Might be about to be let go. What now?

Grey, I am fully aware that what I'm saying right now will be of no use to you in your current state but I will say it anyway: It gets better.
A little over two years ago, I had the worst three-month period of my life because I was in a similar situation at the paper I was at. The bosses turned against me and nothing I could do could stop the tide coming.
Feeling the pressure, I accepted the first job that came my way and, in the 10 weeks I was there, it was the worst career move of my life.
I often felt helpless and weak, felt like a failure and thought there was no way I would climb out of that hole. Everyone told me otherwise. I ignored them.
Now, three days shy of 25 months since I quit that job and jumped into the world without a net, I am at the best place I've ever been in my life.
As I said, this is no consolation and I'm fully aware that in your life right now these words mean nothing but. it. gets. better.
My advice? Find a hobby that can clear your mind and you can fully dive into while you figure things out. For me, it was going to the library and reading. That first day, that first step, in getting off the couch was pivotal for me and I'll never forget it. Before long, the depression bouts were fewer and far between. Eventually, I forgot all about the feelings of failure I had.
Weeks went by. I slowly got out of my blue state, slowly started hanging with friends. Months later, I was ready to accept a job that was a much better fit for me.
I wish you the best.
Please keep us posted.

 

In the long run, you'll be better off.

Either your boss was a dick who was never going to be satisfied with your work, or you need to be in a different field. Either way, nothing can be much worse than having a job where you feel like you can't do anything right.

Apply for unemployment immediately and hope they don't contest it.

 

Sounds like the boss was tied to the hip of the ghost of Jelenic. Jeezum.

But you're free from that suffocating leash, Grey, and schiezainc's advice is solid.

Your posts show that you write well. Find the job that plays to your writing strengths.

 

I don't think you've sounded like you're blaming your bosses at all, and I wish you'd stop making it sound like you couldn't do the work, and like you had something to be confessing. You were made to feel that way by your bosses and your company.

I'm sure you could've done the job. This has sounded like a targeted termination from the get-go, and you were never going to be able to make your bosses happy. As I said in, oh, my first post, I think, you were never going to "win" this fight. It was rigged.

I'm sorry you went through this, and are still going through it. I know from similar experience that it isn't easy, and you might be in for the toughest part yet in dealing with it and finding another job. The job that I lost, I always considered to be the best thing that ever happened to me, and, outside of my family, my job pretty much was my life. The devastation almost couldn't be overstated.

But what schiezainc says is true. Something good -- and probably better -- will happen for you in terms of a job. It took quite a while -- a long while -- for me to move on emotionally. But I, too, reached a point where it was in the aftermath of my job loss that I experienced the best, most contented and happiest period of my life. Knowing that happened, and that it could happen, has changed my perspective on everything, forever.

And the job I'm in now pays half as much as my last newspaper job did, and is probably hardly anybody's idea of a dream job.

So, you talk about a change of priorities and perspective...

 

This is the hardest part for me. I wanted nothing more than to work in PR with a sports team, and a year or so ago, it did become apparent that I wasn't really close to that goal. At least not as close as I thought. I did the writing for other sites and the like, had my editing job and yet it was never enough. Part of me felt it was time to throw in the towel. Besides, it's not like you can intern when you have student loan payments calling...

Now, I'm not sure what to do. I know that there is life after sports and other great jobs in other industries. But right now, it's still a lot of what I can think about. I still wish I could work for a sports team and have a great experience like that. But at the same time, I think if I got a call from a non-sports job where the pay was decent and had normal hours with no weekends or holidays, I would also be pretty happy taking that and upgrading my season ticket package for the local hockey team. I think I part feel some regret because I didn't do a lot of things right, and I think what if I had just known in college what to do? I could've had my dream career and not be in this position.

So yeah, there's definitely still some emotion there. But I know it'll be OK eventually.

 

You will be OK. It does take time. If you try to make a clean break from the business, it will probably take less time.

Be open-minded. You may find yourself liking doing something that would have seemed insane to you a few years ago. If someone had told me 10 years ago that I'd be happy doing what I've been doing for the last five years, I'd have told them they were fucking insane.

I truly think that former journalists are the great employees in other jobs because we work well on deadlines, have good communication skills and have been beaten down so much that normal regular job office bullshit doesn't bother us the way it does others...

Hang in there...

 

Absolutely. Former journalists are used to handling heavy workloads with the clock ticking, getting along with others and thinking on their feet. Exactly the types of qualities I'd look for in a prospective employee.

 

A lot of hiring directors don't know that, but some do.

 

Grey, sorry to hear your news. It sucks.
Probably like many, I've been there. I lost my first job out of college. New boss came in and had me go through a bogus improvement program, etc. I still remember asking point blank once if my job was on the line. The response was "No, we're just looking for improvement." Less than two weeks later I was canned. As an aside, a few months later that boss got fired.
Nearly 16 years later, I still maintain getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was tired of the internal "What's wrong with me?" stress that kept getting worse. So many good things and jobs have followed over the years that (most likely) wouldn't have happened if not for getting fired.
For probably the first year or so I wanted to meet my old boss in a dark alley and beat the living crap out of him. That's how mad at him I was. But once my perspective changed, I realized I needed to be thankful. If I ran into him today (I tried sending a message via Facebook a few months ago but haven't heard back) I would hug him and thank him profusely.

 

T

I agree. If I didn't know better, I could have been convinced this was written by any number of former colleagues of mine who fell into a pit where they could do nothing to improve how management saw them. Some deserved it, most didn't. I can rattle off at least 10 folks who were targeted terminations for one reason or another and they were practically forced to resign so they wouldn't have to be offered buyouts.

EDIT: Took out a story that could have outed me

 

Thanks for the support, guys. It feels like I was just fired yesterday, but here we are four days later.

I'm still feeling pretty content about the fact that I'm out of there. I already don't miss the constantly changing schedules, my boss telling me he "will not tolerate" any other errors from me and the constant progress reports and performance reviews. At the same time, I worked for a big company, so I wished my bosses had let me work in another department, but they decided there was no room for growth and wouldn't let me work on any other goals. That was hurtful.

I am worried about the stigma around being fired, especially since it took two years of jobs outside the media business to find this position and work my way through the ranks. To some extent, it does feel like I'll never find another job and that no employer will want to take a chance on me. Prior to being let go, I had interviews, but nothing has panned into an offer. So I feel confident that my resume and cover letter are OK if I'm getting in the door to talk to HR or the hiring manager, depending on the company.

I already had one phone interview yesterday, but it doesn't seem like a good fit for me, so I'll probably pass on it if I'm offered anything. The culture didn't match.

I'm considering getting into the nonprofit sector. It's an industry I've always thought about, and I even interviewed with a nonprofit in January (obviously did not get the job). I know they need marketing/communications people just like any company and that there are other opportunities to find my niche if I'm good, like fundraising/development.

I'm just glad tomorrow is the weekend and I won't have to be at work for once. I'm helping my mom transport a rescue dog to her new foster home. Finally...doing something worthy with a Saturday besides sitting at work and being miserable.

 

It always feels like that -- I've been there, and it's a horrible feeling. But you'll find something, and with the good fortune you're rather obviously due, it'll be something far better. I like what you said about possibly finding something outside sports and upgrading your season ticket package -- something I wish I'd learned a lot earlier in life (I'm not that old, btw!) is that having a "fun" job is great, but it's still a job. You need to find fulfillment outside work -- or you risk ending up in a situation like this again. How you do that is totally up to you, of course. But I now work a job that I enjoy -- to a point. But it's not my raison d'etre. It's what funds the things that are my raison d'etre.