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I was just let go from my job after 5.5 months and am sitting in shock. I thought I was doing great and fit in and had NO negative feedback my whole time there. Is this normal after No negative feedback??! I never made mistakes that I know of. I had the same job at the last company I was with and it was going well. They were giving me more responsibility, but I wanted to move. He basically just said that I wasnt' good enough for my pay or didn't know enough for my pay. Then said someone I worked with called me "the greenest person he worked with", but I was skeptical of this and called him and he said no way did he say that.
The only thing I can think of is that I didn't have anything to do almost my whole time there. I don't know if there just wasn't anywhere to put me? But then why not just lay me off for lack of work? They have also been known to fire or layoff a lot of people, but I have no idea what I did. This is scary to me because now I will always be scare of being let go. Please give me some insight.
So you've just learned an invaluable life lesson here. That being the absence of a negative does not mean that there is a positive. Meaning, just because you received no negative feedback does not mean you are viewed as a positive contributor.
Simce your now former employer gave you no good reason for letting you go, you are left to wonder what you did wrong. If I were you I would chalk this experience up as one where you had the misfortune to work for an inept manager and leave it at that. Most of us have been in your shoes at some point in our careers. I would NOT allow this experience to hinder me in any way, but instead use it as motivation to get better at whatever skill set is required for this type of work.
As for your next job, I would refer to the one you just lost as a corporate downsizing event rather than a termination. After all, they didn't have anything for you to do so they had to downsize their staffing levels. See what I did there? Sort of takes away the negative sting a bit.
He also offered me a letter of recommendation, which I thought was unusual, and employers don't care about. Is this worth my time? Employers would want to talk with me over the phone, not a letter.
Take the letter. Make copies. It may come in handy in the future.
There's no use worrying about it, for all you know the bosses nephew just relocated to the area and decided he wants your job.
Or someone came back that left.
Businesses lay off people by the thousands sometimes. Just by being part of a department that's getting cut is another one. You can have the best reviews and be a great worker. Management doesn't care.
I was blind sided with a lay off in a position once. It was presented to me as a temp-to-hire position. It paid well, was in a great area, with a seemingly stable company. There was plenty of work and I enjoyed it. Then one day my boss pulled me aside and told me that the company was going through a bid process to continue being a vendor for a larger company. They needed to "trim the fat" so to speak, so the first thing they were doing was releasing any temp or contract employees. She told me that if it was up to her she would keep me over the two women that had been doing the job for years because I was better than them, but none of it was her decision.
The company was really nice though and informed me about a month and a half before they were going to let me go and even allowed me to go on interviews during work hours with pay.
Just goes to show that no matter how great a job you do or how much you're liked you aren't safe.
He also offered me a letter of recommendation, which I thought was unusual, and employers don't care about. Is this worth my time? Employers would want to talk with me over the phone, not a letter.
You were "let go" after five months. This sounds like a probationary termination. Happens all the time. Sounds like they decided that based on what they'd seen in that period, they'd have to invest more time in training than they were willing. As someone mentioned, when you said there wasn't very much work, they may have been looking for more initiative and intellectual curiosity from you. You didn't mention, but I bet this was not an entry level position.
I have seen numerous terminations of this nature over the years. Generally, they're not considered a "termination for cause." They occur even in unionized workforces. Management simply realizes it's not a good fit, and the parties separate amicably, thus the offer of a good recommendation (and the retraction of the statement about being too green).
Learn from the experience, and move on. If you don't, you increase the likelihood of repeating the scenario with another employer.
Because they expected you to show initiative. You say there was little work to do. There were probably a lot of things you could have done to get more work, but you just waited for it to come to you.
Do you really think your post is a help to the OP right now? Losing a job can be devastating and you seem to want to lay the blame at the feet of the OP when a lot of companies these days just don't know how to do the right thing by their employees.
Because they expected you to show initiative. You say there was little work to do. There were probably a lot of things you could have done to get more work, but you just waited for it to come to you.
How do you know? Do you work there? You don't know if he showed initiative or not. It is a known fact though, that many companies will blame the worker when it's actually a layoff.
Fact is, none of us really know for sure why the OP was let go. Like the previous poster said, losing a job can be devastating. So let it go.
Because they expected you to show initiative. You say there was little work to do. There were probably a lot of things you could have done to get more work, but you just waited for it to come to you.
I was always looking for things I could do. I told my boss a few times that I had free time and if he needed anything done and he would say how bad he was with deligating work. He was always so busy and not around a lot. I always felt like I was bothering him.
go union. otherwise you're playing russian roulette.
For non government work, less than 6% of people work at union jobs. The majority of the country does not have union office workers. It is this attitude such as you show, that has driven unions out of the work place. A union protecting a job when the company does not need them, makes it impossible for many companies to balance their work load, often closing shop so to speak in strong union areas, and moving to where they can control their company, without fighting with a union.
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