Only yesterday I posted a rant about how my crappy job made me extremely depressed. Today I got fired and I'm still processing wtf.
I started my interview process in July. The role was marketing manager for few subsidiaries of a multinational company. I would report to every subsidiary and I wasn't supposed to have much to do with the headquarters marketing team (head of marketing, a senior marketing kid and two interns).
They had few internal political issues in the company and they weren't shy about it – namely, the head of marketing was a difficult person to deal with, and didn't deliver results. I passed three interviews, including one that involved travelling 500 km with 3 people and that head of marketing – a truly horrible experience, with HOM trying to do anything possible to show my weaknesses. Was offered a contract for very good money and was pressured to leave the job I had at the time asap. I had doubts, but accepted because money was good. I was lured in with the usual bullshit: “we hire to retire” “amazing culture” “we take care of employees” “HOM won't be a problem”.
One of my bosses, the one that actually hired me – let's call this person X – right after I signed my contract informed me that HOM was fired and that there wouldn't have been any issues for me to do my job. X stated that they “explicitly asked to the CEO to fire HOM otherwise my hiring wasn't possible. I was relieved but it all sounded a bit off.
I started my onboarding early January, 3 months ago. The subsidiaries I worked for were all in different countries, so I had to travel and it took about three months to shake hands with everybody. During these trips I was offered luxury dinners, expensive wines and 5 star hotels. My last trip to meet my colleagues was in the first ten days of last month. During that trip, the CEO mentioned a possible promotion for me, which I said could be discussed later.
Yet, about that time, things started to look toxic and just not right. X started badmouthing the senior marketing kid when in front of my other bosses, while praising them when the kid was present.
I wasn't also let actually do my job, very suddenly – basically anything I suggested as part of a new strategy that could have worked for one subsidiary, was a no. Including things we discussed previously and that X was enthusiastic about.
I wanted to change the website? No. Change of look for a brochure? No. Hire a freelancer specialist? No. Access to social media analytics? No. Offer a strategy? No. I couldn't do most of the things in my contract and was downgraded to less than an intern by X and by senior marketer.
Seeing how things were looking, I organised a meeting with all my bosses, hoping the others would see the issue and step in, or that they would just give me shared guidelines on what I could and what I couldn't do.
Nothing worked – X praised me in front of the others, remarked my full freedom and how the other kids in marketing department were useless. But, in meetings with just the two of us, instead, X showed his true colours and turned into the worst naysayer I ever met. Colleagues from the subsidiaries asked me for marketing support that I wasn't allowed to give. It all started looking terrible.
In the last two weeks I started seeing things going downhill – senior marketing kid organised a meeting with the directors of all subsidiaries to discuss the vision. Weirdly, I was excluded from the meeting, even if it was very much my job to set a vision for the subsidiaries. Weird.
I asked why to X, who I reported to, and I was first reassured. Then I was told “nor are the interns” – mind that I was hired with an executive level contract. X also said this meeting was for HQ marketing to “win them back”. Again, it sounded terrible and we didn't have a nice conversation, overall.
I let one of my other bosses know that X was stopping me from delivering results. I did it only once and with one person, to avoid drama and in an attempt to have a better outcome. I, then, proceeded to do my job best I could, within the very limited freedom and zero budget given to me.
Alright. The marketing kid vs my bosses meeting happened two days ago. I asked to receive updates, no update was given.
Today, I received a phone call from X. In 1:38 seconds X managed to let me know the company decided to terminate my contract. No motivations added. Yes, things didn't look bright but….yesterday I did my last onboarding meeting with the CEO and CFO. I didn't see this coming TODAY and I'm so confused.
To some extent glad it's over, this company was making me depressed.
But I'm still left jobless from one day to the other, something quite uncommon in Europe – and for no valid reason that I can think of. I hate how X didn't even ask me for a videochat and just called me out of the blue on a Friday afternoon.
The way the thing happened is barely legal in my country – a company can't really fire someone without giving them a chance to show their capabilities. Downgrading them to a minor role is equally illegal.
I'm not sure if I should sue them – if I lose this will cost me thousands. At the same time, I feel I have been treated so unfairly. And I feel they used me as a power move to have former HOM out.