You Have Been Fired!

By F. John Reh

You've been fired.

You almost never hear that any more. Now it's usually a euphemism. We're downsizing. Your position was made redundant. We need to adjust our staffing level to current market factors. You probably know several others.

Whatever it's called, losing your job is usually a painful experience. It can be a little less painful if you know it's coming and you have a chance to prepare. Like other major life changes, there often are subtle warning signs that you can see it you just look.

A lot like getting dumped

If you have ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend dump you, you know the feeling. Here again we use euphemisms. "Growing in different directions". "Need my own space". "Not ready to get tied down". These are clues your relationship is in trouble. The signs that your job is in trouble are equally visible.

1. Location

One of the earliest signs is office location. If you get moved from the corner, window office to a window-less cave by the lunch room, you know it's time to polish your resume. A less obvious sign is your team being moved to offices farther from you or into less desirable offices.

2. Meetings

We all hate meetings because they are such a waste of time. (See my sidebar article about making meetings more productive.). However, a good clue you are being eased out is when people stop inviting you to meetings. You still have all the standing meetings you have to attend, but somehow you don't seem to get invited to the problem-solving meetings as much as before.

3. Telephone tag

Does it seem like it's harder to get hold of key people by phone. (They're always in meetings, right?) Do they take longer to return you voice mail or to reply to email messages? That's a large warning sign.

4. Budget cuts

Everybody gets their budget cut. The clue is by how much. If yours gets cut more than others, or yours increases less than others, that is a good sign that your department is no longer considered as valuable by the company. By extension, so are you.

5. Too busy to talk

Your "friends" have stopped dropping by your office to chat. When you go to their office, or meet them in the hallway, they are "too busy to chat right now". People who used to congregate around you at business social events (seminars, company picnic, etc.) now seem to keep their distance. You are not the only one who is picking up on the subtle signals. No one wants to get caught in the undertow of your sinking ship so they are distancing themselves.

Can this job be saved?

If you notice these signs that your job is in jeopardy, you have to make a decision. Is this a job I want to keep or is it time to move on.