Lost my job after just 2 months….
Today is a tough day for me. Unfortunately, my employment was terminated after 2 months as an investment analyst at a 50 person real estate shop. Like $3b aum. Got the job out of undergrad. The reason given was that I didn’t fit well into the team and the organization. And it was a complete surprise…..:(( I guess I wasn’t a cultural fit and regarding my work - I never ever felt like my work wasn’t up to par. But my manager revealed that she kind of always felt like it was. But I guess all fired employees feel this way. I took the risk of going to a smaller firm out of school for the learning opportunity but I guess I was overly optimistic. And lots of other lessons today in general.
Looking for advice on how to address this in interviews and some opinions on how bad this can be for my career…And maybe some thoughts on what can be done over the next month or so to bay the bills.
Your career will be fine. You’re two months in. Things happen unfortunately and it’s good to learn how to move forward and deal with adversity now. To explain it in your interviews, just say bad fit. Or..leave it off your resume. It was two months. You can always say you’ve been looking for a job since graduation. If you leave it off your resume, you won’t need to explain it.
I am genuinely sorry to hear about your firing.
First, although it sounds hollow, and cliche, allow me to give you the following thoughts:
Peace Out
Robb
Dude you’re the man!
Keep your head up and continue to apply for new positions, fine tune some skills and reflect on what you learned at the shop. Whether to keep it on the resume or not is your decision but your career is by no means screwed. It’s going to take some months (at least) to land another position, keep at it and put your nose to the grindstone. As for paying expenses: do the obvious and cut out all unnecessary and live as cheap as possible. If this is an issue cut out your largest expense and go live with your parents - there is no shame in this. To make new money is in your court, I had a buddy who was laid off and has been paying for his living expenses through trading options until he lands a new position..this is both hilarious and risky as hell. But with the SPY up 19% he done alright but not something I am advising.
This probably feels like a low point for you but this is the beginning of your career and far worse things will happen than not fitting in with a firm. Adapt and move forward, better things will come.
Best of luck
Can you share more in those two months? Don't want to rub it in, but maybe there was something that happened that bothered your manager or an issue that happened early on that was never discuss/moved on from?
Sort of curious as well. Being let go within 2 months just for work product that was not up to par is not normal. Seems like there is something else, or simply they just don't vibe with OP. Can't just be work product in my mind though.
I guess they didn’t vibe with me.
There were always misunderstandings during meetings with my manager. I felt like I was addressing something in the model and she comprehended something I had unintended to communicate. It wasn’t one specific moment.
Can you give an example? I feel like if there was a misunderstanding the first time around, their next question would be "is it x" to get a clear yes/no then say if no "what is it".
They don't need a reason to fire you. You're an at-will employee. They most likely over-hired and came up with a bullshit excuse. Happens all the time. Don't look too much into it.
This is the most likely situation. It is rare for a company to fire due to incompetence and even more rare due to being a bad fit. They spend a lot of time and money interviewing, onboarding, and training. They do not flippantly throw that away. Most incompetent employees receive warnings and have a sneaking suspicion they will be canned. Bad fits have big blowups with other personalities. Something is rusting under the hood of that company.
Agree with this too. First, I would not take this comment & then ignore all self reflection or be ignorant to where you could grow. You're a recent grad and being humble, understanding you need to learn a lot, etc. are critical to your early years and later, but especially in the early years where you will need to learn what's important, how to analyze something etc.. Keep the learning curve mindset
That said... in my experience, I could have been fired after 2-months for not knowing, or not fitting, individuals we've since hired could have, and individuals we will hire could. Especially, especially recent grads. But we don't, because first, they barely know anything and second, we hired them because we saw the potential and intend on grooming them. Maybe that's not the mindset of all shops, but our intention literally means that there is a long runway for a recent grad built into their employment. Training and searching takes resources and it'd be painful to restart the process, and IMO a very bad decision unless there was a large red flag.
Genuinely sorry this happened to you, but hoping it avoids either 1) going down the road with a company that could have some issues ahead or 2) going down the road with a company or group that doesn't think the vast majority of recent grads don't need any training or commitment to their growth
Exactly, if they didn't give a reason that was performance based they would have been open to discrimination lawsuits. No matter what the situation, they will say performance base to legally protect themselves.
Orrrrr maybe you're REALLY REALLY bad at your job lol. jk, nobody expects anything out of a new grad 2 months in, it's a time for training.
Agree with Pussy Galore
I was fired after 3 weeks in my first job. Cold atmosphere, I would have probably quit at 3 months in. Better to be out of the situation, keep your head up and leave it off your resume
I was in a similar role with the senior guys not very professional and aggressive. They underpaid and had you do menial tasks, lasted a little over 6 months and got fired because I was looking for new jobs and they found out.
I was laid off about 4 months into my first job and remember the shock when I heard the news. I got a new job pretty shortly thereafter and the companies I interviewed for did ask about my first job, but I explained it that the company wasn’t hitting its revenue targets and I was the most junior person in my team so I was let go. The interviewers didn’t ask any more questions about it and didn’t seem bothered. So I would just have a good explanation prepared and don’t sweat it too much. A lot of people get fired/laid off for factors out of their control and everyone knows that.
These are the steps I took:
Best of luck to you OP!
Had luck with #3 where I was interviewing for FT it stalled, joined a masters program a few months later and asked if they needed part time. Not exactly the same, but it works and things can change in a few months.
You'll be fine especially at this early stage of your career.
I was terminated during first summer after COVID and felt like I would never bounce back; turned out to be a great thing in a way as it kicked my ass into gear to find a new position (had no choice), which I may have waited longer to do without the circumstances. Am at a firm now that I wouldn't have dreamed of getting into at that time in my career. Long winded way of saying you should be glass half full, everything happens for a reason.
Good luck brotha!
Completely remove shit-Co REPE from your resume all together and start fresh. No need to bring them up ever again in your life!!
If you screwed up, another story. If shit-Co f**ked you, speak up so others can avoid them.
2-months in for fresh out of colleague undergrad sounds ruthless! On another hand, if you are Mr. "know it all" around a bunch of EGOMANIACS or you talk down to a woman, you might be out of a job!
Numbers don't get deals done, managing personalities and egos gets things across the finish line.
I work with a guy who always juices up the rents and compresses cap rates, but he will speak up when others bring deals with better risk adjusted metrics. This guy knows how to stroke managements dong, he gets deals going despite most of his deals being absolutely dog shit! Same guy would talk about risk management. Talk is cheap, but it gets things done.
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