Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A year ago, I was fired for the first time ever from a job I had 9 months. I worked as a full-time temp for 6 months, they actually hired me on full-time citing my great performance, then fired me a little over 3 months later saying I was not a "good fit". Good fit as in culture, not performance or anything... They also said I was in my probation period (I was actually 2 days out of the 90 days period...), which is why they didn't follow the due process outlined in their handbook. (I only had one verbal warning for something that couldn't have been prevented anyway because it was outside of my control)
I was very upset about this and have even contemplated suing but figured it would be in vain since I worked there under a year and they were a Fortune 500 with countless legal money to throw around. The biggest issue though is that I've had a hard time explaining to future employers about my termination from this position. I tell them that I was fired for "not being a good fit" and they look at me strange like I'm trying to hide something worse. If they ask me to elaborate, I tell them how I was hired on full-time after being a temp for 6 months because they were happy with my performance, but then they terminated me because they said I was actually not a good cultural fit, and that was all the info they would give me.
I don't feel like employers are buying it... but that could be me being paranoid. Employers almost always give me a look like I'm trying to hide some major personality or performance issue when that is not the case. Is there any better way to explain that I was fired for no fault of my own, that they just deemed I was somehow not a cultural fit?
I'd put down "I was with X company for NINE months"
(I figure in TOTAL time) NEVER mention temping and then say
"I was let go as my position was eliminated"
That's all....
This is nice and all, but there is a big difference between "my position was eliminated" and "I was terminated". It would only take one phone call to my old company for them to say I was terminated on so and so date. These employment verifications are quite common, and I think it would be worse caught trying to say I was laid off rather than I was actually terminated.
This is nice and all, but there is a big difference between "my position was eliminated" and "I was terminated". It would only take one phone call to my old company for them to say I was terminated on so and so date. These employment verifications are quite common, and I think it would be worse caught trying to say I was laid off rather than I was actually terminated.
Well, if you're getting weird looks when you tell them such, then do you think they're calling then?
You're shooting yourself in the foot mentioning "Culture fit" so what do you have to lose saying "My position was eliminated" (When it was when YOU were eliminated)
Plus, if they came back and said so you could then say "I have told others this and got a stink eye and so I felt that saying this would show them in a better light"
The fit thing sounds obviously like a poor attempt at coming up with a BS excuse. Say anything but fired due to not being good fit even if this was the case.
When they let you go, did they not mention any other reasons about why you aren't a cultural fit?
No. They just said I wasn't a good fit and didn't match the fit they were looking for.... I pressed for more details but they wouldn't provide any and eventually the HR manager that was there said "that's enough, this is over, there is no more discussion - please leave". I was escorted out by HR and she would hardly give me time to gather my belongings.
I have been tempted to just say the position was eliminated, but as I mentioned I'm afraid employers will do an employment verification and see they actually marked it down as a termination.
If that is the case, then the best thing to do would be to say that they decided they wanted to go in another direction with the position. Just don't say anything about "fit" since you don't know the details anyway.
So what if they put down you were "terminated"? I am sure lots of companies marked down "terminated" when that wasn't really the case. If you made a good impression in the interview, being terminated from a previous job will not be held against you. If you are always getting weird looks, I would go with "my position was eliminated". The new job will not know that you know it wasn't a fit. For all they know, you could've been told that your job was eliminated.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
