Handling TerminationI need some advice on how to handle a termination in interviews. In September, I was terminated from my job. I was completely blind sided. The employer is an "At will" employer and the "Official" reason for termination was, "Did not meet expectations." Here's the deal, I spent 14 months as a Temp with this company, before being hired on full time. So they obviously thought enough of my work to offer me a "Permanent" position. One thing is that for the previous year this company had been reducing head count with layoffs, eliminating positions. More than 100 employees (Temps too) lost their job. Shortly before I was terminated, there were a couple of other employees terminated which left a lot of us scratching our heads. I've recently learned that more termination occurred after I departed. It is my belief that the termination had more to do with further head count reduction than my work. So I suppose the question would be how to best handle the question, "Reason for Leaving?" Probably the reason would most likely be to downsizing. They use performance as an excuse to cut people For instance....Joe had a history of working a few extra hours everyday, while Bill left at 5pm every day...the guy who left 5pm every day, got cut due to his lack of to the company. Interestingly enough, the termination occurred only weeks after coming off a stretch working 18 days straight, upwards of 12 hours a day for 10 of those. Guess they were done with me at that point. So, would I be out of line stating as "Reason for Leaving" as Terminated (Head count reduction). Start with finding out what they' ll say if someone calls to check. If they say "fired" that' s not the same as "laid off" or "downsized" and you' re going to run into a problem if you try to pass one off as the other. If they do say "fired" or "terminated" and not "downsized" or "laid off", you' re going to have to come clean about it. There' s something in the way you worded things that makes me think that there were some performance issues, even if you didn' t think that they were important ones at the time. And they might not have been important if the company had not been in a downsizing/cost cutting mode. If that' s the case, you need to say so, something like: I was fired because I wasn' t performing as well as I could have been. Although I did well in all the time I worked there, the business conditions changed, requirements were ramped up and it seems that all of us on the bottom end of acceptable performance were let go at the same time. I don' t know what more I could have done since I was working XXX hours and days and putting out more work than ever before, but whatever it was, it just wasn' t enough for their new measurment. Something like that... Most companies when calling former employers will only call to verify work dates and salary range. They typically do not ask and previous employers typically do not answer any questions that would speak negatively since this opens then door for legal issues. If you have a former manager or co-worker still at the previous cpompany that you could use for a professional reference, then they might not call the old Co's HR to verify at all. "Most companies when calling former employers will only call to verify work dates and salary range. They typically do not ask and previous employers typically do not answer any questions that would speak negatively since this opens then door for legal issues." While it's true that many companies will only verify dates, title, and salary for former employees, employers most certainly do ask for more detailed information, and very often get it. There are ways to work around the rules. I once heard a former employer give the following answer when asked about an employee's performance: "I am required by company policy to limit my answers to verifying dates of employment and title," then, with a chuckle, "I am certainly very thankful for this policy because right now it is saving me from a very uncomfortable conversation." As you can see, there are ways to share one's impression of a former employee's time at the company without actually saying the words, if one so desires. It can even be as subtle as saying with a sigh, "Jane Smith? Oh yes, we know HER... Actually, I am only authorized to verify title and dates of employment." IMO, the only way to really be sure of what your former employer is saying about you is to have a friend call pretending to be a prospective employer conducting a reference check. It's very easy, and you can even find a list of sample reference check questions if you do a google search.
Yes, I have also heard a LAWYER, justifiably, say "The truth is, I would not hire her again and would not recommend the hiring of her". uh.I disagree. Horrible advice..... If you were interviewing a candidate and s/he said, "it seems that all of us on the bottom end of acceptable performance were let go at the same time." you would show the candidate the door. Come on admit it. your advice on this one is cr$p. It stinks and sticks to your shoe. I am all for coming clean when one makes a job fatal mistake. "I have a 12 year sales career and have collectively handled over 3,200 clients. In my last job, one client crossed the line and my interaction with that client went really south, really fast. In fact I hung up on them. Needless to say when word went upstream I was called on the carpet. I accepted full responsibility for the incident but the company had no choice but to fire me. Although it was a job fatal mistake I am still an excellent sales person ans was for six quarters in the top 15% of the sales force for my company . Unfortunately that did not matter and had I been in the VP position I would have done the same thing. blah blah blah... BUT tess your advice sounded like, "I don' t know. Even tho, we slackers were working our off and they fired us. go figure... " WAHHHHH WAHHH. Plannerdude... you need to first see if the termination was a way to get out of paying you unemployment. Contest your uneployment. Indeed. sounds like workforce reduction to me but to blame it on some nebulous performance accusations is a way to minimize unemployment claims. Second, you need to verify what HR will tell employers when they call for a reference check. Call the HR department and pretend you are an employer and ask. I would say something like, "During the previous year this company had been reducing head count with layoffs, eliminating positions. More than 100 employees and temps lost their job. during the latest round of reductions, I was caught in the political fire." | |
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