Changing jobs

I got fired from my first job after college. It’s now over ten years ago, so I don’t have to tell the story at job interviews any more, but I was well and truly fired from my first real job, and it hurt like heck. My boss called me in to her office, and told me it would be my last day at that job. When I asked why, she gave me a bunch of reasons, some of which seemed accurate, some of which seemed unfair, and some of which seemed to have been chosen at random and bore no connection to me at all.

It turned out for the best – I actually hated that job, and I moved to Egypt six months later. But I still remember crying all the way home, and the way I could barely catch my breath for sobbing. I felt like the biggest screw-up in the world.

So, what did I do wrong?

* I signed a lease in a new city before I found a job. That meant I was desperate during my job search and I took the first job I was offered. The job itself was a terrible fit for me. I was registrar at a for-profit language school, and I had to enroll each student using very complicated database software that had been written for the school by a none-too-competent programmer. It was boring, detail-oriented work that meant nothing to me.

* I settled too soon, and was too loyal to my new job. I had no idea how long a job search actually takes. I was offered four other (better-sounding) jobs in the two weeks after I started work.

Read More »