Any advice? After only four months at my job, I got called into

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

the boss's office on Thursday, and was told I was terminated as my experience level wasn't up to what the job (mind you, my boss hadn't even told me I needed to improve on anything the whole time I was there. I am not exaggerating.).

I've never been fired before, and I'm wigging out about how to handle when, during an interview, the question comes up about why I left my last job.

I'm so afraid that this experience is going to ruin my chances of getting a new job soon. Prior to this job, I was at my last company for seven years. I left that place as there was "nowhere to go" and the one I was just terminated from offerred career advancement (for someone else, apparently).

Any advice?

[RazzleCat]

1. Get your courage up

and call them and request a letter of recommendation. I know it sounds nuts, but they did hire you so they saw something that they truly liked about you. Believe it or not I have given letters to persons let go who were good persons but just did not fit the job they were in. If you can't get one from HR see if your immediate supervisor will give you on. I got fired from my last job (I gave notice, boss said your fired when I did), in any event I went over to my supervisor and requested a letter and he gave me one on the spot, then to CYA I also called the CFO and head of accounting after leaving the building and both of them faxed me great letters. When the issue arose I would tell the truth, I gave notice due to conflicts (their is more going on here that I would explain to the interviewer) and then I would hand them the letters from my immediate supervisors. Hence I would not lie in the interview, but I would have those letters and professional references in hand to give over to the interviewer when the issue arose.

Now on to the getting a new job soon, don't want to burst your bubble, the job situation sucks. I ended up taking a job with the Federal Government, at about $15,000. a year less, add in that it started as 3rd shift and it sucks. On the bright side I managed a transfer to 1st shift and I am now in the system of Federal Employees so I have hopes of getting a better job with in the government sometime in the next 2 years. Right now as I have managed to get off midnights I am going out to look for a part time clerk position so attempt to make up for the lost wages. fyi the wage loss is not as bad as it sounds as the benefits are better and $400.00 per month less, so I think with and extra 10 to 20 hours a week at around $9.00 per hour I will be ok. But still it sucks to go from $40 odd thousand per year to mid 20's.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. I emailed the company president who I got on well with to ask if

he'd write me a letter of recommendation (after all, I did help them put together an awards submission that resulted in them wining second place!?). The HR lady emailed me to say he may do that. I'll see what happens. I emailed a fella who I worked closely with (though I was only there for four months) and who made comments that he was impressed with some things I did for his dept., and he said he'd be happy to be a reference for me, so we'll see.

I'm totally aware the job market sucks. I emailed a couple of resumes today. I got one response back; the lady said I was over-qualified for the job they were advertising (she said it was more entry level) and I could probably get a lot more money than what they were offerring; however, if I wanted to still pursue, we could go to the next step. Fortunately, I have unemployment coming, but I'm aggressivly pursuing all leads. Thanks for the good advice.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

3. Company president emailed me today and said the letter's in

the mail (hope he means it and not "the check's in the mail.").

[Kat45]

4. That's today's job market for you. I got fired after 3 weeks on the job.

They said they can tell in that time period if someone is going to work out in the job, and I hadn't learned enough of it yet. I couldn't believe it! There was a ton of stuff to learn for the job and three weeks was not enough time to get a good handle on it. So I'm back in the job market, with no unemployment to collect, and everything so far fizzling out after the phone interview because they have other candidates who more closely fit what they're looking for, yada yada. Since my resume is varied, there's always someone else with more of whatever they're looking for. Sorry I don't have any advice for you, but I thought I'd offer you some 'you're not alone' understanding of your situation. Hooray for the busheconomy. <insert raspberry here>

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

5. So here's a bit of an update...

Hubby got new job, which he started today, which takes some of the pressure off me (plus, no more COBRA payments!).

I belong to a professional society and receive listserve emails on a fairly regular basis. I received a mass email from the professional society, and the email from the boss who fired me as well as the email address of the new employee who was hired was also listed. I Googled the name, as I was curious. Turns out, my theory was right (they got rid of me so they would force the woman who was there for six years who didn't originally want the job they hired me for to take it, and hired someone who was a recent college graduate to replace her).

Unfortunately, I live in an at-will employment state, so I think I can't even do anything about this. Grrr....

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

6. Latest news...

Started a new job on Monday (finally!? Took 5 months, and started exactly 5 mos. to the date I was terminated from the other place. Odd, huh?!). Even though I'm only going on my third day, so far, everyone seems very nice and the atmosphere appears to be relaxed...unlike the stick-up-the-ass attitude I sometimes felt at my previous job. I'm praying this job will work out better than the last place, obviously. My boss seems pretty cool (he has a funny sense of humor, to boot), I'm gonna learn about a new industry plus do things I haven't previously done in similar jobs (I worked in marketing/bus. development for architects and engineers for 10 years) such as update their website, coordinate special events like ribbon-cutting ceremonies, etc.

Keep your fingers crossed, guys. I'm really hoping this job works out?!