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.
venkatdabri, As an employer, I can't tell you how many time applicants attempted to fudge the reason they are no longer employed at a position. Some may outright lie, some may create an alternative fact, some will tell the truth but with a positive spin and some will tell the god's honest truth. Now, as way of a full disclosure, I'm not the typical boss, I place a very high premium on honesty and trustworthiness for my employees. So, those who stick to the truth, be it twisted to be less negative or the god's honest truth, never had telling the truth held against them. Lying will end your chances of every working at the company regardless how good you are.
As much as you may be able to get away with lying, you also run the risk of discovery. Times have changes and it's a lot easier to find out the truth about employees.
So, the very best option I see is to follow the suggestion Frostnip makes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostnip
If you want to stick closer to the truth in case the former employer gets blabby, how about "My skillset wasn't applicable to the next stage of the project" or something in that vein. And then be able to document what you've done since then to expand your abilities...additional training, studying, etc.
Would it be a good idea to leave it off your resume? what is everyone's opinion on this?
I could be ok with this since it was a short duration BUT he/she still has to explain the gap on the resume & what they've been doing for the last year. Plus, if the community is small enough (even in big cities the IT community can be small), word may get out. I wouldn't leave it off, but I have occasionally counseled candidates to do so, typically in even shorter duration jobs. Say 2 months or so or in careers that span 30 years or had lots & lots of contracts. It just depends. In this case I'd leave it on & go with what I, Frostnip or Eastcoastguyz suggested rather than leaving it off. Do some role playing of the interviews OP or at the very least, practice that question OUT LOUD, until it rolls off your tongue completely smoothly.
As a former IT hiring manager too, I can tell you that we see gaps on resumes & will try to get you to talk about them!
There is little more refreshing than, "I was fired, this is why, this is what I've taken away from the experience and have made myself a better employee" It shows honesty, self-deprecation, a willingness to acknowledge faults and learn from them. I'd hire that guy a long time before the guy with an unending string of "I was laid off... I was laid off... change of direction... blah blah blah..."
This is a job interview. It isn't a confessional. You want refreshing, then drink a Fresca.
You are in conflict. You champion the OP to lie there was a layoff, but you say "not true" that the employer won't say anything. You can't have it both ways.
If you want to stick closer to the truth in case the former employer gets blabby, how about "My skillset wasn't applicable to the next stage of the project" or something in that vein. And then be able to document what you've done since then to expand your abilities...additional training, studying, etc.
You just really don't want to sound high maintenance, or like you might have done something sketchy to get fired.
You want the OP to say their skillset wasn't applicable? But perhaps this is why the new employer is interested in the OP because they believe the OP would be great in such a role in their company, but you have the OP lying to discredit their own abilities. That's not helpful and impresses no one.
You say you don't want the OP to sound high maintenance, but you just advised them to sound incompetent.
You want the real truth why the OP was fired? It was bad management. Because excellent management knows how to train people, knows how to mentor them and correctly match their skill set with the job. Management failed to do that. And since I work in software myself, it wouldn't surprise me if the OP wasn't given to proper software tools environment for the job too. In other words, I see no reason for the OP to put anything but themselves in the best of light about what they CAN do instead of talking about a perceived failure. How do I know that, because really good management would have gotten rid of the OP within a few weeks or possibly a month if the OP wasn't up to the task.
It is a job interview. It is not a place to come to wash yourself of your sins. You talk about what you can do and what you are great at for the new employer. You talk about accomplishments. Presenting yourself as a victim of failed campaigns doesn't instill confidence.
Hahaha, this is a porky that I've told & got away with before.
Generally speaking, for some reason, employers prefer to offer the job to someone who's employed than someone who's not. I tell the interviewer to please do not contact my present employer or they'll start looking for a replacement. It worked 2 out of 2 for me. But that was when I was young & brash.
OP, if you had a reasonable rapport with your former employer, you could always ask if he/she wouldn't mind saying that you were retrenched due to the position being no longer required when prospective employers check your references. If he/she felt bad about firing you it shouldn't be a problem. Retrenched sounds like bad luck & much better than 'terminated'.
If they agree then make sure that you have a friend with a confident phone manner call your former boss & pretend to be a prospective employer just to be safe.
Or if your boss was a complete a-hole you could say that you were replaced by a 3rd world worker on a work visa at half your salary, lol. This happens all the time these days.
To be really honest I don't know (I read Oasiscakes post & had to respond) Hope you get some solid advice.
Stay positive & good luck.
There is a conflict for the employer. The employer doesn't know if the OP might sue for wrongful termination. If you get the company to agree that the OP wasn't fired and was a great employee, this will work against the company and in that regard management won't allow it. I know supervisors with very large companies who are told not to give any kind of recommendations to former employees or contractors, and were forbidden to give a letter of recommendation.
Would it be a good idea to leave it off your resume? what is everyone's opinion on this?
You can do this if the job held was for a short period of time, you can leave it off the resume. But if you held the job for a year, that looks bad to be unemployed for one year unless you say you were doing free-lance work. Why does it look bad? Because HR is full of idiots who think someone unemployed isn't as valued as someone currently employed.
And before anyone says they will want your tax returns as proof. No, they won't and don't accept a job that asks for your tax returns or asks you to sign IRS Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return. Because doing so would allow them to get a copy from the IRS of your tax returns.
venkatdabri, As an employer, I can't tell you how many time applicants attempted to fudge the reason they are no longer employed at a position. Some may outright lie, some may create an alternative fact, some will tell the truth but with a positive spin and some will tell the god's honest truth. Now, as way of a full disclosure, I'm not the typical boss, I place a very high premium on honesty and trustworthiness for my employees. So, those who stick to the truth, be it twisted to be less negative or the god's honest truth, never had telling the truth held against them. Lying will end your chances of every working at the company regardless how good you are.
As much as you may be able to get away with lying, you also run the risk of discovery. Times have changes and it's a lot easier to find out the truth about employees.
So, the very best option I see is to follow the suggestion Frostnip makes:
Seriously, why do you even ask people this question or care? I never ask this question. "Why did you leave your last job?". A good friend of mine just had an interview with a big company and the hiring manager didn't ask him why he left any jobs or why he wanted to leave his current job. It wasn't even talked about. He said the whole interview was about his skills and examples of things he had done which would pertain to the job.
Think about it, you are asking private questions to people you simply have no business asking. "Why did you leave your last job?". "The truth, my teenage son overdosed on drugs and I couldn't focus on my job and they fired me." Come on...why is THAT any of your freaking business? You want to be nosy, you want to hear confessions, then you should go into another line of work. Please don't mask all this under the guise of it being part of honesty. You want to know about honesty, ask someone how they deal with problems that might come up with work and how to work with a difficult client.
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.
