Don't dwell on a firing -- move on

The most recent issue of Fast Company magazine (September) featured an article about the firing of David Pottruck.

Pottruck, former head of Charles Schwab, openly discusses the emotional roller coaster that accompanied a public termination from a high position. While he goes through the typical and normal range of emotions anyone who has ever been terminated experiences, Pottruck's recounting suggests a great deal of self-management through those emotions. I'd add that he should count himself among the few who learned a lot from the experience. He willingly shares the strategies that worked in guiding him through the process from termination to re-employment. His strategies aren't about using a network or polishing one's resume. Rather, his strategies are for dealing with one's self.

"Avoid the blame game." It does one no good to spend time blaming one's former employer, one's advisers, one's board, one's manager or any other "one" one can think of to add to that list. Spending time ruminating over how undeserved the firing or layoff was prevents one from spending time focusing on how to make the future better.

While you're at it, I'd add, purposefully, consistently and religiously avoid those who would help or encourage you to play the blame game. They aren't trying to help you. Rather, they're working to enlist you in strengthening their own blame-the-other positioning.

"Don't dwell." Have a short sentence to share with friends and acquaintances, such as "the job at ABC didn't work out." Period. While Pottruck recognizes that one will go through a mourning process - losing a job is a significant loss, after all - he encourages getting through that process as quickly as is reasonable. Focus all efforts on the future.

"Reject the comfortable." While you may want to or be forced to return to exactly the same kind of work you did before - because it's all you know - terminations often offer opportunities to explore new careers. Is there something you've always wanted to try, have longed to do? Something you didn't pursue because you had the comfort of the known? Explore the possibilities.

In support of that exploration, I've had countless individuals report back after they've gone through a job loss that the new job offered more than they'd ever thought possible. I've had many report that they never would have tried the new if the job loss hadn't occurred. Many of those same individuals have said that, overall, life is better, more fulfilling now than it had been before the earlier job loss. Explore.

"Take some time, but not too much." If you need a short break, a re-energizing vacation, take it. Figure out how much time you need, what you'll do with the time, the purpose of the break and, then, enjoy the time. Return to the job search on schedule ... energized.

"Go with the flow." In doing so, Pottruck is trying " ... to be engaged with the world ... and [letting his life] take its own course. While that seems anti-thetical to my usual counsel to have a plan, it isn't. Going with the flow is a way of coping with what happens as one is following a plan. Things just will happen. Failure to go with the flow usually leaves one frustrated or in despair as life unfolds around carefully constructed plans.

If one adds Pottruck's strategies to the rest of what must be done - resume updating, contacting one's network, contacting prospective employers, etc. - the total elapsed time between jobs will pass at least somewhat less painfully.

On a final note, for those applying for jobs where applications rather than resumes are required, the Virginia Employment Commission has a neat little pocket guide that allows one to collect and carry critical information (work history, names and addresses of references) on a card that folds to pocket size. Handy, neat - and free from VEC. Just ask for the "Job Interview Pocket Resume.