Bad situation made worse.

[Lorigh75]

I was a very proud person, in regards to my work ethic, that is until recently, when I allowed those ethics to become compromised. I was the type of person that followed company policy to the letter, I was always arriving, and stayed until the work was completed. I never so much as took home a paper clip from the office. Some people attributed my strict enforcment for policy to my military background, Other people said that I was being overly "corporate", I simplely believed that my integrity meant more than a few free office pens.

I began working for YTD (The name has been altered) in early March of 2009, as the Training Department Manager. The title sounds impressive, however, the retention rate of the site was so devistating, that I was in fact, the only training manager the site had. There were several concerns that I had brought to my supervisor's attention in regards to the behavior of some of the employees that were a direct violation of company standards. I was quickly informed that I was to "let it go". With in a week if this conversation, my supervisor called me in to her office to have a "talk" with me. Although there was no formal discaplinary actions, I got the impression that my actions lead to my supervisor "warning" me.

For the next year, I was constantly ostrisized from manager's meetings, gatherings, and training events. The production managers critasized me openly, for not "padding" the statistic of my training classes to avoid a bad performance review from the site manager. For a little over a year, I worked through this hostile environment until...

I know this sounds a lot like the blame game, so let me first say this. I was wrong for what I did. There was a new employee that was hired that was unable to provide the correct identification. When I presented this to my Site Manager, she made the exception to let the new employee have another day to obtain the identification. To make a long story short, I forgot to dock the new employee for the time that she missed to get the identification. To make matters worse I never had her make up the time.

The new employee turned out to have a behaviorial issue on the second week of training, which lead to her having to speak with my supervisor. When I was asked about her time, I didn't try to cover up my actions. I was honest about it. I was promptly terminated.

I was terminated on the 17th on March 2010. I have not been able to find employment since. I do not qualify for unemployment benefits due to the circumstances surrounding my termination, and I am quickly running out of resources. I have been reading through many of the posts here, and see that no matter the circumstances, being fired will likely be the demise of a lifetime of all that I have worked for. We all make mistakes. I'm just hoping that there is a company out there that is willing to see past my one indiscretion. Can anyone help me?

Edited June 20, 2010 by Lorigh75

[bananalaffytaffy]

This may go against your ethics as well, but I would discourage you from using them in your resume, and as a reference. In this economy, the year gap will probably not be noticed. If a prospective employer were to call them for a reference, they are not supposed to do much more but verify the dates of your employment, but in this market, the fact that you were terminated will work against you.

 

Chalk it up as lesson learned.

 

I worked for a company once that had less than stellar ethics. I finally quit when I just couldn't play their games. In interviews, I explained the employer was unethical. I don't think it helped me in interviews, as it made me look... I don't know... Inflexible... Whistleblowerish. I finally just said I left to pursue other opportunities, or some other vague reason.

 

Employers want to know you will keep your head down and get your work done. They don't want a troublemaker, be it a good one or bad one.

 

Good luck!

[amerikajin]

I began working for YTD (The name has been altered) in early March of 2009, as the Training Department Manager. The title sounds impressive, however, the retention rate of the site was so devistating, that I was in fact, the only training manager the site had. There were several concerns that I had brought to my supervisor's attention in regards to the behavior of some of the employees that were a direct violation of company standards. I was quickly informed that I was to "let it go". With in a week if this conversation, my supervisor called me in to her office to have a "talk" with me. Although there was no formal discaplinary actions, I got the impression that my actions lead to my supervisor "warning" me.

 

I don't get it: you're hired to enforce company policy, you do that, and your supervisor is on your case for this? Something's not adding up here. Are you telling us the whole story? Do you think that maybe you were being overly aggressive with people? Were you the employee that nobody liked and were you driving some of the more experienced front-line people away, thereby putting the HR in the unenviable position of having to go out and replace them with people off the street? I'm not trying to be confrontational, just want to know more about this situation. It seems odd that a manager would crack down on you for enforcing the policies of the company.

 

For the next year, I was constantly ostrisized from manager's meetings, gatherings, and training events. The production managers critasized me openly, for not "padding" the statistic of my training classes to avoid a bad performance review from the site manager. For a little over a year, I worked through this hostile environment until...

 

Hmm...were you working in a situation where safety was a concern? Maybe your supervisors thought you were a OSHA potential whistle blower?

 

I know this sounds a lot like the blame game, so let me first say this. I was wrong for what I did. There was a new employee that was hired that was unable to provide the correct identification. When I presented this to my Site Manager, she made the exception to let the new employee have another day to obtain the identification. To make a long story short, I forgot to dock the new employee for the time that she missed to get the identification. To make matters worse I never had her make up the time.

 

Well, this seems more like an "oopsie" than something that's dishonest. Granted, no company likes it when the company cash gets pissed away - even if it's just for a few hours of pay, but this is something that could have been rectified without termination. Honestly, it just seems like they were looking to get rid of you all along and you just handed them a convenient excuse to do so, and by confessing to the act and accepting blame, you just nicked yourself out of unemployment benefits to boot.

 

We all make mistakes. I'm just hoping that there is a company out there that is willing to see past my one indiscretion. Can anyone help me?

 

I don't see this as the end of the world, but you have to get strategic about your job search. From the sound of it, you weren't going to last long at your previous job anyway, so they did you a favor by letting you go...though it sucks that you didn't get a cushion on the way out. At this point, you need to be really aggressive and network - and look for work all - the - time. I highly recommend the Parachute book (won't say its full title here lest I be labeled a spammer).

[amerikajin]

This may go against your ethics as well, but I would discourage you from using them in your resume, and as a reference.

 

I'm not sure about this. If it were just a month or two of employment and it was like six or seven years ago, that's one thing. But I actually think it's better to have been employed recently than unemployed. Background screeners can easily pull up employment information and once that employer comes up that will be a giant red flag, made worse by the fact that there's no mention of it in an interview or on a resume.

 

Personally, I think it's better to just put it out there and let people know what you've been doing. They will inevitably ask the question "Why did you leave" and that's when you can gloss over it with some generic reference to "Not fitting in" and yet being "grateful for having had the opportunity to work there and gain experience."