"Fire" is a four letter word.

Donald Trump is a real jerk. With that bad hair and pompous sneer he obviously gets off on saying "You're fired!" Who do you think you are? This act has been done for decades by Mr. Spacely (of Spacely's Sprockets) telling George Jetson "Jetson, you're fired!" Donald, I knew Mr. Spacely, and you're no Mr. Spacely. This is real life, not some Saturday morning cartoon. There is real trauma left behind.

Unfortunately, I have had the sad duty to end one's employment many times in my career. It is a responsibility I always have always taken very seriously. I have never said "you're fired." It is incredibly personal and just plain mean. A good supervisor will always keep separate the performance from the individual and leave the individual with some dignity and hope. This supervisor will minimize the inevitable embarrassment and demonstrate some empathy.

The purpose of this post is not to instruct how to terminate employment, but rather to point out how this event affects the upcoming search for the next job. As a career coach, my clients are typically out of work; often recently terminated. Lack of self-esteem is a serious obstacle to the career search. It is important that clients feel like they can be successful again in the future. If they don't feel that way, often they will do nothing.........afraid that friends and family will find out and then they will need to explain what happed. As a coach, the responsibility to my clients is to encourage as well as educate and advise.

Finding the next job in today's job market is so difficult under the best of circumstances. Helping to rebuild my client's self-confidence makes it all harder.

I would ask everyone whose responsibility includes terminating employment to understand the long term consequences and do the deed with class, dignity, and respect.