First time being fired and now trying to get my life back on track.

[Dr. Zaus]

Why the hell do people studying things like psychology?

Very useful if you do an MD, JD law or MBA after your psych under-grad.

Good enough to get a job someone right-out-of-high school could get if you don't become a teacher with it.

The same can be said for: anything else that doesn't require you to understand calculus.

 

[GT1999]

I'll be honest, I was fired before because a previous employer just didn't seem to mesh well with my personality. It was a high stress, small business job. It was also my first job out of college so I'm sure experience had something to do with it. I still list it on my resume, and I don't mention I was fired. Now that I have 5+ years at my current job with little to no issues, it doesn't really matter anymore. Most places don't check, or may ask for references that you can provide. Of course, if they do find out, you're SOL.

Good luck.

 

[DirkGently1]

Nobody needs to know you were fired. You're taking time off for 'personal growth'. When asked you have been, "devoting my time to finding a career solution that would enable me to be challenged and fulfilled in my work, whilst being a valuable and productive addition to that employment".

 

[bobdole369]

A few months ago, I was terminated from the company that I worked for. This was the first time in my life that I have ever been terminated from anything. I am in unchartered territory right now. It feels very weird, but already I know that I have to move on. Yet, it's been very difficult for me to move on. After taking some time off, I think I'm mentally ready to start anew again. I guess what I want and need to know is whether being terminated can ever be a liability for the future? I don't think I can leave this out of my CV going forward because any prospective company that would be interested in hiring me would want to know why there is a gap if I leave this out of my CV. However, if I include everything on the CV, how do I ever explain it to them? What if my future jobs doesn't even relate to what I'm doing now? Any advice to help me move forward would be greatly appreciated.

A few more details about me. I'm a recent university graduate majoring in Psychology. I was working at a bank as a teller. I was working in a probationary period. When I was called up to the office to hear the news, I was told that my inability to perform my tasks up to expectation was the reason that I was being let go.

It's a tough economy right now and my dream is to one day work for the State Department, but while that search continues, I need to at least find a way to put food on the table. After not working for a few months, my savings are now getting down to an uncomfortable level.

Being fired is not a liability.

I was fired because my job essentially turned into full-blown cold-calling sales (from running a tech support dept). I tried, and I failed at making sales. I don't get the closer blazer.

I explain it exactly as it happened. Most hiring folk understand what my old boss failed to: (Technical people do not do well selling things).

You can explain it similarly. You are a psych major working as a bank teller (a job not your career) - and that the bank had some expectations that you didn't meet - it was a 90-day probationary thing, it just didn't work out. No biggie.

As for:

I need to at least find a way to put food on the table.

Do you have a vehicle? If so - go deliver pizza or chinese food. Failing that - wash dishes, or bus tables, or go to the labor pool every day. There are tons of ways to make enough money to help with the bills. You don't NEED to wait for the dream job, just get out there and make a few bucks.

My father - an experienced biomedical tech specializing in component repair of CAT Scans, MRI's, Cardiac cath labs, etc, took a job bussing tables after his company took a dump and went bankrupt. No shame in that.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Very useful if you do an MD, JD law or MBA after your psych under-grad.

Good enough to get a job someone right-out-of-high school could get if you don't become a teacher with it.

The same can be said for: anything else that doesn't require you to understand calculus.

You're an idiot. There are plenty of good vocational degrees. Studying something like psych is simply a waste of time and money and demonstrates incredible short sightedness. I studied accountancy because I knew I could find a job easily. Guess what I do for a living?

 

[olds]

You're an idiot. There are plenty of good vocational degrees. Studying something like psych is simply a waste of time and money and demonstrates incredible short sightedness. I studied accountancy because I knew I could find a job easily. Guess what I do for a living?

Professional troll

 

[biostud]

You're an idiot. There are plenty of good vocational degrees. Studying something like psych is simply a waste of time and money and demonstrates incredible short sightedness. I studied accountancy because I knew I could find a job easily. Guess what I do for a living?

because business psychology is just mumbo jumbo....

 

[Zargon]

You're an idiot. There are plenty of good vocational degrees. Studying something like psych is simply a waste of time and money and demonstrates incredible short sightedness. I studied accountancy because I knew I could find a job easily. Guess what I do for a living?

yes because undestanding the human mind and thought processes is a huge waste of time, its much better to be a flaming asshole to everyone so that they all react the same way

 

[yllus]

Hey guys,

I hate to bump this thread, but I have had no success in my hunt for a new job. I have another interview tomorrow and I'm afraid that I'll get another unfavourable reception.

I tried to follow the advices here and briefly just mentioned that I was dismissed from my last job. However, even after I spin it and put it into the positive and change the topic, they want to revisit it. After I explain it in details about what the mistakes were that led to my dismissal, they were like, ok, that's interesting and I would never hear back from them.

What frustrates me the most is that the mistakes that I made as a teller should have no bearing and or impact in the other sectors that I'm interested in. I don't understand how I failed to detect fradulent transactions would somehow indicate that I'm not suitable to be a market/industry analyst, policy analyst, and lots of other entry level positions in what I deem to be good jobs for a college graduate like me. I did well in school and I think I paid the price in doing these so called dead end jobs for close to 10 years of my life. I keep on reiterating that I have never been fired prior to my last job and never for doing anything illegal nor had any misconducts. Yet, I feel like this is continuing to haunt me.

I have another interview tomorrow, but this time it'll be for another dead end job after failing to land anything worthy of my education and hard work over the past 10 years. I'm at a point where I have no choice, but to just accept whatever comes along the way. Yet, I have a feeling this may turn out to be another waste of time where my mistakes at the bank will haunt me again.

My question for you guys is what more that I can do to get this monkey off my back?

Realistically, any hint you provide of failure at another place of employment is going to kill your chances of finding work elsewhere. Employers are very simply partitioning people into two groups: Those with impeccable work histories, and everyone else. With the job market being what it is currently, you need to do your best to be in group A.

I've worked as a bank teller and I have to say - I'm a little taken aback that anyone could be fired from the position. What was the issue there exactly?

 

[lsquare]

Realistically, any hint you provide of failure at another place of employment is going to kill your chances of finding work elsewhere. Employers are very simply partitioning people into two groups: Those with impeccable work histories, and everyone else. With the job market being what it is currently, you need to do your best to be in group A.

I've worked as a bank teller and I have to say - I'm a little taken aback that anyone could be fired from the position. What was the issue there exactly?

I failed to detect a couple of fraudulent transactions and as a result, the company lost money. It wasn't a huge amount, but you know, it's one of those things that are hard to do 100% of the time. Things happen and it's not like I went to school to excel at detecting fraudulent transactions. Maybe being a teller comes natural for you, but it's definitely not natural for me.

 

[FearoftheNight]

gl man!