A company that I started working for this year in January failed me on my PIP, after I received approval for WFH for my cancer treatment, and I found another company that hired me in less than a week from the interview. But I erased and combined my short stints with my previous companies so that they would judge me based on my skills and responsibilities, instead of my poor relationships with my previous employers.
For several years I have struggled to keep a job. When I was in college, I needed credits in order to graduate, and I struggled to make it into the big companies, but I worked for smaller ones, but I was hired as a temp/contractor where my employers had no intention of retaining me or offering further training. I struggled for a year after college to find a job, because I graduated into the pandemic, then I found a small CAD firm. I lasted there for 8 months, but honestly it wasn't a good fit. Stressed-out personalities and the fact that I have a different background than the field of the company. Then I found out I had cancer shortly after being let go.
In another 8 months, I jumped between a temp company, where everyone needed to push out 3-5 complex production drawings in a single day; Found a small company in my field, but everybody does overtime more than half the time, and I was fired because I chose to see follow up with my doctor on the first month; Worked for some guy in his small office, but it was just him, another junior employee, and a crazy accountant lady that wouldn't stop complaining about some guy she thought was autistic, and she was so loud it created a disruptive environment. And then that's when I found my latest company and hired as a junior designer.
As many of you should know, a PIP or Performance Improvement Plan is a supposed procedure to help employees improve in areas where they are failing, but in reality is just a cover up to get rid of an employee when they don't have a good enough cause. I received my PIP a month after I received follow up radiation treatment for my cancer. I tried my best to get my radiation treatment before I accepted my offer letter, but the procedure isn't something that can be done in a week, and the receptionist screwed up and scheduled my appointment at a time the office was closed, delaying the treatment.
I have so many theories as to why my job decided to throw me under the bus, even though they explicitly told me that they're an “equal-opportunity” employer. Before I was placed on the PIP, for some reason I caught a UTI, unrelated to my cancer, and I had to frequently go to the bathroom. My principal (primary manager) was constantly taking me aside, worried if my frequency had something to do with my cancer, and told me to use my PTO. I didn't want to use my PTO, only because I was afraid that I would be seen as a burden by the company, or I wanted to save it for an extreme emergency. I kept urging my urologist during this time to take my frequency seriously, but he kept taking his damn time, and I couldn't find another urologist in my area. When my principal pulled me aside, I thought he was going to talk to me about my UTI, but this time he told me that I was working “too fast” even though there was no work coming in, and I was placed on the PIP.
During the same month I was placed on the PIP, a fresh grad, also junior designer joined our team, even though work was still slow. Before I was let go, I asked her how much she was making. I (2 years of experience) was making $28.85/hr. and she (no prior experience, out of college) was making $23/hr. which is the typical minimum wage for this industry. So I couldn't help but wonder if this girl was meant to replace me, since she was cheaper.
Another reason I think I might have been placed on the PIP, was because my 26th birthday is this September, and I was planning on applying for insurance through my company. I was let go a month before I could apply on my birth month, since I was still under my parent's insurance during this time.
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As soon as I was fired, I applied to a company with a similar role to the one I lost. I tend to be very humble, but I was tired of dealing with terrible companies. So I took a risk, combined my multiple internship experiences under one of my companies, and said that I was working with the company that just let me go, for an additional 2 years.
I applied with my fake resume to the new company, for a role that is one step higher than my last role, and they called me in requesting an interview. I went into the interview nervous if I might get caught. I had a good interview anyways, and they called me in 6 days, telling me I have 3 days to accept an offer letter, and to start work in the next two weeks, for the higher role.
I went from Junior Designer to Intermediate.
I have no regrets about lying on my resume, because I have confidence that I am competent worker who struggles because corporate firms value their bottom line over loyalty. I do have some worries, as this is another corporate firm that values “equal opportunity” like my last company. Plus the fact that they hired me so quickly, and gave me such a short window of time to accept the offer.
I hope that I don't get out of this company as fast as I was hired, but who knows. I might still be applying for new jobs and doing side gigs while I work here, so I can maintain income security, if I cannot maintain job security.
Also, screw corporations that throw their disabled workers under the bus. I worked from home while going under radiation for my cancer for your company, you tyrants.