Hired & Fired: My First Grown Up Jobs

I started a new job two weeks ago and it has been a wild ride. Mostly because this is the first time in months that I actually have to apply myself and be productive every single day, but also because I got fired last week as well. NOT FROM THE SAME JOB - so let me take you back about 7 weeks or so and start there.

About 7 weeks ago, I started working at a charity as a Marketing and Communications intern. I was super hyped to work there because they do amazing work and I truly believe in the things they do. No better reason to work there, right? Well my first couple of weeks there were kind of messy and stressy because I was ready to work super hard and I found that full time work isn't so much “optimise your process to do more” but rather “keep the boat afloat and consistent”. The latter is much more me and the former is much more what I experienced.

A shot of some very sad plants at one of the many offices I've been in lately.

I found it really difficult to make the job work for me but I was always taught that the most beautiful flowers bloom in adversity so I thought I'd tough it out as lots of people were telling me to and get the experience. With hindsight on my side, I realise that maybe this wasn't quite the place for me and I wish someone had said that it would have been okay to not only admit that but do something about it.

Anyway, flash forward to about 3 and a half weeks into my internship, I got an opportunity to apply for a full time job at a marketing agency. So I did. The new job looked awesome and was going to help me cover rent and bills independently from my parents, which was a perk I wasn't getting at the charity. The commute and unproductive nature of the kind of work I was doing as an intern was also starting to take a toll on my mental health so I thought it was time to do something.

I spoke to a colleague about cutting my office days down to one day a week and work from home the rest of the time. This meant my mental health would stay up as well as my general productivity. The charity agreed and while the negotiations were taking place, I was interviewing for the full time position at the agency.

The commute.

A couple of interviews later and I got hired - yay! This was exactly the kind of thing I was looking to do and my boss was eager to let me find a system that would mean I could balance working at the charity as well as working at the agency. After a couple of days of coming to some kind of middle ground where everyone was happy with where I was going to be and what I was going to do, I thought I hit the jackpot with being able to do everything.

Then I got a cold and found myself having to take two days off at the end of last week. Thursday and Friday were spent curled up in a blanket trying to get my fever done and my productivity up. I worked from home for both parties and figured if this is what I had to do every week until Christmas, then bring on the challenge because I felt like I was nailing it.

Come Monday morning, I was asked for a catch up call with the charity and found myself on the receiving end of a “this isn't working out” call. I was crushed. I wasn't doing anything differently from before my one day a week gig and things seemed to be trundling along as normal. It's been a very wonky week since then because crying in front of my new boss was weird and not something I thought I was going to do so soon after starting the new job. It also felt like the work I was doing for the charity was going unseen and unappreciated. But hey, that's life right?

Little card, big cookie, warm heart.

Maybe my soft, emotional self took it a little hard because it felt like a reflection of who I am as a person rather than the realities of what was going on. My now ex-colleagues were lovely and I'm going to miss them a whole bunch. As if they read my mind, I got a little card and giant cookie in the mail on Saturday morning with everyone from the charity wishing me good luck with my new job, so leaving wasn't all heartbreak and sadness.

Now that a fresh week has started and I only have one job to focus on, it does feel like the eventful last two and a half weeks were meant to happen and blah, blah, something something fate, etc. It's just been wild and if this is adulthood then I better strap in and get used to it. For now, this is the tale of how I was hired and fired in about two weeks from two separate places. I feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster but I've had amazing support from my friends, family, and of course, you. So thanks I guess. To all you folk out there who read or skim or just look at the pictures, I'll keep you posted on any more of my grown up adventures.

Until next time,

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