Hello everyone,
I’m (32M) writing today because I have been flabbergasted since I got fired 3 months ago and I don’t really know what to think about this situation or even how to process it.
Too give you a little feedback, I was leaving in Dubai for 1 year, had a great job (I’m a digital business manager) but to be honest I really didn’t like the lifestyle. I tried but it was just not for me. I decided to resign and to go back to my country.
I was still in contact with my old director and she offered me a position in her new team. She didn’t start yet bit anyways I went through the process, 5 interviews. I could tell the VP thought I was too young, but everybody convinced him that I was a good fit so I got the job. Only thing was that I needed to move to Barcelona (I am French).
I moved from Dubai directly there and things got really weird really fast. First, I received an invitation for an induction with the VP. I was really excited to prove him that I knew my job very well but anyways the induction happened to be with him and a very young colleague that just started at the same time as me, but as a temporary contract. She was 25 and 32. I didn’t think too much about it but this is we’re I started to feel like I was not taken seriously.
Anyways, I had a very good relationship with my director as I considered her as my mentor. She was there only 2 days a week as she was living in Paris and not Barcelona.
My 2 teammates were older than me (≈40) and acted like I was just there to do the work they didn’t want to (more or less like an intern). I was dealing with the whole digital business strategy and operations for the whole Middle East region prior to this. I didn’t feel really good in this team, and nobody was really nice but in my mind I was there to do the job and deliver and not to make friends so didn’t think too much about it.
The only person that was cool with me was another director that was also part of the VP team. We were discussing a lot during our smoking break but other than that he didn’t show a lot of consideration in front of other people. Didn’t think too much about it either. 2 months after my arrival he invited to dinner (we will call him Jack) The dinner went well but after 2 gin tonics he started making sexual jokes and I didn’t really feel confortable so I left rapidly after but without creating a scene. Just said I was tired. From there I started to notice his behavior changing towards me but I didn’t think too much about it either.
3 months after my arrival, the situation was ok, not great but ok. As part of a team building, the whole VP team went for a 3 day summit in a sky station. Not my favorite kind of social events but look I played the game. They decided to organize a Paddel tournament where people were paired randomly. They paired me with Jack but for some reasons he started screaming saying he didn’t want to be paired with me. I felt absolutely terrible. From there I started noticing that he was talking about me a lot, particularly to the VP and not positively. From there my relationships with everyone started going downhill. For example, I organized a marketing presentation with one of our clients but couldn’t attend because I had an appointment with the Spanish administration ( I was still settling down). It was not a big deal because my role was to organize but not to present and my director was attending. I asked her if it was ok for her and she said yea. However one of my colleague went to talk to the VP about it.
I talked about the whole situation to my director but she just said to let it go and that everything would be fine. She just got a meeting with the HR and said that she was very happy with my work.
I had a probation period of 6 months and 2 weeks prior we, my director and I, had a discussion and see said that she would of course validate it.
Flash forward to my last day, we had a team meeting in the morning to organize an event in September. Everybody got something to do but me. I never felt like this , like I really needed to leaving. After this I asked her if I could go back home to work because I didn’t feel really good. This was my first realization that this situation really impacted my mental health. She said yes. Just when I arrived home she called me. She told my right away that the VP refused to validate my contract. It was horrible.
Starting over in a new country is tough, it took me a lot of effort and energy and in one second everything was destroyed. I don’t really speak Spanish yet as we are working in English and I can’t pretend to any money.
Moving here cost me a lot of money and I don’t want to leave but it’s been 3 months and I don’t know what to do. Being an Arab French guy, evolving in such corporate , white dominated environnement was never easy but I worked hard. I just don’t know what to do anymore. My resume is really good as I worked for the best companies in the industry but I don’t see myself going back.
Maybe you will be able to give me a bit of hope and perspective :/