Nothing hits harder and more surprising than getting the boot. It starts with a bright and promising day at work. Then your boss calls you into his/her office. Next thing, he/she tells you to pack your things and look for other opportunities.  It is like a sucker punch, if sucker punches can drain your bank account and throw you into depression.

If only there were signs, right?

Well actually, there always are. But they are so conventional and familiar that they are easy to ignore. Here, we list the eight signs that says you will be dismissed. However, all hope is not yet lost. Here are our articles on how to write a terrific curriculum vitae and how to nail a great interview to get you out of the unemployment line.

You Are Getting Less Work

Aha! This is a win. This means you will have more free time to get closer to your crush during water cooler chats or update your Instagram account.

Better update your resume, mate. This means your responsibilities are being redistributed to other people as preparation for the hugehole you will be leaving when you walk out of the door. This is especially true if you are a high-level employee and/or used to juggle multiple tasks at the same time. If you get to log off from work early while your co-workers have to take overtime, do not feel blessed. Danger is coming your way.

You Are Not Part of Key Meetings Anymore

We know, you hate meetings. You think it is a waste of time because it burns precious hours staring at slide shows that you could have poured on your tasks. And you would feel happy if you will no longer be part of them anymore. Trust us, you shouldn’t. Not getting invited to key meetings and projects means the company is moving forward without you. The signs only get clearer when you try to bring this up to your superiors and all your get is a shrug. That means you will be getting the pink slip.

And speaking of your boss…

Your Relationship with Your Boss Gets Ugly

So, your supervisor that was always gleeful and supportive towards you suddenly becomes quite cold and overly critical. She now spends less time with you, and even less open with her ideas and prospects. “Alright,” you tell yourself, “She must be going through a lot lately, or having challenges with the work-life balance.”  It is OK to clear up the negativity in your head, but if this goes on for weeks or months without any explanations or apologies, you better re-establish your connections and ask for openings.

Like your other, more personal relationships like with your partner, family, and friends, a sudden and huge change in your boss’s behavior spell signs of trouble. Ignoring these is a career death warrant.

Your Boss Is Too Close On You

The other way around is not good news either. If your boss is monitoring your cases closer than the usual, he might be looking for pitfalls and reasons to show you the door. Initiatives such as constantly asking for progress reports or putting you on a performance review only solidifies this.

And speaking of reports…

Detailed Reports Of Expenses Are Being Requested

If the accounting department suddenly asks for documentations of your time and expenses, be warned. Increased scrutiny like these don’t casually happen, only when your boss and/or the company thinks someone (including you) has misused/bloated the expanses more than the company allows.

This is worse if you are the only one getting combed. That means they zeroed in on the irregularities on your end.  And you think that unwarranted drinking and spending during the last business trip won’t haunt you again.

You Are Being Asked To Take The Time Off

So, you were granted a vacation leave. Another win, right? Come on, nobody gets this privilege other than you.

But before you schedule your next trip to the beach, remember that unsolicited time offs are red flags, especially if it is something you don’t really need. Since your tasks and responsibilities are getting slashed, the company thinks they don’t have to pay you for the days you will never use productively anyway, thus the time off.

The HR People Are Behaving Awkwardly

Not all signs can be seen from your boss. Sometimes the indication can shows up from the very people who gets the memo first: the HR department.

And contrary to what everybody believe, the Human Recourse office is not peopled with megalomaniacs who wants to see employees get fired. Like you, it breaks their heart to know that some people should go. And that makes them act unusual and bizarre around those they know will get dismissed. If you notice anything out of the ordinary in the way they act around or talk to you, be wary.

There Is A Merger And/Or Leadership Change

Let us preface this by saying that not all mergers are bad. It is a way for the company to continually grow and expand by unifying the two entities’ resources.

But sometimes, when two companies combine, their common departments overlap, and this leads to massive layoffs (You don’t need two administrative departments, do you?). The same effect happens when a new leadership takes over and wants to bring the company to a different direction. This sometimes involve huge overhauls among employees they deemed too unnecessary. So you better make calls if news of a merger starts looming in the horizon.