Ultimate Resumes eNews
DECEMBER 2006

Happy Holidays! Thank you so much to my clients, friends, and family for their ongoing support of Ultimate Resumes. I wish you all health, wealth, and happiness during the holiday season and in the coming year. – Liz Handlin

Recently I have been fielding a lot of queries about how to answer interview questions when you have been fired from or forced out of a job. Generally, my answer is that you shouldn’t lie to your interviewer but you don’t necessarily have to discuss all the details about the situation. Spin your answer in as positive a manner as you can. Three tips for a great interview are:

Be positive Be honest, but you don’t have to tell everything you know Discuss the lessons you learned from your former job and/or employer

First of all, losing a job for any reason can be an emotional and difficult experience. I think it’s a good idea, if you can, to take a few weeks off after losing a job to relax, vent your frustrations to your support network, and get your emotions under control before venturing into job interviews. The last thing you want to do is to appear flustered, angry, emotional, or sad about a previous job because none of those emotions will help you to sell yourself in an interview.

Second, consider what your employer will say about you when called for a reference. Most employers are loathe to say anything bad about a former employee because of potential lawsuits. If you are concerned about how your former employer might answer questions about you from a potential employer, retain legal counsel and have your attorney communicate with your previous employer about what they will or won’t disclose about your employment. Many employers have a policy that states that when asked for a reference they will only confirm dates of employment so you may not need to worry too much about negative feedback when your references are being checked.

Once you are emotionally recovered from losing your job and you feel comfortable that your previous employer isn’t going to say negative things about you, it’s time to prepare for specific interview questions. There isn’t enough room in a single article to discuss every possible interview question and answer. I have listed the one interview question that seems to be universally difficult for people who left a job under difficult circumstances. I have listed a few scenarios that could result in someone leaving a job and a possible answer to the question of why you left the job based upon that scenario. These aren’t necessarily the “right” answers to the questions. The right answer depends on you and your unique circumstances. I just want you to think about some possible responses and figure out how you could modify the response and use it in an interview while being true to yourself.

Question: Why did you quit your old job before securing a new job?

Scenario #1: The company for which you were working was acquired and you felt that the new management team was forcing you out for whatever reason. (If, however, you were laid off it is perfectly acceptable to tell a new employer that you were laid off – that happens frequently these days.)

Possible Answer: The company for which I was working was recently acquired by another company and, even though layoffs had not been announced, it seemed clear to me that new management planned to replace the staff in my department. I decided to leave and look for another job full time rather than face the prospect of being distracted at work by a job search. I believe in being fully committed and focused at work and it seemed that leaving to look for a job full time was the fair thing to do for myself and for my former employer.

Rationale: You don’t want to bad-mouth your previous employer or sound like a whiner. Spin your answer in a way that makes you look like a talented and committed employee.

Scenario #2: You just got a new boss who does not like you and makes your life difficult. Maybe you have a values conflict with your new boss. Or maybe your new boss is asking you to perform work that you don’t want to do. Or maybe your new boss is a mean spirited individual who is making your work life awful. And on top of that you have family issues that strain your emotional resources when you aren’t at work. All in all the difficult work situation in combination with your personal problems are more than you can take so you quit.

Possible Answer: My employer underwent a management change. I didn’t feel that the new management team was as focused on client satisfaction as they were on restructuring the company and I felt that it was impacting my relationship with clients. As a result I didn’t feel that I was able to perform my job as well as I would like and I didn’t think that the situation would resolve itself over time. In addition, one of my family members has been very ill recently and I had been burning the candle at both ends to do a great job at work and take care of my sick family member at home. So, I decided that I would quit the job so I could spend a few weeks supporting my family member while looking for a job. I didn’t think that I could continue to deliver top quality work, support my family member, and look for a job all at the same time. My family member has completed his/her medical treatment and is doing much better. I am excited about taking on new professional challenges in a client-centric environment.

Rationale: Never say that your previous manager was a jerk even though everyone has worked for a terrible boss at one time or another. If you tell a potential employer that you had personality conflict of any kind with your previous boss they may infer that you are a difficult employee. However, most people understand that changes in management can result in internal turmoil and affect the ability of employees to perform their jobs. Be mindful of how you present this situation so that you do not speak ill of your past employer. Taking care of family issues is an understandable situation but you don’t want your new employer to think you are bringing baggage with you. If you decide to use any kind of family issues as a reason for leaving a job you should always indicate that the issues have since been resolved and won’t distract you from your new job.

Scenario #3: You quit your job because there was no potential for advancement and you are ready to go back to school for an advanced degree in order to improve your chances for promotion at a new job.

Possible Answer: There was no room for advancement at my previous employer so I knew that I would have to leave at some point if I wanted to move to the next level in my career. I also want to attend business school because I want to learn a strategic framework for solving business problems. I plan to attend business school at night while I work full time as I don’t wish to take out loans to pay for a full time MBA program. So, I quit my job to study for the GMAT full time and apply to an evening MBA program. Now that I have taken the GMAT and applied to school I am ready to join a company at which there is the potential for promotion. I learned a lot about finance in my previous job and I am grateful to my employer for hiring me right out of college and giving me such a great experience.

Rationale: This answer allows you to showcase your ambition and willingness to work hard on your own time to learn new skills and earn a degree that will benefit your employer.

Those are just a few scenarios and possible answers. If you would like to discuss your particular situation or practice your interviewing skills please contact me. I would be happy to help you to prepare for upcoming interviews and plan a job search and interview strategy that will help you to land a great job.

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