Nathan Cera: “Why you need to get fired, like me”

Nathan Cera was one of Radio Today’s Top New Talent to watch in 2014. He’s about to become the new breakfast anchor at Mix 102.3 with ARN Adelaide. His career has seen him co-host of Sea FM Central Coast breakfast with Dani Pola. He’s worked Perth at both 92.9 and Nova 937.  He’s also been fired from four of five stations he has worked at.

He has written a ripper read on news.com.au about “Why you need to get fired, like me”.

It tracks his career from his first gig at HOT FM WA where he didn’t make it past his 3 month probation window:  “This doesn’t happen to me, surely not, this workplace doesn’t get me!”

Nathan talks about the first lesson he learned after that. “Looking back, the real reason I got fired was due to non-performance that arose from believing I was above the job.”

Next stop was SEA FM on the Central Coast, where he co-hosted with Dani Pola and his contract was coming up renewal after two and half years.

“I got the usual “you’ll know as soon as we do if you’re staying on, things look good, don’t stress mate”, right up until the moment they said, “we’re no longer continuing with your contract”. And again the shock — Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2: Die Harder — shock.”

Nathan said: “The reason for this firing, as far as I can tell, was less about performance and more about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

It was around the time Dani got promoted to hit107 Adelaide and Byron Cooke and Kristie Mercer were about to launch. He realised that it was commercial reality, an established team with chemistry or him trying to build something with a new co-host.

Nathan is his story then says: “Driven by a desire to not go out on someone else’s terms, I got back up. I took a pay cut, received a demotion and joined the opposition. The lesson this time: humility. You need to be prepared to take a few steps back because you never know how close you are to one of life’s U-turns, bumps or detours. And I stumbled upon an utterly fantastic group of people at Star 104.5 on the Central Coast, who were willing to take a chance on someone who had a tarnished record. I learnt more in three months working as the Mornings Announcer and Music Director at Star than I had in the last four years.”

The end game? While his story centres on growing up protected by his family, it showcases some of the harsh reality of working in commercial radio.

”Getting fired hits your confidence and I’ve wanted to give up many, many times and have often thought I’ve got nothing to offer. But you must always bring yourself back to why you started in the first place. For me, there’s nothing better than seeing someone get some joy (however small) out of something I’ve done or said. That is my driving force and motivation. If you’ve found that which makes you tick, you must stay the course no matter how many knock-backs you receive. If you haven’t found what makes you tick, work hard to realign your life with your deepest values.”

Read Nathan Cera’s full story at news.com.au here.