How to find a new job after being fired from a toxic job: a step-by-step guide

Continuation of the article about the toxic team. This guide will show you the steps you need to take to find a new job if you quit a toxic job. But first, subscribe to our Telegram channel. We often publish such valuable articles!

The first five to ten years of your career can be very challenging. Very rarely does someone graduate and start a job knowing exactly what they want to do and where they want to do it. You go from job to job trying to gain experience and figure out what you want to do. You have a lot of trial and error ahead of you. You’ve spent a lot of time and energy looking for the “perfect” job, and now, a year or two later, you’re asking yourself what you thought when you took your current position.

Changing jobs can be terrifying, but you must do it for some time. You can only know if you are in the right place after doing the job. Fear of the unknown keeps people in jobs they don’t like. Even if you are unhappy with your position, there is no guarantee you will like the new job.

Young people with little work experience wonder how to approach finding a new job.  Here are your four steps if you are stuck after leaving a toxic job:

1. Self-compassion

It’s hard to appreciate a situation in the middle. Distance will always help you reevaluate the experience. Although it’s easy to get stuck thinking, “Why was I treated this way?” or “Why didn’t I do things differently?” Such thoughts won’t help you move forward. Once you’ve had a chance to vent and get rid of all your feelings about your nasty ex-boss, it’s time to feel compassion for yourself.

You are practicing self-compassion is learning how to be kind and understanding toward ourselves when we are struggling, failing, or feeling inadequate. When you practice self-compassion, you turn off the voices in your head telling you, “You should have done this,” or “You’re such a fool to think...” and you see yourself for who you are — a person.

A toxic boss can seriously undermine your confidence and self-worth. All this self-doubt and insecurity kept her from feeling like she had an opportunity to get another job.

2. Start gathering information

As you reflect on your last job from a compassionate perspective, start making a list of what you liked and disliked about your last job. It is through our experiences that we gain information about ourselves, and we tend to learn more about ourselves and what we want and don’t want from things that don’t work as expected.

While it’s never fun to work at a job you hate, you have gained valuable information about yourself and what you want out of your career. Take that information and start making decisions about your next job based on what you know precisely about yourself. Read Don't know what profession is right for you? Start your search with four easy steps.

3. Conquer fear

You can’t make good decisions because of fear, which means you must learn how to manage your feelings. As soon as you feel another bout of fear, stop and answer yourself about what it is you’re afraid of. In most cases, this is enough to continue your job search with peace of mind.

4. Start taking small steps

People who struggle with anxiety tend to avoid anything that causes them anxiety. The more they avoid it, the more anxious they become when faced with having to do something that initially caused them anxiety. That’s why when something causes you anxiety, the best thing to do is to stop avoiding it and just do it.

It doesn’t mean that the only way to deal with anxiety is to jump into the thick of things. Sometimes it is more effective to slowly submerge one part of your body at a time until you feel comfortable submerging your whole body.

When you’re feeling down, it’s best to figure out what three scary but doable steps you can take. Transitioning to a new job after leaving a toxic workplace can be scary, and it’s okay to feel how you feel. The key to a successful transition is to change your thoughts so that this time you can take different actions and choose the right job or profession.

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