Getting Laid Off Sucks More Than Getting Fired

Losing a job is always stressful but I’ve found out there are degrees to it depending on the reason

Today we take a break from our usual programming about marketing to talk about something else: the different ways of becoming unemployed, and more specifically: getting laid off vs. getting fired. I now have experience with both.

Fired: It sucks but it was self-inflicted

I’ve been fired a bunch of times in my life. One time I told my boss verbal abuse is abuse, and I won’t tolerate it (he had yelled at me and insulted me in front of the entire team). He fired me on the spot. I was once fired because I was doing my job but my company had sold my job as a different job to the client. I was one forced out of a company because I refused to implement a strategy that I believed wrong for the company’s growth. You get the gist.

Getting fired sucks. You keep replaying the situation in your head and you can’t help but think that if you had managed to bite your tongue and keep your head down, you’d still have a job.

You hold a grudge and maybe fantasize of the boss who fired you getting hit by a car (hypothetically).

You try to reframe your getting fired so you have a reasonable explanation to give the next recruiter who asks why you left.

But then you get into a job-hunting mode and you get over it. You realize that maybe that had not been a great place to work, and that perhaps your lack of impulse control was a blessing in disguise. You move on.

Laid off: There was nothing I could do

Two months ago, I was laid off for the first time in my life. And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t good enough to weather the layoff season (or so I told myself).

This time, it wasn’t personal - the decision was purely financial. I was not the only person laid off - half of the company had to say goodbye. And yet, it hurt more than any other time I had had to leave a job.

I blamed myself that I had made the wrong choice joining the company - how could I have not seen the direction it was going, why didn’t I predict that the company would run out of money this fast?

I blamed myself for not being good enough of a marketer to bring in revenue and help the company stay afloat, even though the product was still in very, very, very early development and I had nothing to market.

I blamed myself for not playing the diplomacy game and not sucking up to people in power who could have kept me on the payroll.

All these things were outside of my control. And yet, I blamed myself for not controlling them.

What comes next

I’ve given myself enough time to sulk and feel sorry for my ass. It still sucks that I was laid off but I have now rationalized it, and no longer have that strong emotional reaction that transforms into self-blame.

New job offers are rolling in, despite the job market being horrible, and I’m working on a few side quests I had been postponing until now.

I’m rearranging my priorities so that I have more bandwidth for the things that really matter - spending time with loved ones, expanding my creativity, and enjoying the beauty of life.

And if you too, like me, are in a similar boat (I know there are a lot of you out there) - just keep rowing. The coast is close.