June 2025 PRSA Dallas Letter from the President
Posted by admin on Jun. 3, 2025 / Subscribe 0
I was fired from a previous job.
Even more than seven years later, those words are hard to type. I’m not sure if it’s pride, shame, or anger, but being fired is not something I like to admit. That’s probably true for most of us.
Whether you were laid off, let go, dismissed, downsized, axed, canned, sacked, terminated, pushed into early retirement, or shown the door, it doesn’t diminish the hurt. And regardless of whether it was your fault or not, the result is the same - you are without a paycheck.
In my case, the firing occurred after only three months as the director of a small PR team within a full service agency. Half the team didn’t like my management style, which at age 37 was still evolving. The owner decided I wasn’t the right fit.
The termination was not immediate or public. I stayed in my role another few months leading the PR team until a new director was hired. I needed the money which meant swallowing my pride and resentment.
I’m not sharing this story as some cathartic exercise, and I’m definitely not looking for sympathy. Even now, part of me doesn’t want to write about being fired, but I think it’s an important career aspect to normalize.
If you are currently unemployed, you are not alone. There are many of us across PRSA Dallas who know exactly what you’re going through, and even more nationally.
You are part of a community, and further building that community is a priority of our chapter’s four-year strategic plan. But not everything needs to be a formal process or a strategic objective. Being in a community means supporting each other on a relational basis.
Since becoming president of the Dallas chapter, I’ve already had conversations with more than a dozen unemployed chapter members. I can’t wave a wand and land you a job, but I can listen, teach, and cheerlead.
I can also be a reference for any of you looking for new jobs, as long as we meet, so I can get to know you better. Our chapter is full of PR professionals who are happy to serve as references for you - it’s a great benefit of membership that we don’t do a good enough job promoting.
Being fired wasn’t the end of my career (though trying to navigate the unemployment benefits through the Texas Workforce Committee nearly ended my sanity). Being fired led me to Dallas, where I work for an amazing organization with a beautiful mission. It made me realize I still had so much to learn about leading others. It pushed me to become better connected with other PR professionals through PRSA, which landed me in this moment, writing about being fired in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong - being fired sucks. You are absolutely allowed to feel all the emotions. I won’t tell you how to feel or try to paint it as a great opportunity, but I will always offer to buy you a cup of coffee and remind you that you’re not alone.
PRSA Unemployment Resources:
Blog on self-worth by Rob Biesenbach
Blog on prolonged job searches by Yesenia Reinoso
Email [email protected] for coffee and support
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