did well, the great people I worked with — and looking ahead. Lemons; lemonade and such.
Oh, and you can bet I am printing out that e-mail and tacking it up at my desk.
Kerry Jobs and Careers
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