Why Getting Fired Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me

All of my life I have been a reasonably high achiever.

I say reasonably because my average grade in university bounced between credits, distinctions and the rare high distinction, so I wasn’t academically exceptional by any stretch, but I had a satisfactory record.

After spending the better part of my teens and early twenties working as a sales assistant at retailer Target and as a bank teller at Australia’s Westpac, I completed my Bachelor of Business degree.

It was time for me to get my first ‘real’ job.

At the time, I still had long hair, a hangover from my time playing in a heavy metal band.

I’d tie it up nice and neat for job interviews (if there is such a thing). But time after time, no matter how well I performed in the interview, I got nowhere. So eventually, and against my contrarian spirit, I cut it. The very first interview I attended with short hair led to a job offer.

Interestingly, the person who hired me later made it clear that if I had turned up with long hair I more than likely would not have got the job. So much for diversity!

This was a gig with Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) as an information administrator, whatever that meant, in their upstart consumer credit bureau (it was…