Getting fired from a job is like a professional “scarlet letter” and many employers will tell a recruiter privately, “don’t send us anyone who has been fired”. The tough thing is regardless of how successful someone has been over their career, it’s hard for employers in Bangkok to overlook a firing in someone’s work history.  The simple truth…it is always better to be proactive in life than reactive so it’s better to resign than get fired, however you need to do it the right way.

First, you need to manage your boss so that you are never getting blindsided in the workplace.  This means you need to have very good communication with those you work with so that everyone is one the same page.  If you are working on a project, make sure you have a very clear understanding of what their expectations are for the task and if anything seems unrealistic, you need to discuss it with them before you begin.  Then, as the project proceeds, you should provide them timely updates so that any mistakes can be quickly corrected.  Not only does this help you from getting in trouble, it ensures a minor mistake does not become a catastrophe.

If your management team seems unforgiving of a minor mistake or problem(good communication keeps things from becoming big mistakes), then you should start pursuing other opportunities as employers happy with your performance will not make small things an issue.  They key is to try to resign before your company is able to document any performance related issues as most employers know it’s legally inadvisable to issue a poor reference if the record contradicts those claims.

Should you ever need to to find employment quickly, the best path is to utilize your existing network of people currently familiar with your work (which is why it’s important to constantly keep-in-touch with your network). If you must resign before you are able to find another job, you want to do your best to avoid long gaps in your resume where you are unemployed because that is as bad as being fired. For most companies and recruiters, there is a shared belief that someone really good at their job is always in demand so anyone who is “unwanted” raises all kinds of red flags.

In close, you want to be to able to anticipate any events that could impact your career and the best way of doing that is to communicate well with your colleagues and employer.  As with anything in life, if you foresee trouble ahead, it’s your job to change direction so that you stay out of harm’s way.