How to Save Your Career After Failing at Work
If you make a big mistake at work, losing your job and the income and health insurance associated with it is the worst-case scenario, but it’s often not likely. What is more common is getting a reputation for being bad at what you do.
With the ever-increasing integration of social media and real life, your professional reputation can outgrow your workplace pretty quickly. (Just this week, both Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz took to Twitter when people were discussing how terrible they are at their jobs.) And if your professional reputation has been hurt, you might also find it hard to find work elsewhere. After all, people talk and you never know if your future boss is listening. Here’s how you can fix your reputation after failing at work.
First, admit your mistakes
Maybe you mishandled a report, screwed up a deal, or made a fool of yourself at a work event. It could be that your customer service skills — or lack of them — led to the harsh reviews on Yelp. Maybe you played in the World Series for a team that was later busted for cheating, but got hired elsewhere anyway, and then started to fail when the league cracked down on pitchers using banned goo to help them spin the ball. Whatever you do, you must acknowledge it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to talk about it, because everyone else will definitely talk about it.
In addition to preventing gossip, acknowledging a mistake indicates that you are doing a responsible job. If you already have a reputation for doing something bad, you need to fix that reputation as soon as possible. Being known as someone who screwed up is terrible, but being known as someone who screwed up and took immediate steps to fix things is less terrible.
Schedule time with your boss to really discuss what happened. Don’t get defensive; make sure you admit your mistake. And if there were contributing factors, such as a colleague misleading you or doing a bad job, resulting in you doing yours poorly, mention it, but take responsibility for the mistakes that were yours. Apologize directly and promise to get better. (If you work for a large company, or if your mistake has consequences that will affect the public, you may think that anything you say might leak to the media, so report it accordingly.)
Know exactly why you screwed up
It’s time for some professional introspection, but be aware that, as with any self-examination, you may not like what you find.
“The big question is whether this is a one-off display of terrible behavior or a pattern of acting terrible at work,” said HRUTech’s Tim Sackett, author of Fixing Talent: Leaders’ Guide to Hiring Outstanding talents .” “It’s funny, but in the human resources department, we often see people who do a great job at one job, leave the company and suddenly become bad performers. Same person, same job, so what’s the deal? It turns out that most of your work is not only about you, but also about the organizational culture, the support of management and the team that surrounds you at work.
Be honest with yourself about whether this was the only inevitable mistake or whether it followed a series of smaller, unnoticed mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but if it was a crisis that seemed to be biding its time, consider whether your work environment was contributing to the problems.
Also consider whether you are doing the right thing or working for the right organization. It may seem too simple, but a big mistake could mean you are in the wrong place. The solution could be something as simple as signing up for continuing education courses or seeking mentoring.
Ultimately, however, you must decide whether you want to stay in your role and wait it out or try to make some changes.
If you choose to stay at your job, promise to kill her.
Once you have acknowledged your mistake and understood why you made it, you just need to wait out the difficulties that arise. It will suck for a while, but you can get by even if your co-workers don’t think highly of you for a while. Remember how we said that when you fix a gaffe, you also have to swear that you will get better? The solution is not in the promise itself; the solution is to fix it.
Get back to your work. Take advice or criticism from your superiors seriously and make sure your performance improves noticeably. Perform your duties well, work with others, make a meaningful contribution, and change people’s opinion of you one by one.
Individual work can also go a long way, so remember that you need to prove yourself not only to your boss, but to your teammates as well. Reputation is an opinion that is mostly held by a group, but these groups are made up of individuals, so you can turn the tide in your favor by addressing each colleague in a different way. Recruiting allies is vital.
“Unfortunately, restoring your reputation alone is difficult,” Sackett said. “You need a champion or two to help you. I have seen employees rebuild their reputation by taking on a junior role on a project with someone who has an exceptional reputation within the company and is very clear about what they are trying to do to make sure that person is willing to help them. and be the champion they need.”
Don’t expect to turn in a couple of great reports or demonstrate exceptional customer service within a few days of an error and the problem will go away. Fixing your reputation is a long-term job that Sackett warned takes “time and patience.”
“In our society, we want instant gratification, but reputation management takes a lot of time and effort. One big mistake could take years to recover,” he said.
If you decide to leave, anticipate friction while looking for a job.
If “recovery years” doesn’t appeal to you, or if your journey of professional self-discovery has led you to the conclusion that you’re better suited to work elsewhere, your big mistake could be a turning point. But don’t expect the job search process to go smoothly, as your reputation may extend beyond your company.
Online reviews, press articles, and industry insider gossip can get you ahead of the curve when it comes to letting hiring managers elsewhere know who you are. In addition, most job applications expect you to give interviewers permission to contact your previous employers. If you do not give such permission, you will almost certainly be asked why at the interview. You can still work, you just need to strategize how you will deal with your past mistakes during the transition.
“Let those who support you and your professional career be ready to give you recommendations. They still matter in these cases, especially direct contact, bigger titles,” Sackett said. Inform all your allies of the facts that you are looking for a job, and they may be called upon to praise you or talk about how you overcame the consequences of your mistake.
Then evaluate the error and accept your reputation. Just as it’s best to admit mistakes within a company when they happen, it’s important to be honest with potential employers. Show that you are a mature, self-aware and honest person. Straightforwardness not only makes you look good in your own way, but also eliminates the possibility that the hiring manager will find out about your problems from someone else and conclude that you are lying and not qualified.
Sackett advised: “Be honest and open during the interview process. Say, “I screwed up and here’s what I got out of it, how it made me a better person, and what I would do differently next time.” We love the story of redemption and someone we think is highly introspective.”
As unbelievable as it may sound, your professional mistakes can actually make you a better person if you handle and present them the right way. Everyone makes mistakes, but people who own it, learn from it, and commit to moving on have the best chance of getting through it all.