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The prospective employer is not allowed by law, to bad mouth you in any way as to why you were terminated.
The question they can ask, "Would you rehire this person". That is the only bad thing, they are allowed to say against you. Saying no they would not rehire you, and not telling why as they cannot do this, is what will be said about you.
The thing you can do for yourself in this case, is say you were laid off and they gave you a nice severance package of 90 days salary, 90 days insurance, etc. This can be your way of proving you had not done anything really bad to get laid off. Gives the impression you were just part of a reduction in workers, which so many companies have done the past few years.
I would find out your old company policy on providing information. For instance, most companies nowdays do not provide any information about a former employee other than dates of employment. From this date to that date. No information as to good employee or bad; no references good or bad . .
Find out your company policy and hold them to it. Sometimes the prospective employer will ask if the individual is available for rehire. IF this question is answered at all and answered by "No" - that can give them clue. However, sometimes people just aren't eligible for rehire because they failed to give 2 weeks notice; or went to work for the competition. . .
I would prefer, if I were you, to say I was laid off rather than terminated for cause.
I did do that. The HR rep told me to list her as the point of contact for employment purposes. Their policy is strictly to verify job title and dates of employment. Period.
I also don't believe I was terminated for cause as I was terminated for performance. Could I be splitting hairs here?
This past July, I was terminated from employment from a job that I held for nearly seven years. The only reason given was that the termination was for performance. When I pressed the issue as to where my performance was lacking, the manager merely stated that he was not prepared to discuss that right now. When I emailed the HR representative from the corporate office, all she said was that she had no specific information to give me other than the termination was for performance.
Prior to my termination, I had no sort of warnings. The only thing I did have was a non-disciplinary counseling session back in November of 2012. After that counseling session, there were no additional issues and no followup sessions.
In a few days, I'll be going to interview for a job for an organization that I really want to get into. They want me to fill out the formal job application and have it in next week. On that application, I'm being asked whether or not I have ever been terminated from any job or if I have ever been asked to resign from any job. I really don't want to lie to them. I plan on checking yes. I just don't know how to explain why I got terminated when I was unable to get any details from management or HR.
Going along with the termination, I did get a three month severance package. I had three months of wages with three months of paid insurance as well as three months of career counseling. It seems to me that if I had been such a poor employee, they would not have given me such a severance package to begin with.
So, does anyone have any ideas as to how I can honestly answer this question without shooting myself in the foot?
Argh. It shouldn't even be legal for a past employer to complain to your potential employer about performance issues or anything else that isn't proven or at least documented.
I did do that. The HR rep told me to list her as the point of contact for employment purposes. Their policy is strictly to verify job title and dates of employment. Period.
I also don't believe I was terminated for cause as I was terminated for performance. Could I be splitting hairs here?
I would stick to 'laid off' in my interview if you have already confirmed with your prior employer the information they release.
The counseling involved three points. One was the fact that I did not adhere to the corporate belief of trusting one another. I was having issues with one individual that was more of a personality conflict than anything else. I felt I was constantly under fire from this one person. As a result, I did not trust him at all as he would tell me one thing, yet, say another thing to the facility manager.
The second point was that I was expressing too much frustration. I was involved with three major projects in which I was in over my head. Though the company did bring in some help, it was not enough. I was drowning and I didn't know what to do about it.
The third point was my disengagement in day to day activities. THat tied in with point three. I couldn't deal with my day to day routine work as the three projects I was working on took up all of my time.
I would stick to 'laid off' in my interview if you have already confirmed with your prior employer the information they release.
I tend to agree with you on this one. However, on the job app, wouldn't it raise some red flags if I were to put the HR person down as the contact person versus my old manager? Though the future employer wouldn't know any better, the do as for the contact person's title as well.
I tend to agree with you on this one. However, on the job app, wouldn't it raise some red flags if I were to put the HR person down as the contact person versus my old manager? Though the future employer wouldn't know any better, the do as for the contact person's title as well.
Not really a red flag. Many companies don't allow any employees except HR to give out Employment Verification info/references. They are told to give the HR contact info for all Employment Verifications or pass the caller's contact info to HR, and immediately say that corporate policy is for HR to verify employment. Put down HR as the supervisor if you must. Lots of lots of companies have this rule. Actually, lots of companies outsource the entire Employment Verification process. So the external company just gives out dates, job title and other basics.
BTW, some companies won't answer "would you hire this person again". Some do, some don't
Also..FYI, during the interview they might ask other questions related to the layoff...how many others were laid off at same time, did they have prior layoffs, were there budget issues, was working slowing down or being sent to other locations or other departements, etc. Just be ready in case follow up questions are asked.
Not really a red flag. Many companies don't allow any employees except HR to give out Employment Verification info/references. They are told to give the HR contact info for all Employment Verifications or pass the caller's contact info to HR, and immediately say that corporate policy is for HR to verify employment. Put down HR as the supervisor if you must. Lots of lots of companies have this rule. Actually, lots of companies outsource the entire Employment Verification process. So the external company just gives out dates, job title and other basics.
BTW, some companies won't answer "would you hire this person again". Some do, some don't
Also..FYI, during the interview they might ask other questions related to the layoff...how many others were laid off at same time, did they have prior layoffs, were there budget issues, was working slowing down or being sent to other locations or other departements, etc. Just be ready in case follow up questions are asked.
^^^
I agree with all of this.
I seriously doubt a new employer will even call an old one. In the past 20 years, Ive only had this happen on a security sensitive SP86 position. Fortunately, your previous employer isn't going to care about a previous employee or what they are doing enough to give out anything more that just rudimentary dates type information if contacted. Although it was a huge, big deal to you, for the average adminstration, its just another day and nothing the average HR person is going to put lots of thought into.
I would say what others have and just elaborate it was a corporate restructure, you left on good terms with a severance, and try to leave it at that, offering as little as possible in hopes of just moving on to the next question.
Good luck
Good to see honesty is still considered a virtue around here...
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