Being fired from a job is never easy, but it is almost always necessary to discuss the situation with potential employers. You don’t have to go into great detail about what happened, but admitting that you lost your job is usually the most honest thing you can do. The hardest part is usually preparing for questions and deciding how to frame the topic. Before you’re confronted with questions, practice talking about the subject and think hard about what you learned from being fired, and bring the subject up yourself if at all possible. You can control it in a variety of ways once you introduce it.
Honesty and Its Importance
When discussing a job loss, the general rule is to be honest but succinct. On a resume, there’s no need to mention how you left a job, but be ready for the question to come up during an interview. Employers frequently inquire as to why you left a particular job, especially if the job you left and the one you’re applying for are similar. It’s often beneficial to have a standard response prepared so you can quickly respond to the question and move on to more positive topics.
Some job applications may also inquire as to whether or not you have ever been fired. If you see a question like this, it’s critical to respond honestly — make sure to check “yes,” but be prepared to go over the details in greater detail. It may be necessary to include a brief addendum with a few explanations, depending on the application.
Putting Things in a Positive Light
Self-reflection is usually the first step in preparing an explanation. Consider what caused you to lose your job and how you’ve grown as a worker as a result of the experience. You’ll want to be succinct but upbeat, especially in written applications. What you should aim for is a brief and straightforward explanation of the situation. Don’t go into too much detail — just be honest about why you’re leaving and explain in one or two sentences how the experience has made you a more valuable employee. At the very least, state what you’ve learned as a result of your termination and then move on.
Situations involving layoffs
Simply state that the company reorganized, shut down, or cut its workforce when you’ve been fired from a job for no fault of your own, as with company or department layoffs. In this situation, it might be a good idea to ask a coworker or former supervisor to write you a recommendation letter. Because your termination was not related to your performance, most people will have no problem doing so. Personal letters can alleviate concerns that you were fired because your work did not meet company standards, which can help prospective employers relax.
When You Were Fired for No Good Reason
Being fired “for cause,” which basically means “for a good reason,” isn’t always as bad as it appears. The key is in the presentation, and you can almost always turn even the most difficult situations into something positive and uplifting. If you were fired from a job due to a pattern of tardiness, for example, you could reflect on what you did to correct the situation or devise a strategy to ensure on-time arrivals in the future. If you made a mistake or a series of mistakes that cost you your job, you should consider what you learned from them.
Employers are more concerned with what you will bring to the company in terms of skills and integrity than with what you have done in the past. Acknowledging mistakes and errors can demonstrate maturity and growth if you can show that you learned from them and that they strengthened you.
Termination without Cause
When deciding how much information to share about wrongful termination decisions, things can get a little tricky. Although disputed firings often reflect poorly on your previous employer at first, if you aren’t careful, they can have consequences for you as well. When you talk about a previous employer’s discrimination or retaliation, you run the risk of future employers seeing you as a liability or as someone who is eager to sue.
You can state this in a few words if you sued the company and won the case. One example is “I was illegally terminated, reported the matter, and it was resolved.” There’s no need to go into detail about the circumstances. When explaining specifics, it’s best to keep it brief and perhaps say that it was an unfortunate situation that should be forgotten.
Discriminating Against Former Employers
It’s easy to fall into the trap of criticizing former employers, especially in wrongful termination cases. It may be true that working under a particular person was simply intolerable, or that certain coworkers made life so difficult that getting good work done was nearly impossible, but it’s usually best to keep these thoughts to yourself, no matter how true they are. If you share them, you risk being perceived as a whiner or nag, and a potential boss may be concerned that you will talk negatively about him or the company in the future. Stick to the facts, put a positive spin on the situation, and then move on to talking about how your other skills and interests make you a good fit for the advertised job.