Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast as always my name is Alex I am your host today’s proof of life it’s Monday June 12 2023 folks summer is right around the corner and if you aren’t working on bettering your mind your body your spirit getting your [ __ ] right
Man you’re [ __ ] dropping the bag you’re you’re fumbling you’re fumbling the bag in terms of corporate if you’re not familiar with the podcast it’s meant for professional development we are here to cultivate a new generation of corporate Cowboys that are capable of leading and and supporting right not just being
Led not being followers but capable of being leaders and collaborating in a support role if necessary you have to you have to know when to play a part sometimes join a team if you’re not making one your own right so today’s question will treat uh this next half hour as a free consultation
For you and today’s question is coming from r slash career guidance right and they’re asking here they’re asking a job fired me and they want me back two months later two months later they’re wanting me back should I do it why not why not a job fired me
Wants me back two months later should I do it I mean if you just shoot from the hip would say yeah if it comes with money if it comes with respect if you learned your lesson the first time and you’re reading contracts and negotiating accordingly right you have to know what you’re getting
Into and I tell all my clients this it’s imperative that you read your contract that you read your employment agreement yeah [ __ ] want to say that now this is a standard form this is a form we give everybody that we hire and you can’t negotiate on the terms we won’t
Give you one dollar more than what we’re offering you no we can’t give you more vacation they can they can everything is [ __ ] negotiable just about just about everything is negotiable you’d be surprised the things you find in contracts when they’re properly negotiated for so let’s read a little bit into the body
Of this question and find out if what they’re asking is is worthwhile whether or not this offer because we can assume here that if the company is reaching out to you two months later after they let you after you separated after you parted ways right they could have fired you you
Could have left you terminated the the employment was terminated and they come back out to you two months later I mean there’s got to be an offer they’ve got to be offering you something to have seen something in you and want you back especially after firing you
What are they [ __ ] desperate what are they paying twice the amount what did they hear about your name Through the Grapevine what are you making moves I mean that’s a a nice position to be in you the one making moves letting your name ring bells around town or in the
Industry in the trade in the profession whatever field it is that you are conducting yourself in let business speak for itself you take care of business and I’ve said this in plenty of other episodes you take care of business and business will take care of you and now it appears like it’s circling
Back around and it wants you a second time big you give me one more chance that’s a biggie song go look it up a 90s rapper Notorious B.I.G so the title job fired me wants me back two months later should I do it and they’ve flared this question for advice
So they want a little input now let me give you a legal disclaimer anything you hear coming from this podcast what we publish on our Instagram which you can find at corporate Cowboys with the Z we’re on patreon also the corporate Cowboys podcast you can donate but I’ll plug that later anything
That we publish should not be construed as legal advice right this is very general this is very general it’s not tailored to you the listener if you haven’t engaged us personally if you haven’t retained us personally as your consultant as your advisor as your representative or your agent
We’re not we don’t owe you and so you should not be relying on what we are on this information because it’s very general I’m sure you could research it on your own and compile this information but lucky for you you have learned professionals with some experience
That you can listen to for free without having to pay an hourly rate so if the shoe fits it’s probably not perfect so it’s probably not a perfect fit unless we tailor it for you so you can’t say gangsta rap made me do it just because you listen to it
All right so they begin with okay so I have a weird work history right don’t we all I was self-employed for around 10 years right out of college until about two years ago I started working as a temp that’s always nice because I wanted to find something more social and stable a self-employment
Works as long as you are working right unless what you do is profound unless what you do is impactful to the extent that word of mouth is what drives business you don’t have to do any of the marketing yourself the marketing gets done for you people just know you by reputation you
Develop cultivate a repertoire and it precedes you everywhere you go oh that [ __ ] Alex you know Alex puts a dumbass work you want to work with him and when he comes around you better be sure better be sure to be available better be sure to to look active like
You can like you’re capable laughs so self-employment entrepreneurship I guess in that sense it works so long as you are working as long as you are investing in yourself as others as long as you are investing in your craft in your work your craft your work your professional image your professional reputation will
Speak for itself and Market itself success success sells itself just like sex drugs rock and roll hyperactivity is attractive [ __ ] who was capable and competent also highly attractive in professional settings right I mean and that could bleed into personal and social settings but we’re talking business here where business is war
So the company they continue the company for my temp assignment really liked my work so they offered me a permanent position it wasn’t in the same Department I.E marketing as I started out in and I didn’t have much or you could read any experience doing it so I wasn’t great at it
In any case we got a new CEO and they wanted to restructure the company they ended up laying off my boss and me that’s eight months after I started okay so eight months after they start at this company as a temp right they’re putting it into a position where it’s a
Parent that they didn’t have the knowledge or the training for it right which could be an oversight could be a [ __ ] up on both parts it could be a [ __ ] up on this hypothetical client’s Parts because they didn’t know what the [ __ ] they were walking into but hey you
Signed up to be attempt so you’re filling a position temporarily you need to get you need to get with the program ASAP and learn what the [ __ ] it is you need to do to get it done and not fumble the bag but could also been a [ __ ] up on the
Employer’s side because they took on a temp who was inexperienced and untrained nor did they train them with any of the Practical knowledge or experience required to be successful to be productive to be innovative in that position we don’t know what position they got hired for as a temp
Other than it being marketing so we don’t know exactly what they were doing whether whether they were some type of technician or an analyst who knows so they write they ended up laying off my boss in the eight months after I started I could I I could kind of see they say I
Could kind of see it coming for me but I was completely and utterly shocked that they let my boss go too he was also completely caught off guard as he’d worked there for 15 years they just called them on teams one morning and read a generic script to him damn
That sounds cold as [ __ ] when you put in over a decade over a decade of Blood Sweat and Tears I mean we don’t know how [ __ ] hard they were working right for them to be disposable like Expendable like that for these the new CEO to come in and quote unquote right size the
Corporation and get rid of a [ __ ] who’s got 15 years of experience from one day to the next on the strength of a script is Savage as [ __ ] and that’s how you know corporate corporate is cold corporate is relatively soulless only because the [ __ ] incorporate believe they can hide behind it
But even that fresh CEO is on the chopping block and if they don’t make moves they might be the ones to go everyone and I’ve said this every just about every episode but everyone everyone in corporate is entry level forever everyone you could have a job one day and not
Have it the next wake up one morning you log on from I don’t know your your cushy pad and you’re working from home because at this point you’re a director or a vice president of a division and you’re fine you find that uh the uh the morning meeting with the other
Directors or the leadership team is just you the CEO human resources and maybe a lawyer and they’re like Alex you know we want to uh thank you for your 15 years of service while you’ve worked with us and and watched the company grow and we’ve been fortunate also to watch your career
Blossom like they always say some [ __ ] like that as if you haven’t been in the trenches together as if you don’t know where the bodies are buried and then like Alex uh we just want to wish you uh the best of luck on your future success and and your career to come and
That’s it they clip you out the picture you’re gone you’re done what what are your options from there right I mean the this this hypothetical client isn’t that manager who got let go who we’re talking to was their uh subordinate all right so who’s to say that that older 15 years
Experienced person couldn’t pivot on their toe and just you know do it moving move on to the competition or or maybe they were falling behind maybe they were [ __ ] lagging it because they weren’t keeping up with technology as it was being rolled out they weren’t keeping up with Innovations as they
Could have been integrated who the [ __ ] knows right then maybe they might not even be with us anymore but they continue here and they’re right it was [ __ ] up they they call they just called them on teams it was one morning they just called him on teams
One morning and read a generic script to him it was [ __ ] up you’re right and I was really upset for him because it seemed like he was just trying to keep things afloat in a company that had just broken off from a larger company and had been mismanaged for a long time
It really wasn’t his fault you know that’s what they write it really wasn’t his fault you know hey I get it I understand I’ve been in exactly I’m not going to say exactly but I’ve been in a relatively in a substantially substantially similar situation in the past where uh I was working for
A corporation and I was a middle manager and this was during a time when there was a scheme a promotion scheme taking place above above my pay grade right above my pay grade when these [ __ ] went from hourly to salary in that anybody or in that the salary employees they had an incentive
They had some some type of promotion incentive where anybody that they trained and promoted the salaried employee would receive a kickback depending on what type of position that they had promoted and they range from anywhere to one hunt not to 100 sorry anywhere from one thousand dollars to five thousand
Dollars and I believe even ten thousand dollars right because these were very important positions to be cultivating in this in this company in this Corporation and me I was a a lower end middle manager I was on my way up and I already knew I already knew how
The motion of the ocean was going I mean I was getting my my uh my ducks together and putting them all in a row learning how to you know go with the go with the flow ride the wave and um I did a little too much too soon you learn from experience
You learn from experience and I was a young cat I was maybe 19 20. I was about 20. and um at that time I was right in the middle of of this promotion scheme where I was about to begin my own Ascension and they cracked down corporate came
Down and cracked down on everyone who had been promoting doing the promoting they got they fired up a bunch of [ __ ] they sparked like all the middle corporate and then rehired a bunch not rehired but like hired on a bunch of new like new cats from outside and promoted you know
People from inside up into those corporate positions why because and I’ll tell you why these corporate managers were promoting manage on the sink just for the sake of the incentive just on the on the strength of the incentive the one thousand of five thousand or ten thousand that was a sweet hook
To just have them write off and say that yeah they’re you know this this pretend me yeah this this [ __ ] Alex is ready to become uh a general manager [ __ ] some type of section manager and they’d never [ __ ] trained me they never supervised me they never developed me
So there was never any progress like I never received the performance review just show up one day and they’re like hey Alex you want to be a general manager and I’m like I mean what’s the pay well we’ll give you I don’t know some [ __ ] nominal amount really smart just that
[ __ ] amount we’ll give you a dollar extra an hour remind you I was still hourly at the time right we’ll give you a dollar extra for me young Alex 20 years old hungry like a [ __ ] a dollar was was like gold would it be like gold right I’m like
Yeah let me get another dollar man and I get a title sick but I go in there with no training they set me up essentially to fail if I’m not learning to tread water and make moves take Strokes by myself or make The Strokes yeah I mean I guess
When you’re when you’re swimming it’s a swim stroke right you’re not learning to stroke by yourself you’re either trading water or you’re [ __ ] sinking right because this Corporation it was a very popular very popular company very popular Corporation and it could essentially run on the strength of its
Name you know and they were really hyped about all organic non-GMO food Tex-Mex Grill go look it up I’m sure you know what it is by now and um and and so corporate Crackdown on all these uh unfounded promotions and when it came to it they realized that Alex Alex
Wasn’t promoted by incentive I mean me myself I took it upon myself I took it upon myself to learn what it required what was required to get promoted I went through the instruction manuals all like the the service and the management handbooks to get the knowledge in line so that I
Could apply it in a in a very practical manner so that not only my colleagues could see that I was a top performer but at the customers could also recognize that I was about that life that I I was the one who was keeping the [ __ ] together right
So I essentially became the life of the party and that it is that is a lot of responsibility for a young cat to take on but you know every now and then you meet somebody who’s who’s about their business or who has who has external drivers and I hadn’t I mean I’m telling
You I was getting down and dirty so I had some external motivators that required me to keep a gainful employment and I figured that while I’m I’m keeping this gainful employment why the [ __ ] wouldn’t I move up man I’m telling you when Alex was on fire Alex was just
Sparking [ __ ] left and right what a tangent all right the the hypothetical client continues here they say uh that it really wasn’t his fault you know oh I was the point of the story was that I got let go later on because because I was I was making moves I was
Rocking the boat i i re-initiated a whole bunch of like development programs to to train to train to cultivate and promote future managers and I and I was teaching them I was just telling them straight up like yo oh you got to be a [ __ ] Hustler like you want to make more than
I make homie like I’m I’m I’m just setting the foundation for you so when it comes time for you to get promoted you make more money and you can negotiate how much you’re worth because you know more like and and and it’s true that sure a lot of the generals many
Generals I’m gonna say a lot a lot of generals right I’m not gonna I’m not gonna make it a statistic but a lot of generals they start at the bottom in the trenches and they move up and they’re they’re deserving of their title and their position but some generals some officers
Forget what the trenches are like or don’t keep up with what the trenches are like so it could easily be like this 15-year experienced [ __ ] who just forgets what the world looks like who forgets what the world operates like who’s not keeping abreast of of news and change so they’re necessarily dragging down
The company by not staying on top of their own game right so if uh if if you come to find out you come to find out that [ __ ] up in corporate they they don’t want like this new generation like the the new cats to move with creativity to move with Hustle and
Flow they just want order takers they just want executioners they just want [ __ ] who will do what they are told and not think a second longer but that wasn’t me that wasn’t Alex and the people that I I was hiring on and interviewing and filling up you know my
My crew with my team with [ __ ] who thought like me and I was having fun I was having fun doing it so when it came time they caught me slipping on one like a one tiny mistake a tiny mistake and they let my ass go let my ass go because in that
Time corporate was coming was coming to crack down on um on on just policies and internal practices they were like you know what we stopped giving warnings we’re going to stop giving warnings no more writtens no more orals we’re just gonna hide we’re just gonna fire [ __ ] on the spot we’re just
Gonna let them go we’re gonna terminate them with that without warning we won’t hand we won’t we don’t deal with errors and our store was our our our division our our sport right was was turning around and we were turning a nice profit obviously we weren’t seeing
Anything of it yet because I was the first of my kind I would have negotiated for something way larger I was I was being groomed out I was getting trained not necessarily directly trained but out I pulled down the manuals to become a general manager I was gonna skip
Assistant [ __ ] being an assistant manager homie I’m making moves and um yeah I mean they caught me slipping on one of these and because I had negotiated to be where I was then you know I was starting something they wanted to end it before it took off which which really is just the
Negotiating portion of it yeah maybe they want [ __ ] to pick up the books and read them but how many [ __ ] do you really know are gonna actually pick up the books and want to consume them not many not many sure everybody wants to get paid more
But I want to get paid more and be able to justify it I’m not just gonna show up and be like Oh but I got I got bills I deserve fifteen dollars an hour nah honey I I was pulling the books down and I was and I was challenging the fact that they
Wanted to give me only uh an extra dollar no I’m like no give me three more give me five more because I’m worth it and I know what to do to make the operation run smoothly and so because I did that I got under this [ __ ] skin I got under the
Corporate manager’s skin and they’re like oh you we’ve never paid anybody like you so we expect the return on investment this [ __ ] yeah chance they got the first chance they got they ended me right there the first chance and it was on some petty but um I
Mean all the programs that I started I don’t even know if they kept them going but when I went back they said that they that they had fallen back into Old practices nobody was negotiating everybody was just given their promotion everybody was just given their raise
You know he was getting trained uh you’d love to see it but you hate to see it you’d love to see it that you’re right but you hate that it was in the worst way possible and that’s happened a couple of times in my career when you’re a corporate cowboy
And you’re thinking outside of the box when you are a goon [ __ ] when you are standing outside of the box in a ski mask and gloves staring in yeah it sucks when you’re right in the worst way possible I mean it’s it’s a Bittersweet feeling so they’re right here anyway anyway I
Was pretty torn up about it right so this 15-year experience vet was let go and our hypothetical client is feeling some type of way about it so they’re right anyway I was pretty torn up about it it was a really huge emotional event for me and my resume
Looks weird as [ __ ] now since I technically only worked at this place for eight to ten months depending depending on what anyways and in this job market that’s really not helping me however my original boss in the marketing department was promoted recently and he contacted me about a job
The pay is like a hundred K which is a lot more than I was being paid before it’s entirely remote because I moved after I was let go I had to be good at it and I really like him as a boss he’s great to work with
I don’t see any red flags yet however as you might imagine I’m not exactly crazy about the company’s management at this point I’m worried that it’ll be awkward or that they’ll randomly decide to fire me again oh it’s the same company I thought I thought the old boss got picked up
Somewhere else and got promoted however my original boss in the marketing department was promoted recently my original boss scrolling up a little bit I thought their boss was the one who got fired the one with 15 years experience did they get picked up picked back up too did
They get rehired and promoted you know maybe maybe the right sizing of the company was the appropriate way to go about it granted sometimes CEOs just pull moves out of their ass that they haven’t completely thought through so when it when they make a mistake they would much
Rather not admit they did it and just rehire you on with you know 10 extra Grand on your salary uh that has happened before but when it does occur when it does occur it’s like you gotta erase without asking for it right it it can happen I don’t
I tend not to take it personal but you do have to recognize that business is war business is always personal and so that makes War a personal item right you have to recognize that the CEO was also incompetent if they couldn’t um if they couldn’t compartmentalize the issues that were taking place inside
Of the corporation and and resolve them in a way that doesn’t require all this [ __ ] churn and turnover in in Personnel I mean you do have to question their competency as a leader and a strategist a tactician you I mean that that calls in a question whether or
Not they’re capable of looking out for your interests just like you would be looking out for their interests while you work for them right it all comes into play but that’s more higher level thinking and typically what a lot of our clients want is uh they just want a second perspective from a
Corporate Cowboys point of view as to how to proceed in a situation like this so they say however as you might imagine I’m not exactly crazy about the company’s management at this point I’m worried that it’ll be awkward or that they’ll randomly decide to fire me again
I don’t want to be paranoid or hold a grudge against anyone because I want the job but it’s difficult what do I do I think I I think I pretty much made that answer I pretty much answered that question by saying I don’t see a red flag besides you returning to the same
Company and they fired you once right they laid you off they laid you off they didn’t necessarily terminate you for cause by saying Alex you’re a piece of [ __ ] [ __ ] we never want to see you again because you know they caught me stealing Staples or some Post-it notes
Or some [ __ ] right if they caught me being a [ __ ] rat then they would have reason to fire me and say Alex if we see you again on the street it’s just on site but it doesn’t appear to be the case in your situation they let you go they laid you off two
Months later they reach back out and they say hey you know uh your old boss actually reaches back out and says hey I remember you they remembered you your work ethic your worked product and that’s what that’s what they want on their team you should feel blessed you should feel blessed
But always remember you want to go in read read before you sign because this is frankly a new Corporation when it changes hands and it changes management you don’t know what other internal policies and practices changed up in the time that you were gone so
You still want to be in your toes you want to be looking out for yourself running a gunning shooting from the hip and that all comes with experience you can find us again online on patreon anywhere really podcasts or broadcasted and um you can donate there’s a couple
Donation links and write to us also that’s P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 take care of yourselves catch you next time
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