note-cardAs I was looking for a topic to write about, I decided to check out what people were searching on find Elephants at Work and this caught my eye: how to write my ex-boss a thank you note for firing me.

My first thought was, why would anyone want to write a thank you note when they got fired? Then again, there might be some very good reasons to do it.

You were fired from a job that you hated.

Perhaps being fired was the best thing that happened to you because you were stuck. It is hard to walk away from a job or company that pays the bills even if you hate the work or organization you work for. Perhaps your poor attitude was showing up in your work – let’s face it; your boss did the right thing.

You were fired because you were in over your head.

Sometimes you take a job or get promoted into job that is more than you can handle. It’s easy to see the signs – you may be put on a performance improvement plan or you are so stressed out that everyone around you is telling you the job is more than you can handle.

Hearing those comments may anger you – why doesn’t anyone believe in you or have confidence in what you can do? You don’t want to hear other people say you need to step away from this position or company. You find ways to cope by not listening or ignoring what you hear because deep down, you don’t want to fail.

Once you are fired, you feel like all the pressure is off you and you can finally relax. Now you realize that being fired was the answer.

Write your boss a thank you note for firing me.

Keep your thank you message short and sweet and write it in a way that you ex-boss will believe you are being sincere.

It’s not the time to go into all the details of your life. Just let your ex-boss know that you believe they made the right decision for the company and you. Moving on from that experience has given you the chance to explore opportunities that are better aligned with what you really want to do.

Kudos to the person searched on how to write a thank you note for firing me. It takes a confident person to send it.