In a situation where you're in risk of getting fired...

Hard to answer these questions without knowing how old you are, your financial situation, do you have previous jobs to include on a resume and whether or not you have a family to support.

 

1. Go to a bar with your boss and make him ****-faced mega-drunk
2. Excuse yourself and go to the bathroom
3. Put yourself in a dress, wig and put on lipstick and makeup
4. Go to your boss and hope he thinks you're a hot female
5. Flirt really hard and wait for him to invite you to his home
6. censored
7. Sue him for sexual harrassment
8. Profit

 

I made a serious mistake this week myself, I whiffed a whole Demo Day. It happened because I didn't take the effort to follow my normal routine, possibly because subconsciously I felt like the company hadn't properly prepared it so I could do the job right. I'd of been there but it would have been half-assed and I hate the embarrassment of half-assed.

In the future I am going to stick to the routine, communicate better and do the job assigned to the best of my ability with the equipment I have.

This could help:
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
http://www.amazon.com/The-Checklist-Manifesto-Things-Right/dp/0312430000

 

I don't think you need many details. It's always C in this case. If I were ever let go I'd even offer to work part-time for free while I transition out.

 

Never get in an argument with the bosses wife, especially if she is at the company - that always ends badly.

DD

 

If you are not confident with your level of training, you have a few potential avenues.

1) Inquire about additional training opportunities. Talk to your supervisor, tell them point blank that you feel that you're not as well prepared as you'd like to be, and inquire about the availability of training programs to improve your readiness.

2) If there are not formal training programs, ask your supervisor for help. Explain to them that you're not completely clear on their expectations of you in terms of performance, objectives, and procedures since you are new to the department. Have a sit down meeting and see if they can clarify what they feel your role is, your scope of responsibility, and the processes that they expect to be followed.

3) Talk to your fellow team members. Start with the more veteran employees and explain to them that you are new to the department, and that while you have skills that you feel that you would benefit from their unique experience and knowledge. Explain to them that you feel that your role is to create and manage an environment and processes to maximize their level of success, and that you would like to understand better not only their jobs and roles, but how their jobs and roles are affected by your job and role. You can get very detailed here not only in terms of them explaining to you what your job has typically been, but in understanding their needs as employees in terms of performing their jobs. You may even seek to shadow/observe them to fully understand their roles and contributions to the team.

4) Talk to a person who held that position prior to your arrival. If they're still with the company, seek them out and explain that your understanding is that they're the resident expert in terms of that role and that you would appreciate it if they could impart some of their knowledge and insight to you. When you speak to them have a list of key areas you want to discuss so that you can maximize the time. If they've been promoted within the organization, you may even have the opportunity to lean on them and create a true mentor/student relationship. If they're no longer with the company, depending upon the circumstances of their departure you may still be able to seek their counsel and mentoring. If they left under poor circumstances, you may need to rely on supervisors that worked with them, or even supervisors that worked previous to them.

Admitting ignorance is not a sin, especially if you make it clear that your priority is to help everyone around you excel. Most people don't want to do a "bad" job, what they do want is to feel like they are empowered, are valued and respected, and that they will have the support of their team mates, employees and superiors.

While having a formalized training program in place is great, you won't always have that luxury. You may need to assemble your own team of teachers and mentors to get you up to speed. And if you do it right, you'll create invaluable relationships that can help you tremendously in the future.

 

C. I mean, you should make some overtures at improving your performance to keep your employer from firing you before you're ready. In my experience, once things start going sideways with your employer, its destined for termination -- unless it's because you weren't trying nearly as hard as you could and you fixed your attitide. Sounds like you're applying yourself but it's not working, so I don't expect things will change fundamentally without some big external change.

I would focus my mind mostly on finding new employment. It's easier to get a job when you have a job. You don't want to have to explain to a prospective employer that you were fired from your last job. Once you get the new job, you get to roll the dice again on fit. Maybe next time things will be more intuitive, or you'll have better training and support. You don't know what's behind door #2, but you do know door #1 isn't working.

Also, the new employment could be in the same company (depending on a lot of things).

A and B sound mutually exclusive.

 

A & C. Don't do B because, if they fire you, you're eligible for severance pay. If you quit, that goes down the drain. Maybe the same with unemployment pay, not sure, but worth looking into.

 

A and C but never B

Don't leave a job until you find a new one
but do look to leave . . . . . while you may fix your mistakes
and never make another one . . . .. . the office won't forget them
so
your career growth maybe stifled based on outdated info

Rocket River

 

Went through a similar thing at my first job out of college. Wanted to do B, ended up with A got fired and eventually found my current job where I'm much happier. Hope everything works out for you.

 

I wouldn't trust a recruiter regarding salary or the position until you've had a chance to actually talk to/interview with the employer.

 

Depends

Difference between moving from 20K to 30K . . .. 60K to 70K . . .and 90k-100K

Depends on Perks and benefits too . . .. .

Rocket River

 

I'd be more concerned with having a landing pad at all than how much more money you'll make there. Once you're in a job that's sustainable, you can then look at another jump for money.

 

Are you confident of your current status not ending in termination? If not, move on before the ax falls or you will kick yourself.

Otherwise, it depends. There is no standard % increase to look for when switching companies. For example, one time I took less to switch companies and it was the best career decision I ever made. It took me in a whole new direction that allowed my career to flourish.

 

Depends on a number of factors.

1. How much of an increase is it? If you're making $20K, then $10k over 2 years is a big raise. If you're making $60k, then not so much. Benefits and opportunities for overtime also factor into the decision. Also don't forget the impact of deferred compensation like annual and performance bonuses, profit sharing and stock options. And that's aside from other benefits like time off to spend with family or to train, in house training programs or financial assistance for training and education, vehicles, etc, etc.

2. How long have you been with the current company? You don't want to look like a job hopper on your resume as it will make you less attractive as an employee in the future. This is an issue if you're not spending very long at each company.

3. Are you happy with your current workplace? If you like the people you work with and you find the work challenging and rewarding then a few extra bucks may not be worth it to go to another workplace where you may feel that you're not liked or that you don't fit.

4. What do you know about the new company? A paycheck is more money, but it's often valuable to know something about the other company. You don't want to go to a job with a company culture that you dislike, or a company with limited upward mobility, or that has limited programs for your development and training. Also, while job descriptions can be the same are you taking on more, less or the same level of responsibility? What is the company's track record in terms of compensation versus the market? What is their record for internal advancement? Do they promote from within or try to hire outsiders?

A few more bucks is always nice, but be sure that you're not giving up too much stuff that you really care about.

 

Some advice....always lie about your salary. If you're making 80k, tell them you're making 85 or 90k. Then tell them you want at least 5-10k on top of that. It's always worked for me.