In July 2020, my eyes were riveted to an outlook notification for an email from the Senior Manager in the service line at the Big 4 consulting firm I was employed at. This struck me as ominous given that the only attendees were a Human Resources Manager, the Senior Manager, and myself. A part of me knew what was coming but I convinced myself they couldn’t let me go at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic.
Within the hour, I was informed that I was terminated without notice effective immediately with two months’ severance. I wasn’t surprised, not really. The signs had been clear for months now.
Acceptance
I neither denied nor bargained with the two messengers of doom on that 10-minute call. Over the previous year, I had been engaged in a deadly tango with the firm. Consulting is a game of networking and relationships just like any other job. And this networking doesn’t apply to just customers and engagement partners. A consultant is expected to network intensively even within the firm just to have any work to do at all. Some call it favoritism, some call it sycophancy but I prefer to call it extreme pragmatism. After all, consultants are expected to work in small teams for months or years. It’s only natural that a team sport produces teams that are hostile or averse to strangers who might throw off the dynamic.
Being a freshly minted MBA who had done a short stint on my first project, I hadn’t gained the trust or traction with managers that my colleagues had. Over the year, I was the last pick for any project that came up and I couldn’t show any singular contribution during my appraisal. My cries for a chance fell on ears deafened by my lack of experience.
I had failed the firm and the firm had failed me
Acclimatization
A strange aspect of being fired is the inconveniences it creates immediately. My top-of-the-line office laptop was disabled within hours of my termination. I didn’t have a personal laptop, so my window to the world narrowed to the 5.5 inches of my smartphone. So, I roused myself out of shock to overcome my technological handicap. I didn’t want to lose a job opportunity simply because I couldn’t format my resume on my phone.
Rule #1: Get your communication lines working as soon as you’re fired. If it means parting with your precious savings for a new laptop, DO IT!
My next area of focus was my financial position. I did a quick assessment of my savings, investments, and liabilities. Two months before, I’d made the smart move to live with my parents to weather the pandemic. I would say this is the best financial move you can make during unemployment. I saved a ton on rent, furniture, and groceries while falling back on the love, care, and support of my parents.
Rule #2: Move in with your parents
I’d suffered a breakup in the same week as being fired. While friends and loved ones commiserated, they really didn’t know what this specific situation felt like. My ego was shattered and I was close to being an absolute wreck.
I re-entered therapy with a vengeance. My counsellor was instrumental in helping me piece together my self-image in a healthy way. I was forced to confront the reality that I was fired and shit out of luck in a pandemic. I was also forced to face my own unwarranted panic. I had an education, I had parents who were financially stable and I had my brains and the internet to solve this problem. Therapy also helped me compartmentalize my feelings. I focused my entire day on the job search while bottling up my despair for that one hour with my counsellor. This left plenty of computing space in my head unpolluted by anger or frustration.
Rule #3: Get professional mental help even if you don’t think you need it
One insidious characteristic of unemployment was the abundant availability of time. I set a routine for myself that I followed unerringly. Waking up for a run, making breakfast, cooking a healthy breakfast, and perusing job sites became cornerstones of my day. When I found myself sinking into retrospection or doubt, I’d force myself to spill my feelings onto a journal. It would keep me occupied for a solid hour while allowing my thoughts to run free. Steadily, I began to make up for areas of my life where I’d been negligent. The running kept me in good health and gave me a high every time I hit the 8-mile mark. I became adept at whipping up quick meals which went a long way towards bolstering my self-esteem.
Rule #4: Have a routine that forces you to get out of bed and keeps you running till bedtime. You just need to get through each day without collapsing into yourself
Persistence
A month after being fired, I accepted an opportunity to work in an unofficial capacity with an alumnus on her startup. Though the pay didn’t compare with my previous job and the sector wasn’t really one I wanted to stay in, I nevertheless accepted the job with gratitude. I reveled in the thrill of negotiating a salary again. An income is the greatest intoxicant for a middle-class Indian. To put it another way, someone was PAYING me while I was searching for jobs!
Rule #5: Accept any opportunity to make money while you search for your next job
It took me two whole months of spamming the apply button on every single website before I realized that companies seldom look at their application portals. I realized this when a casual mention of my search to a college batchmate converted into an interview call from his ex-colleague. That experience changed the way I approached the job hunt. I began to use my college alumni network and new connections on LinkedIn to get referrals to the roles I wanted. And oddly enough, complete strangers on the internet graciously offered to give me the leg up that I needed. I began adding contacts at the rate of 100 people a day. Who you know is way more important than how many websites you can access. A simple “Hey! I’d love to know more about program management and I’d like to connect with you on this” garnered 20+ referrals for me.
Rule #6: Don’t be ashamed to reach out to everybody you can, but be polite and be professional about it. Leverage the power of a LinkedIn Premium subscription to cast a wide net and connect with people
I didn’t limit myself to the role I had worked in previously. In fact, I was adamant about never going back to consulting. I loved the novelty of interviewing for roles I had never even considered or didn’t even have the skills for. I went 4 rounds with a gaming company after reading half a book on product management and practicing two business cases the previous night! It kept my mind agile and adaptable to the interview invitations I would receive at very short notice. It also opened me up to a broader world of career options that I had missed in the initial euphoria of getting a job right out of my MBA. And the interview practice went a long way towards making me a desirable candidate for the jobs that mattered.
Rule #7: Apply to every job that’s connected to your education and work experience. The interview practice will help your mind stay nimble for when the right opportunity comes along
I applied to nearly 30 positions before I got my first interview call. At the end of my search, I’d applied to nearly 120 jobs. I’d received calls from 9 companies. In India and other competitive markets, it’s safe to assume a lead time of six months for your job search and an application to interview call conversion of 10%. That is, for every 100 roles you apply for, you’d probably get 10 calls.
Rule #8: Apply, apply, apply to every role you can find, and be patient
Opportunism
It’s only fitting that my current role landed in my lap through someone I had met and spoken to almost 2 months before I was fired. As if God was dotting the t in networking. My interview lasted just 30 minutes and I received a 20% hike in compensation.
I’m never going to be happy or secure knowing that my organization might view me as an inconvenience at any time. So I’ve dedicated my life to following the last rule.
Rule #9: Treat your job as a contract skewed against you because that’s exactly what it is. Always be on the lookout for a better opportunity and talk to new people about their jobs and experiences every chance you get.
It’s no coincidence that some of my employers have called laptops “assets” and employees “resources”. The professional world, for all its bluster about loving employees, is actually indifferent to your circumstances. So don’t let guilt get in the way of your paycheck. Ever.
