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Pretty sure I'll soon be fired (It happened! )
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
About 6 months ago I started a new job, after having been laid off. Not to get too specific it involves transcribing data from docs into a proprietary systems for a real estate law firm. Its a bit more complicated than it sounds, but honestly 80% of the job is data entry.
And I been awful at it. I grasp the bigger picture of my job and understand it, but just make so many small, stupid, easily fixable mistakes (mostly typos, wrong info entered in wrong field) and some have snowballed into bigger ones.
Yesterday I had the talked I knew was coming: "You're a great worker and I like you, but you need to shape up or we'll let you go".
I don't blame them.
Honestly I been trying really hard to pay closer attention, to not to rush through things (though we have a lot of work to do) and still fucking up. It's frustrating and I generally feel like crying every day.
What can I do?
If I do get fired, how do I address that in future interviews?
And I been awful at it. I grasp the bigger picture of my job and understand it, but just make so many small, stupid, easily fixable mistakes (mostly typos, wrong info entered in wrong field) and some have snowballed into bigger ones.
Yesterday I had the talked I knew was coming: "You're a great worker and I like you, but you need to shape up or we'll let you go".
I don't blame them.
Honestly I been trying really hard to pay closer attention, to not to rush through things (though we have a lot of work to do) and still fucking up. It's frustrating and I generally feel like crying every day.
What can I do?
If I do get fired, how do I address that in future interviews?
Kyougu on
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Another option is to slow down, double and triple check you didn't make any mistakes. If you're rushing through and making obvious mistakes, simply going over it again can save you some grief in the future.
Last option, maybe look for a different job where data entry isn't the main focus of the work? Also, depending on where you work state-wise, often you don't have to tell your potential employers you were fired. In some states if they call your previous employer, it is illegal for them to say how you were let go, or even anything disparaging about you.
In a hypothetical interview, I probably wouldn't even mention the job or include it on my resume if I was only there for 6-9 months.
Not everyone is good at every job. I made lots of mistakes as a cashier in my teens, but I'm very detail oriented as a coder and write neat code.
And had that conversation..
And cried over it at 3am instead of sleeping..
Run.
Run Fast.
I wish I had.
The first thing you need to do is decide if you want to stay there. You know the business, you know the work, you know the stress associated with it. You need to figure out if this is where you want to be. If the answer is no, then start the job search now. Find something different in a company with a different culture and move on. Let the stress go, relax, and find a new job before they have a chance to fire you.
If you decide you want to stay, then you need to come up with a plan to eliminate problems. This should include a few levels of redundancy checking at different stages of the data entry, preferably at least once by one other person. This is really the only way to solve your issues. There's no automated system, no magic trick, no special drug that will help you (and I say this as someone who has ADHD and has been dealing with it for about 25 years). You need to sit down, make a plan with checks in place, and then you need to follow it every time.
Or if it's all electronic, can you paste/type into notepad first to check it first?
Try to find where the errors are occurring and see what can be done.
Slowing down is an option but only to an extent. The work is transcribing mortgage paper docs into the computer system, as we're expected to do 3 to 4 files per hour. I can hit that at my pace, but slowing down will affect it, and when I was pretty much told I still need to keep up the pace when I told them I would be doing that.
I do have a QA, though it's just another employee, so her checking all my mistakes slows her work too, which I think where another source of the frustration is coming my way.
Some things can be trained and some things come naturally, but if you have made real attempts to get better and still fall short then there is a point where you can save that as part of your "greatest weakness" for future job interviews so that employers know what kind of work that you will not perform great in.
I really want to emphasize that having another set of eyes review is basically the second-worst method of checking the data for correctness (the worst being doing it yourself) -- it has a high time cost and a relatively high failure rate. You want to have a mechanical verification that picks up errors automatically, with a failure rate at least one order of magnitude less than the original entry method. My suggestion above, not knowing anything about the system in question, was to enter the data into Excel, twice, and then make sure both sets match before copying and pasting to the target form. Excel also has validation tools that can catch errors of data being in the wrong format (mostly for putting data in the wrong space), but that probably wouldn't help much if you're copying it back out again.
Even better would be to have the target system perform these verification and validation activities. Probably not feasible, but if it's open to any kind of scripting and modification, seriously consider learning enough of it to add this functionality to the target forms.
Failing that, other suggestions:
1. Turn on text-to-speech to have the computer read back what you type. This is slow and noisy, but better than just looking everything over again.
2. Turn the resolution down so everything is bigger on the screen.
3. The whole thing would probably be better for two people where one person reads out loud and the second enters data (and, optimally, reads it back for verification). It sounds like your bosses won't be amenable to this, which is too bad. Some people are more detail-oriented than others, but this is poor risk management. The situation seems likely to recur and create losses that outstrip short term cost savings.
4. If you have an office scanner handy, scan the documents and tile your screen so that the source and target are as close to each other as possible, limiting the amount of time you spend moving and reacquiring your focus.
When working with large sets of data, time spent in planning and preparation nearly always pays off -- think seriously about the workflow, identify problematic areas, and consider ways to get the data processed more accurately and faster.
They just started covertly training someone else on my duties.
Coincidentally the small team he's in got a new hiree on Monday.
Going to be shocked of i make it past the next pay period. Since I doubt I'll have time to find something this soon, how should i handle this situation in future job interviews.
Start looking for other work right now.
If you've only had this job for a few months, probably leave it off of your resume entirely.
I was figuratively in your shoes a year ago. If you have any work product you want to save, now is a good time to email it to yourself (baring any NDA's or other confidentiality agreements). Also now is a good time to use any sick or leave you have if you are in a state where companies don't have to pay you out. Tell them you have a doctors appointment, and in fact get a physical done, or any other things while your insurance is still subsidized (COBRA is terrible the coverage is definitely worst). Update your resume, if this is your first job, 6-9 months is ok, pad it with some "contract work, and side jobs." If the job you are doing now and the previous one are similar you can combine them into a larger job. There are internet guides on doing that, that way as opposed to showing a 8 month job a 5 month job and a 6 month job. You should a a year and nine months doing x. Start documenting things so that you can properly fight for unemployment. Lack of training, get a copy of the employee manual. If they have written you up, keep a copy of that.
I'm sorry man, I hope it works out for you.
Im both relieved its over and stressed out in a new way.
So i shouldn't put this job on my resume? I was there for almost six months to the day.
It depends somewhat on where he's applying, I think. 6 months to me is a very short amount of time to hold a position and would be a flag, and the OP indicates he was laid off prior to this job. But early on in a career it would be different, and the circumstances wouldn't be a big deal.
OP: As other people have said, don't take this personally. This kind of position sounds like high turnover work often staffed by temp staffing agencies. It seems like this wasn't a great fit, but if you need a similar level job right away you could contact one of those agencies while you pursue a job hunt in earnest.
Could easily play it off as temp/seasonal (especially for reality)/contract work that might have led to full time. But yeah all of that is important too.
For example if you did several fast food stints and you want to resume to look more substantial.
Instead of
Burger Meister January 2015 - October 2015
Burger king
Fry Annihilator November 2015 - March 2016
McDonalds
Roll them into
Fast Food assassin January 2015 - March 2016
Burger King, Mcdonalds
list of accomplishments and responsibilities.
I don't know if the U.S. has similar
let's say someone was always late; "Yes, Bob worked here from 10am to 2pm every day."
Yeah...doing that is a good way to get yourself fired.
I'm not sure how much of it is actually a law, but it is in most companies policies to never say anything negative so you don't open the company up to a lawsuit. I think the whole topic is pretty moot though considering most companies don't actually call your previous employers for an entry level job.
Pretty much. And there's very few places (including Canada) where giving a bad reference is actually illegal. Most of the legal issues stem from the possibility of defamation (which is generally applicable to anything anyone says about anything), so an employer can certainly stick to the proveable facts (Bob was regularly late, I've got his sign-in records) and still be in the clear.
This is spot on but realize that McHugeLarge Corp doesn't want to spend the money to pull up those records and show up in court to prove anything so that is why policy is typically something like "Yes, that person worked here from [date 1] until [date 2]."
They could say more but have zero upside to doing so since they gain nothing from it and a large potential downside so they just avoid taking that bet.
Like, in my case, the one time i got fired was because of a terrible coworker with a long history of abusive behavior took a disliking to me (which was partially my fault, but a rational person wouldn't have reacted like she did. It was the pettiest of office turf-war stuff), so she spread a rumor i was stealing stuff off of desks and they got me for that. The letter they gave me was absolute libel. Fortunately (for me having gotten canned, for my ability to own the narrative, and karmic revenge on them) the whole company went belly-up 15 months later. But I absolutely couldn't have told the truth to the next employer (especially since it was a retail cashier position, where "don't steal" is like the one thing aside from showing up to work that you have to do).
In your case, i'd go for it as long as the next job wasn't in the same capacity and you can come up with a strategy for what you would've done differently that'll sound good to a hiring manager.
I see you have my resume.
I did odd jobs for 2 years before getting my current job that I've had for three years. I listed it as "Odd jobs: Roofing, Landscaping, Pool Repairs, ect, ect" since during that time I never had a true employer (some times worked under the table), and had a wide variety of jobs. Also, you don't have to give them the number to your past employer. I've used supervisors, co-workers, and such as references over the boss as those people are the ones you seen you work, understand your situation (normally), and those who hire people understand those are the ones who really saw you work, not the big boss that saw you once in a blue moon and barely remembered your face.
Those people are also often able to.... bend the rules a little bit (read: not care about them) to give you a reference.
When I was hiring a lot of teenagers, my favorite references were always ministers and teachers.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
I would put it on my resume, as it's easier to explain that the job was not a good fit than to explain an employment gap, and that is the exact line that you tell them if they ask about why you left. No need to mention that you were fired as opposed to quit. They shouldn't be able to ask that, especially of your previous employer. You can always call your previous employer (or have a friend do it) and pretend to be another employer seeking a reference and ask if you quit or got fired and see what they say. That might put your mind at ease. In my experience they will verify dates of employment, salary, and they can state if you are eligible for rehire, but that does not mean much.
Any decent company, when letting someone go, will let them come back afterhours to clear out. With supervision, for obvious reasons.
Yep, i was hoping they would do that. Seriously most humiliating moment of my life.
It's getting more and more like that, from what i've heard. If they do hustle you out quietly, they don't let you come back at all. They'll ship your stuff to you in a box later.
Go home, get on your computer, open some text file in notepad, open another empty instance of notepad, and duplicate the text file...do it over and over again, backchecking your work. its not fun, but you have to try and improve your mindset in that respect cause lots of tech/office jobs have some aspect of this baked in.
It's been sorta rough dealing with the realization that I was fired (Haven't even told most of my friends due to shame) but it's getting better.
Partly it's because I think I'm settling on a plan, which is to go for my teaching certification. It's something I been mulling over for a while now but never pulled the trigger out of fear. Now I really don't have anything to lose, and I plan on starting substitute teaching as well.
Your job doesn't define who you are, and failing or succeeding at it is less important than knowing that you did the best you could and actively tried to improve yourself in the process.