Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Fired (But Were Afraid to Ask)Getting fired is scary and stressful. Not only has your source of income just been yanked away from you, but you might be left with questions about what to do next, how to talk about it in future job bewerbungsgesprchs and even whether what your employer did was legal. Heres a quick primer on what you need to know about getting fired. I was fired without any warning. Is that legal? Generally, yes. No law in the U.S. says that employees must receive a warning before being fired. Good employers will typically warn employees before firing them, in reservierung to make sure that they have a chance to improve, and because they dont want other employees worrying that they could be fired out of the blue. But thats up to the employers own policy and isnt governed by law. Read How to Assert Your Legal Rights at Work. Does my employer have to have a good reason for firing me? Your employer can fire you for any reason at all, or for no reason, as long as its not because of your race, religion, nationality, sex, marital status, disability or other protected characteristic. You can be fired because your boss just doesnt like you or because the CEO wants to bring in her cousins neighbor to take your place. There are two exceptions First, if you have a contract, which most workers in the U.S. dont, your company is bound to the terms it lays out, including around separation. Second, if you work in Montana, youre in the one state in the country that requires firings to be for good cause. Will I be eligible to collect unemployment benefits? It depends. State laws vary, but most states allow fired employees to collect unemployment benefits as long as they werent fired for intentional misconduct or for violating clearly stated workplace rules. For example, being fired for poor performance wont generally make you ineligible to collect b enefits, but excessive absenteeism often will disqualify you. Read 8 Signs That Youre a harte nuss Employee. Does my employer have to pay me severance? No law in the U.S. requires severance payments, so its up to individual employers. However, you can certainly try to negotiate a severance package. Youll generally have more bargaining power for severance if your employer is concerned that you might sue for something (for example, if you had cause to think you had been discriminated against on the basis of race, sex or another protected characteristic) because severance is typically accompanied by general release of future claims against the employer. Your chances of severance can also go up if the employer thinks they have done you wrong in some other way, such as moved you into a position that you didnt have the skills for or fired you soon after you moved from out-of-state for the job. In that case, reasonable employers are likely to want to provide severance to cushion the blow. Read 5 Workplace Laws Your Employer Might Be Violating. Should I list the job on my resume in the future? It depends. If you were only at the job for a short period of time (say, less than six months), listing it will probably do more harm than good. A few months at a job wont be useful in showing any real accomplishments or advancement, and including it will likely raise questions about why you left so soon. On the other hand, if you were at the job for longer, you may prefer to list it, so that you dont have to answer questions about what you were doing during that time period. How should I talk about the firing if it comes up in an interview? Be prepared with a few sentences that explain what happened. Most interviewers will only need a brief explanation and wont expect you to present a detailed account of what happened. For example, you might simply say, Actually, I was let go. The workload was very high, and I didnt speak up about that soon enough. I ended up making some mista kes because of the volume. It taught me a lesson about the need to communicate better when the workload is high and to get on the same page as my manager about priorities if were in a triage mode. Or in another type of situation, you might say, It turned out to be the wrong fit. The job required expertise in web design, which is not my strength, and ultimately we agreed that they need someone with that background in the role. Whats really crucial here is being able to talk about the situation calmly and non-defensively. If you seem bitter and angry, thats going to be a red flag. On the other hand, if you seem to have learned from the experience and understand what went wrong, that can assuage any concerns from the interviewer.

It only takes one harassment claim to ruin a companys rep

It only takes one harassment claim to ruin a companys repIt only takes one harassment claim to ruin a companys repHearing about one case of sexual harassment can poison our view of a company. We dont see bad apples, we see rot in the roots of the tree. When we hear about a single sexual harassment case at a company, its enough to tank our perception about the company as a whole, according to new UCLA research highlighted in Harvard Business Review.We see one case of sexual misconduct as a bigger culture problemIn online experiments with over 1,000 U.S. participants, the researchers split participants into different groups. Each group read up on a fake company, but some also heard unsavory details. For the group that read about a sexual harassment claim made by a female employee against her manager, this story stayed with them and negatively colored their perception of the company as a whole. unterstellung participants were more likely to think that there was deeper culture problem at play.A single sexual harassment claim can be enough to dramatically shape public perception of a company and elicit perceptions of structural unfairness, the researchers write.When we hear about harassment, we are more likely to think that the company is unfair to its employees, even compared to other transgressions we might hear are happening.The group that read about the harassment allegation judged the company as less fair than the group that did not hear about it. They even saw it as less fair than the group that heard the company had a case of financial misconduct. A case of fraud is easier for us to swallow as the result of one bad employee than a case of sexual harassment.How can companies salvage their brand in the wake of sexual harassment? By taking the claim seriously. When participants heard that the company responded promptly and with consideration towards the victim, rather than with discouragement and suspicion, they were less likely to find the company to be an unfa ir place to work.

3 Must Do Tasks Before You Change Careers

3 Must Do Tasks Before You Change CareersChanging Careers? Here Are 3 Must Dos3 Must Do Tasks Before You Change CareersAre you looking to change careers? No matter if youre unemployed, thriving at your current job, or somewhere in between, its a good time to act. Why? The economy is retitelingat least thats what the business pundits sayand employers are beginning to add a few jobs to their payrolls.So, here are three bases you must cover well in your search for a new careerDefine your transferable skills. In other words, make a clear connection between your present and your future. Write a list of the skills youve accumulated up to this point in your career. Then, write a list of the skills that will be needed in your new career. Highlight those that are exact or near matches. For example, editing and writing skills from a career in journalism can transfer well into a marketing environment.Utilize the cover letter. Your resume alone may not be enough to convince a hiring manager that , even without direct experience, youre qualified for the new role. Thats where your cover letter comes in handy. Use it to tell the hiring manager how your skills and experience from other industries can help the company. Its better that you point out that connection than assume theyll figure it out. The more youve thought about how you can make the switch, the better you can articulate it. Using the example above, you might write something like thisMy 10 years of editing and writing experience in print and online media would fit very well with the email messaging, content editing, and copywriting needs of the position.Work your network. Check your LinkedIn contacts, your address book, or your old Rolodex. Do you know anyone who works at a company youd like to work for? Or anyone who can introduce you to someone at that company? Do you know or need to find someone who works in a position or industry youd like to work in, who can give you valuable information about what its like? Th ese are the kinds of contacts you need to makeonline and in-personto ensure that the change youre considering is the right move for you.Of course, changing careers usually isnt simple, and there are more bases you need to cover. But these three are very important as you weigh such a critical decision. You dont want to make the switch having left any questions unanswered.