In this career‑advice video, Natalie Fisher walks viewers through a step‑by‑step approach to bouncing back after being fired. She begins by reassuring the audience that job loss is common and not a personal failure. Fisher then outlines what constitutes a "right fit" at work—enjoying at least 80% of tasks, having a solid relationship with the boss, a positive coworker vibe, and possessing (or being able to learn) the necessary skills. She explains why staying in a mismatched role can damage health, relationships, and long‑term happiness. Fisher reframes being fired as a neutral event: most employers provide only factual references to avoid legal risk, so the stigma is outdated. She offers two concise interview scripts for answering "Why did you leave your last job?"—one for longer tenures (seeking bigger challenges) and one for short stints (misaligned role expectations). Finally, she emphasizes that meaning is assigned, encouraging viewers to view the termination as an opportunity rather than a shameful mark. The video closes with a call to action to access networking resources on her website.
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Hi, it's Natalie Fisher. Welcome to another video. And today we're going to talk about how to recover after you're fired. So first of all, I want to say don't worry about this too much. It's happened to all of us. We just don't talk about it. It's happened to a lot of us. It's happened to me, in fact, but most people don't like to talk about it, but you're not alone. So let's get started. What you're going to learn in this video. So the first thing you're gonna learn is the importance of the right fit and how to spot it, what staying in a bad job can do to you emotionally and for the long term, and why it doesn't matter who broke up with who— essentially if you got fired or if you quit— and how to address the question, why did you leave your last job? So stay tuned. So what is the right fit? What does the right fit mean? So I've come up with a few points that in my experience Means you're in a good fit. So you enjoy your tasks, you enjoy the work that you're doing. And by that, I don't mean every minute of every day you love it. You enjoy at least 80%. And then there's normally 20% of things that you don't love, but you do because you know they're necessary. You have a good relationship with your boss. This for me has personally been the most important one throughout the years. If I have a good relationship with my boss, it doesn't matter if sometimes I'm not always challenged or I don't always love the work, but relationships to me are more important. So some of these might be more important to some people than other people, but all, all of them together equal a good mix. You have a reasonably good relationship with your coworkers. So the vibe in there is good. It's not toxic for you, and you enjoy interacting with most people. Of course, not everybody, because we can't always get along with everybody, but you know what I mean. And you have the skills and the knowledge to get this job done. And if you don't, you feel comfortable learning, and sometimes you're pushed out of your zone, but you're not like completely off base. Like, you know You know what you need to do. So what's staying in a bad job for you is the— why is the worst thing that you could do anyways? So staying in a bad job could lead to health problems caused by stress. It could lead to arguing with your spouse when you get home, yelling at your kids, not having any time to be with friends. It's very rare for someone to be let go who loved their job. It happens in some cases when layoffs happen. And there's usually some notice involved. So if you were let go, chances are you weren't happy. Chances are you knew it was going to happen. You had a warning, and chances are you weren't the right fit. Sometimes when people are let go, they actually feel relieved in a way. They feel relieved, and they might feel a bit of fear as well. It's like, "Oh my God! What am I going to do next?" But in the grand scheme of things, if you were not feeling happy, then this is probably one of the best things that could happen to you. If you were let go, it simply means that you are now in a better position to find your dream job, is the first thing. The place where you were wasn't working, and now you're free to find something better. Normally, the act of getting fired itself isn't the biggest thing. It's what happens after that. The good news is that the world is changing very quickly, and in the past Most people have believed that if you're fired, good luck getting hired anywhere else because that's that's it. You know, you're damaged goods now. But in fact, that's not true anymore. Today, it's totally not the case. Getting fired just means that you said that they said to you, "Hey, I don't think it's working out," before you had a chance to say it to them. It's nothing more. Most employers won't give you a bad reference because they would prefer not to be sued. And giving a bad reference is a risk for them. It's a risk to their HR department and it's not worth it. So if anything, they're just going to confirm the dates that you worked and verify any information that they need to that's factual and legal and move on. So it doesn't really matter who broke up with who. The result is still the same. Agreed? Agreed. While it's true that you never want to say, I was fired, during a job interview or in your job search, we still have the outdated idea that being fired puts a mark of shame on us, so to speak, as Liz Ryan says. But it's not true. Most people who get fired from their jobs, in my experience, are good people, myself included. It just means that something happened and it didn't work out. So you either had a personality clash. This happened to me. You and my— as my dad used to say, he called it a personality clash because he used to say not everybody can get along with everybody. It's just not how the world works and it doesn't make you a bad person. So that made me feel better because I realized that no matter how hard I try to get along with everybody, it's just not a realistic goal. This doesn't make you a bad person. Bad person. So the employer doesn't tell you their whole story either. They have their own skeletons. Nothing goes perfectly on their end either. So if you were to ask, why is this position open, they're not going to tell you that they hired somebody and that that person ran away screaming and quit because they had overwhelmed the person and not provided enough training. They're not going to tell you that. So when they ask you, why did you leave your last job? You don't have to tell them all the gory details either. Here's what you can say. So when you're asked the question, there's 2 different ways you can answer it. So you want to listen carefully, and neither of these answers tell who broke up with who. It's just not relevant. So if you're working somewhere for quite a long while, This is your speech. I had a great time learning for the first 4 years, and then it was time to go. I needed a bigger challenge. If you were working somewhere for just a really short amount of time, you can say something like this. I misjudged the situation, and honestly, I thought it was going to be more of an executive assistant job, but it turned out to be more of an accounting book clerk type of job, and they needed somebody who had a lot more numbers experience than I did, and that's not my strong suit. So if I were to do it over again, I would definitely ask more questions. This is my exact scenario actually from a situation. This is one where I didn't get fired. I left on my own accord. But see, if you'll notice in the answer, I never said any details. You'd never know by this answer and it doesn't matter. And those are the two, those are the two main scenarios. So I want to leave you with a final thought before we wrap up, and that is things don't have meaning. We assign meaning to everything. And that's from my, my favorite, Tony Robbins. So assigning meaning to you getting fired or let go is your choice. You can make it mean whatever you want. And there you have it. And we wrap up fit, the importance of fit, what it is and, and why you need to spot it. Why staying would suck the life out of you anyway. Why it's probably the best thing that ever happened to you that you had to go. Why it doesn't matter as much as you think it does and how to address it in a job interview. Thank you so much for watching. This is Natalie. Join me over at nataliefisher.ca for more great job search lessons. And if you liked the lesson today, click below to download the free step-by-step guide to networking. In it, you'll find information on how to get started in interviews through the power of personal connection and completely bypass the black hole. You'll also learn how to reach out to people on LinkedIn using word-for-word scripts. You'll learn how to turn a one-time coffee meeting into a long-term contact, and you'll learn how to start building your network. And people who have a strong network never have trouble finding a job. To learn even more great tips on how to interview like a pro, visit NatalieFisher.ca and check out more free downloads and resources to help you wherever you are in your job search.
