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Last fall I went through a job loss that was really hideous. Without going into a novel, it completely blindsided me and the other people affected, parts of my job were given to a person cheaper and less qualified, much of the department I'd created from scratch over years was thrown away. In my case, the job loss was not part of a wider layoff. As I later found out, my new VP "hated" my area and thought what we did was "useless" so he took the first opportunity to give us the ax. ( I never even met the guy). There's more, but again, no novel.
I had tremendous support from my friends and professional community, and thankfully, a few months ago I found new employment. It's a great job-- better pay, more responsibility, expanded duties. I'm really liking it so far. I really thought I could really put the old, crappy job behind me-- concentrate on great new job, get to learn a new city, etc. Give a big ol ********* to previous job by finding something better.
Today a friend shared some news/updates about previous job that just made my blood boil. It's along the same lines as above. I was honestly surprised how much venom I still felt about this past job. Clearly, I have not remotely "moved on" if I'm feeling this much anger.
How have other people "moved on" from previously awful experiences? Not that *any* job loss is usually good, but some are worse than others. People say "just let it go" but it's not that easy. I think a lot of my lingering resentment is that it was so personal. I didn't lose my job because of budget cuts, or an organizational shift, or because I was a bad worker. It was because someone higher up thought my skills were "useless." That's really painful, even if my new job thinks they are awesome.
I think only time will allow you to move forward. It's okay to upset and angry, I think anyone would be upset in your situation. 5 years from now I'm sure you will think back and call the VP a POS but hey who cares. In the end you got the last laugh.
Everyone has had such negative experiences, in our careers. The way I approach it, is that I feel that I have learned a life lesson from this bad experience, and never to repeat it again. Life goes on and I am fortunate to have been able to move on from such a situation.
Not a thing. So.. What's the point of staying ticked?
Now, if the opportunity for vengeance presents itself.. Like, you wind up in HR at a competitor and your old boss comes in for a job.. That could be fun.
I got laid off in '09 from a company.. 2 people laid off at the same time as me went to a competitor, and they're beating the snot out of the company we were laid off from.. Winning jobs from them left and right. They use it as motivation, i'm sure, whether they say they do or not. I'm sure I would, too, if I hadn't moved to another focus.. They went right back into structured cabling.. I went more to the IT side in POS, so.. I never compete with them. Don't even think about them other than when I get 401k statements.
But, really.. Sometimes you just gotta look at it as life being too short. Not worth your anger.
Exactly. Other than an ulcer, that is. They are living rent-free in your head, and frankly they probably haven't thought of you once since you were let go.
And from what you've described, it does not sound personal. Some person in a suit thought your function was useless. Not you personally. It wouldn't have mattered who was in your role, they would have been let go too. It doesn't make the Suit right, but it should bring you some comfort.
Live well. Take pride in your new role. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is all spiffy and new with a beautiful smiling [non-selfie] photo of you showing your ex-company how happy and successful you are. They did you a favor because you are now free to succeed in your new place, and they are the ones who lost a good employee.
(If I'm going to be totally honest, what helped me move on was deciding on a little line I have in my head for if I run into my old hag of a boss. "Thanks for asking! Things are going so wonderfully for me since I left CrapHole company. Well, I've got to run but it was so lovely seeing you!" said with a sweet, annoying, fake-as-hell chipper voice so she knows it wasn't lovely seeing her and she's not worth any more than 10 seconds of my time! Think of it as a reverse elevator-speech.)
Last fall I went through a job loss that was really hideous. Without going into a novel, it completely blindsided me and the other people affected, parts of my job were given to a person cheaper and less qualified, much of the department I'd created from scratch over years was thrown away. In my case, the job loss was not part of a wider layoff. As I later found out, my new VP "hated" my area and thought what we did was "useless" so he took the first opportunity to give us the ax. ( I never even met the guy).
The first thing is to realize that it wasn't personal. You write that you never met the guy, but so what? He looked at the numbers, and the numbers didn't look good to him, so he rectified that. That's what they hired him to do. You can't fault that guy for doing what he was supposed to do.
Frankly, if there's someone in a leadership position who thinks that an entire department is useless, then that department is either actually useless, or has failed to effectively demonstrate its usefulness. That's as much, if not more, on the department head than it is on the person who took the reduction action.
To the uninitiated reader on the Internet your post could easily be seen as you having been given too much free reign to create your little pet project of a department and then someone rational came in and figured out that you are just costing the company money without that you are making any money. I am not saying that it happened that way, but it certainly could be interpreted that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Autum1031
I really thought I could really put the old, crappy job behind me
Which was it; a crappy job or the running the department you created from scratch over the years?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Autum1031
I think a lot of my lingering resentment is that it was so personal. I didn't lose my job because of budget cuts, or an organizational shift, or because I was a bad worker. It was because someone higher up thought my skills were "useless." That's really painful, even if my new job thinks they are awesome.
Again, it wasn't personal. They looked at the financials and figured out that you are costing more money than you are bringing in, so your department was eliminated. It makes exactly zero sense to keep people around who don't contribute to profitability. Likewise it makes zero sense to fire people who create profits (unless they violate laws, policies, etc.).
It's normal to feel angry---and it's normal to feel that anger when something reminds you of your old job. However, over time those feelings will subside.
I've been there and done that. Only in my case I up and quit after my boss-from-hell planned to give me a horrible evaluation. Everywhere I had worked previously, I always got great evaluations. However boss-from-hell never led me to believe that there were any big problems. Then review time came along and she brought up every little minor thing that happened---things that could have been handled when they happened.
So...before she could officially submit my evaluation, I gave my 2 weeks notice. I took some pleasure knowing that I would be leaving during what would have been their busiest time of year.
Eventually, I got a better paying job and had the best boss I ever had. I think boss-from-hell did me a favor by treating me so badly that I quit. If she hadn't done that, I never would have known what it was like to have such a wonderful boss!
Unless you have equity in the company you should not care at all. Get another job that has a positive work environment. My last job was the most unprofessional work environment especially since most of the retail workers were on some kind of drugs. Also the place didn't even have a inventory management system. These were huge issues for the company but its not mine so why give advice that will be ignored?
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