You feel complacently confident and the interview is progressing marvelously. It looks like you have everything they’re looking for – background, skills, and experience. You seem to have established an affinity with the interviewer in that short span of time and you get good vibes about the corporate culture. What could go wrong? And then the dreaded question that you wished wouldn’t be asked.

“What made you quit your last job?”

You know the truth, of course; you were fired. Thing is, you have to answer the question; no matter how unpleasant the idea is or that the thought of it still smarts. Here’s the challenge: How do you answer this question and make it work to your advantage instead of giving the impression that you are a whiner?

Think quickly… You realize you can’t totally fib your way out of this. Interviewers are known to have a “third eye” or a radar or what-have-you; they can tell a BS when they hear one.
The fact: You and your previous boss were rarely on the same page on a lot of issues. You might say it was a simple case of difference of opinion; but it was frustrating for both sides. As expected (it’s been known to happen in similar cases), you were the expendable one, so they let you go.

Your move: Go for “spin to win”! Simply put, to “spin” is to tell the true story without putting you in a bad light. It is a way of describing an incident with a positive tenor, the ultimate goal of which is to prop up your position rather than undermine it. There two ways you can handle the question: “What made you quit your last job?” The answer can either come across as downbeat, depressing and wimpy; or constructive, candid and professional.

Take a look at this answer:

It was difficult. The new manager seemed to have something against me and continuously gave me a hard time; he always had disparaging remarks about how I did my work. We both felt frustrated but he didn’t even do anything to alleviate the situation. Then after the business experienced one really bad quarter, every department was asked to make cuts on the budget. I suspect he was just waiting for an opening like that – a perfect excuse – and he sacked me.

Talk about hand washing! The job seeker completely disowns any responsibility and put most of the onus on the boss. It didn’t even mention anything about how the job seeker might have done something to rectify the situation. This kind of negative answer can give the hiring manager the impression that the job seeker is a disgruntled person who spends more time grumbling than being productive.

And here’s the winning piece:

Well, I really tried to give my best performance on the job. I was working with a new manager so I made sure that I consulted with him every other day to ensure that we were coordinated and I was at par with his expectations. But perhaps it was the lack of clearly defined goals for me and my department that was the culprit. Then, not long after the company suffered huge losses in a particularly harrowing quarter, when all departments were ordered to implement cost-cutting, he called me into his office and informed me that things weren’t looking too great, so the company was dismissing me. Sure, I was upset but eventually, when I had time to think about it, I was able to evaluate what transpired. The time off allowed me to weigh up the kind of company I want to work for and the changes within myself that I have to put into effect to move on and forward to attain success.

See how much more positive that sounds? The job seeker doesn’t utter a single word vilifying the ex-boss; instead there’s a frank and honest presentation of unbiased details. The positive note at the end clinches it all. The job seeker successfully conveys how he used the situation to affect some self-improvements from lessons learned, which he could apply to upcoming professional functions.

The point is …
When you face the prospective employer, armed only with your credentials, there’s no better salesperson to sell yourself than you. Focus and highlight the affirmative side and downplay the glum part. This way you’ll be on top of your game and get across your main message: You are the person that the hiring manager can rely on to solve his problems.

If you succeed in putting an encouraging spin to an otherwise dismal answer, there’s a huge chance that the would-be employer might come to the conclusion that you not only possess the appropriate skills and background, you have a positive outlook that all organizations look among the hierarchy. You’ll be irresistible!

Tags: fired, I need a resume, Interview, Job Search, job seeker, prospective employer, quit job, Resume, resume writer, unemployd

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 12:38 am and is filed under Applying for a Job, Job & Interview Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.