What To Do If You Think You’re About To Be Fired

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

With the news this week that KPMG trashed a bunch of its workforce cuz Rona or whatever, we thought this might be a good time to talk about what you should do if you think you might get the axe. I wish I’d read an article like this a few years back when I got fired — er, laid off — from this website when it was bleeding money because salespeople didn’t know how to do their jobs, but no such thing existed back then.

I speak with some authority here and wish I’d done what I’m about to suggest when I got wind that I was going to be fired — yikes I did it again, I mean laid off — from this esteemed website back in the day. I was lucky in that I knew a week or two before it happened, but I did nothing of substance with that information when I could have been securing my future. Whatever, live and learn.

The first thing you need to do is secure your contacts. All those people in your email? Yeah, you’re gonna be locked out with the quickness if the hammer comes down, so it would be worth it to take the time and farm your contacts. LinkedIn is trash and I’m pretty sure they banned me a while back, but since you’re going to get fired anyway, might as well take half a day and add your professional connections, assuming you aren’t also banned like me. Throw everyone you ever talked to into a spreadsheet while you’re at it. It’s funny to me now that I’m back at this website when TPTB ask me if I can reach out to so-and-so at whatever accounting org and I’m like *shrug* I would but I don’t have their contact info, I got locked out of my old email. Too bad.

Now. All those contacts you gleaned from your inbox? Those are the people you want to hit up. Ideally before you actually get fired, as it’s easier to get a job when you already have one, which brings me to my next point.

Start working on that resume. I mean, you’re about to be fired anyway, who gives a shit about work output when you have one foot out the door? Polish that bad boy up and hit up r/accounting to give it a glance, they’ll be honest and tell you if it’s trash. Alright, resume sorted.

And now you just kick back. It’s just a job, you’ll be fine. People leave jobs all the time. As Glassdoor reminds us, even Oprah got fired once and she’s like the 10th richest person in the world so nbd.

In the moment, getting fired can feel earthshattering. But for such a seemingly catastrophic event, getting fired is actually quite common. Business icons like Steve Jobs, Anna Wintour and Oprah Winfrey were all famously fired at some point in their career. In fact, in 2010 Wintour told a conference audience, “I recommend you all get fired. It’s a great learning experience.”

There are also a whole slew of reasons why the firing might not have even been your fault. Setting reasonable boundaries in a chaotic work environment, raising “elephant in the room” issues that management is afraid to address or even delivering such stellar results that you embarrass your boss can all be hidden reasons for being handed the pink slip. And if getting fired was really your fault? This is an excellent learning opportunity.

Have a drink, dust yourself off, and go respond to all those recruiters in your InMail you’ve been ignoring all this time.

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IRS Agent Wants to Know If There’s Life After Government Work

Welcome to the when-do-the-blackouts-start edition of Accounting Career Emergencies. In today’s edition, an IRS revenue agent is thinking about the future and wonders if there is anything to look forward to after a stretch inside the House of Shulman. Will he be greeted with contempt or disdain by potential employers outside of the Treasury Department?

Trapped in your job? Not sure if you can bottle up your rage during your upcoming compensation discussion? Need ideas for your next advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll come up with something to bring everyone closer together.

Back to the Shulman Soldier:

Dear Career Advice Brain Trust,

I am currently a freshly minted IRS revenue agent in the Northeast right out of school. I’m the guy that audits the tax returns of small business and the self-employed (Schedule C’s and 1120’s). I’ve been at the job for about 10 months, and lately I’ve been starting to wonder: if this whole IRS thing doesn’t pan out, what are my options? Do public accounting firms of any size see any value in the experience gained here? From what I’ve experienced, employment at the IRS is a one-way street, either attracting grads with the ink still wet from their degree, or mid-career public accountants who value personal and family time more than money. Since I’m a young grad with no family to speak of, I feel like a lot of the non-monetary benefits are lost on me.

This job has its pros and cons. It’s probably one of the safest jobs in the country for anyone with an accounting degree, and it’s borderline illegal to work more than 40 hours per week because we’re unionized. Supposedly once you’re in for a few years, you can do “anything you want” within the organization, but I find that hard to believe because due to our reduced FY 2012 budget, we’re the last class to be hired for a while, so who is going to keep doing my job when everyone goes to do “anything they want?” Also, after 3-4 years, the salaries plateau big time, and we definitely make less than our public accounting counterparts throughout our careers. Furthermore, it literally takes an act of Congress to get anything substantial changed.

So my bottom line question to you (and the readers) is this: if I wanted to jump ship and go somewhere that my title carries a little less universal hatred, as well as advance my career prospects, what could I expect for opportunities, particularly in the public accounting sector?

Sincerely,
Agent Curious

Dear Agent Curious,

I’m happy to say that you’re first IRS agent to come to us for advice. Whether that means you value what we have to say or you’re simply desperate isn’t clear but regardless, thanks for reaching out.

Now then. Your problem. Personally, I feel as though the stigma associated with working for the IRS is a little overblown. Just because some of your colleagues chase down loose change and politicians call you names, that doesn’t mean you don’t have skills that aren’t valuable for private employers. The knowledge you are curating about small businesses and their compliance issues are extremely valuable and many CPA firms would gladly talk to you about your experience and how it will work for them and their clients.

Furthermore, with your inside knowledge about the Service and how is picks and chooses returns for audit, you’ll be able to better serve your clients by saying, “I assure you this will result in a Young Buck-esque raid of your business.” This knowledge of the inner workings might even be more valuable than what you actually learn on the job.

Right now, your best opportunities would be with public accounting firms that specialize in tax compliance for small businesses. Just like any other job, if you are able to jump around inside the Service and see various types of returns (partnerships, larger businesses), your skill set will be even more valuable. A few more years doing Doug Shulman’s dirty work could pay big dividends down the road.

Any former/current IRS agents out there with insight? Drop your knowledge in the comments.

Will a Floundering GPA Doom a Recruit’s Big 4 Hopes?

Ed. note: Have a question for the career advice brain trust? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com.

Hi GC,

I am interviewing with multiple big four firms but I am a little worried that if I receive an offer it may be revoked later on. I graduate in December with my masters and due to recruiting season and studying for the CPA exam I have not focused much on school. My current GPA is 3.5 and I feel that after this semester it will be in the 3.3-3.4 range. Have you ever heard of a CPA firm revoking a new graduate offer due to their grades slipping? I am getting a little worried. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Scared

Scared,
Welcome to the trials and tribulations of recruiting season. Unfounded rumors. Random interview selection. Lost sleep over imploding GPAs. Epic amounts of money wasted on free schwag*.

Rest assured, the drop in your GPA should not affect your eligibility. Consider this: your candidacy for a spot at a Big 4 firm consists A) your undergraduate GPA/degree B) any relative internships you’ve landed C) your first semester of grad work (the 3.5 GPA) and D) your CPA eligibility. I say “should not” without making a promise because the world could end tomorrow (Greece! UBS! HPV shots!) and recruiting could dry up but it’s not likely. Okay, UBS could be toast…

I’m not suggesting that you let things slide, either; you will need to provide a final transcript upon graduation. Assuming you took an equal amount of credits across two semesters for your Masters program, your first semester of a 3.5 GPA will be match up with a second semester of 3.2/3.3. Not the end of the world.

Keep interviewing, keep studying, and keep us informed of how things play out. Good luck on campus this fall.

*GC contributors will gladly accept schwag.

3 thoughts on “What To Do If You Think You’re About To Be Fired”

  1. 1. Have you paid\expenses all your professional dues? Got a to get CPE when no one else is paying?

    2. Look over your benefits to max them out. New glasses. Fill extra prescriptions. Make sure you zero out an FSA. Fitness allowance.

    3. Remember insider threat monitoring is going to be looking for file transfers to outside areas. Only some look at printed material and none can see you taking pictures of your screen. There are tidbits of work programs you’ll wish you did’nt have to figure out all over again.

    1. 4. Pull your CPE transcripts immediately if they are tracked by your firm. If you are deficient start using whatever internal resources there are to get up to your minimum hours.

      5. Make sure your AICPA, State CPA Org, and PTIN, etc. are all registered to personal emails. It is impossible to fix this if you used your work email for any of this once you’re fired and out the door.

      6. CHECK CHECK CHECK your final pay check. Often times your final PTO payout won’t be on your final direct deposit. You’d think an accounting firm could get final pay checks right, but I was issued three final paychecks due to errors in my PTO payout, errors in my final paycheck, and I have no idea what the third one for $5 was about.

      7. Make sure you can access any retirement savings with your existing employer. Once you’re fired its harder to get HR to answer these questions for you.

  2. Subsequent to a merger, I was laid off from the firm where I had worked for 23 years. #1 buy new home office equipment if what you currently have is owned by the company. #2 Order basic business cards. #3 update your resume #4 change your contact information with your state society, AICPA, IRS etc to your personal phone and email. #5 network like it’s your job. You’re more likely to find your next job through someone you know than a website.

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