How to Answer Termination Job Interview Questions or if You Were Just Plain FIRED
This guy was terminated for shooting silly string at a company birthday party.
That’s right, I just talked with a guy who was fired after 20 years of outstanding performance because he sprayed some silly string at a birthday party while at work.
Seems a little extreme, but more and more companies are using events like this to fire people. Why are they getting fired for stuff like this, it’s hard to say, but I think it all boils down to ticking off the wrong person on the wrong day.
So he wanted some help on what to say to prospective employers about what happened.
Here is what I told him:
The more I think about what you did combined with your 20 years of experience — I can only believe that you ticked off the wrong person on the wrong day. This person had a bug up their but and they took it out on you. Now, explaining what happened to prospective employers is key. I cant’ tell you what to say, but come up with something that works for you, but if it were me, I would say something like, “I was let go after 20 years of faithful service because I sprayed silly string at the bosses birthday party – I’m in Information Technology, it’s who we are.” And then I might crack a little smile. And then stop talking.
Let them ask a follow-up question if they want. Hopefully they’ll just move on, after all, you’re there to see what you can do for them, not discuss your termination. You want to keep you answer as short as possible – the more you talk, the less believable you sound. Don’t talk about your stellar performance because that only makes you sound weaker and that you’re defending your actions.
Don’t say that person was having a bad day – let them figure that out. You just tell them what happened in one sentence and then stop talking about it.
If you take this approach I think they won’t give it a second thought.
Don
