Quitting vs. Being Fired - Your View

While I realize neither is an opportune situation, in your personal opinions & viewpoints which is less negative, quitting a job or being fired from a job?

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RouteMyPacket

Xyro wrote: »

While I realize neither is an opportune situation, in your personal opinions & viewpoints which is less negative, quitting a job or being fired from a job?

Obvious answer is obvious man!

theanimal

I would clearly think that quitting is the much and far better option.

Given the nature of 'being fired', it makes it appear as if you were in the wrong. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, that's just what it looks like. So when they ask the question in the future, why? You have to explain why and most of the times it's going to sound like a loopy story you made up.

On the other hand, if you quit, it's like you have the power. Without just outright bad mouthing the company, you can explain that their leadership wasn't up to par, projects were not organized, or any of the other common reasons one usually quits. It will sound believable and if anything, could possibly make you sound like a better person, a go getter, a hard charger.

That's just how I take it anyway.

YFZblu

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

Obvious answer is obvious man!

Haha - This

MiikeB

I think quitting is better, but you don't get unemployment if you have nothing lined up so its tricky in that situation. At this point in my career I would still rather quit, but early on I probably would have preferred being fired just so I could pay my bills and found a creative way to explain the firing (I might say something like "I signed a NDA about the terms of severance with the company" then write up a NDA agreement with myself).

DPG

The worst option is to lie about it either way.

Raisin

The smart thing to do is to find another job so that you're not quitting or being fired, you're leaving for a new position. Unless you've screwed up so bad that you're fired on the spot, odds are there will be plenty of early warning signs that your boss wants you gone.

Xyro

Raisin wrote: »

The smart thing to do is to find another job so that you're not quitting or being fired, you're leaving for a new position.

Is this not, technically, quitting though?

theanimal

Xyro wrote: »

Is this not, technically, quitting though?

I believe he's referring to resigning. Finding a new position, putting in your 2 weeks or 4 weeks, or whatever and leaving on good, peaceful terms.

NetworkVeteran

Resigning is better than being fired, of course, from the perspective of a future employer. I would ask for a good explanation for either. Of course, if you're fired and weren't too terrible, you'll be paid unemployment.

boredgamelad

As for what looks better to prospective employers, I'd say resignation with notice is best, followed by being laid off for reasons out of your control (funding/staffing). I'd put quitting without notice or being fired for negligence/sucking at your job on the same level. Both of those are a black mark as far as I'm concerned.

Raisin

theanimal wrote: »

I believe he's referring to resigning. Finding a new position, putting in your 2 weeks or 4 weeks, or whatever and leaving on good, peaceful terms.

Exactly, if you just quit without finding another job you'll end up with a break in employment and that's going to lead to some uncomfortable questions being asked about why you left in any future interviews. It's much easier to explain changing jobs because that's fairly common in IT anyways.

Xyro

theanimal wrote: »

I believe he's referring to resigning. Finding a new position, putting in your 2 weeks or 4 weeks, or whatever and leaving on good, peaceful terms.

Ahhh I see... ok.

powerfool

I think the only time this makes a significant difference is when you did something seriously wrong and your employer offers you the opportunity to save face by quitting; the employer also gets a benefit out of it, too, because they don't have to worry about whether you will try to claim unemployment benefits. People lose jobs because of cutbacks quite often and can hardly be faulted (unless it is just as excuse).

Of course, recent studies have shown that you need to find a job as quickly as possible, even if you are going to have to take less money. The statistics showed that an experienced person that has been out of work for six months has less of a chance of being hired than someone with much less experience that has only been out of a work a very short time (somewhere on LinkedIn last week).

timrvt

my grandmother always used to say "Fire the job!!!"

blargoe

IMO, this is how I would rank it from the perspective of an potential employer.

1) Resigning to take another position
2) Being downsized or laid off for business reasons not related to job performance
3) Resigning gracefully, not for new position
t-4) Terminated for job performance
t-4) Resigning abruptly, not for new position
6) Terminated for breaking rules/violating company policy

jibbajabba

There is a reason why some companies "offer" you to resign before they send you out of the door.