Trials & Triumphs of Career Transition, v.1: Helping Sandy to Understand her Emotions following the Loss of her Job

When we first spoke with Sandy as she joined our outplacement program, she was quiet and fairly despondent having just been told of her termination the day before.  She had worked as a customer service manager for a retail group for the past 10 years.  I learned from the HR Manager that she had a strong performance record, that she was highly involved with a number of committees within the organization and was always the first one on site each morning.

Her termination, I was told, came at no fault of her own and was simply the result of a merger with a larger group based in the States.  However, that didn't seem to resonate with Sandy at the time.  And as she began to open up during that initial conversation, it was clear that all she could see was the fact that she was singled out and fired from a job she truly loved.  She couldn't understand it and had not even told her partner about what had happened!

During our initial conversation, it was my job to help Sandy understand her emotions and her reactions.  I explained to her that what she was experiencing was completely normal and was part of the painful process of managing her grief and personal loss.  In our culture, our careers are so engrained in our egos, that losing them can sometimes be just as significant as the loss of a loved one. 

We talked about the emotions of disbelief, fear, anger, shame and despair and that she should expect each of them to raise their ugly heads from time to time as she healed.  

In addition, by helping Sandy to separate herself as a valued human being from her role as an employee and the uncontrollable situation she found herself in, was helpful in changing her mindset and perspective on this temporary episode in her life.

I encouraged her to have compassion for herself and to be open with her partner, who had always had a track record of being supportive - and as it turned out, reacted with care and concern.  Having their support along with that of us at CMS was tremendously helpful in Sandy’s healing and enabled her to start leaving the past in the past, and start focusing on her future, and all of the contributions and value she could bring to new career opportunities - exciting opportunities that she had never considered before!

Our HR Colleagues - when we meet your former employees for the first time, whether that be during the termination meeting or shortly thereafter, we are well prepared for a variety of emotions that they may express to us and helping them to understand and manage those emotions is a mandatory first step in helping them to develop the resiliency and the perspective necessary to take control of, and find optimism for their futures. To learn more about our outplacement services, please connect with Louise Hack at [email protected]