Fired, company expired, what do I say if I want to get hired?

May 6, 2008 9:02 AM

Years ago, I was fired from a job after raising concerns I had over some questionable practices with my manager and a V.P. I did some research recently and learned the company's investors killed the company - for exactly the things I was concerned about. Do I even bother to raise this in an interview if asked about the job? (Naturally, there's more inside.)

A bit over five years ago, I worked for a company that was a half-owned subsidiary of a blue chip that everyone's heard of. My job was basically my dream job, and I got it years earlier than I could expect based on experience. (This should have told me something.) My position involved administering lots and lots of documentation and background papers, and I started to notice that not everything added up. I was young and naive, had always been a superstar at work, and really believed my V.P. in particular was a nice person. I raised the questionable issues first with her, then with my manager. About a week later, I was fired.

The unemployment hearing was nasty - but in a state that has very poor rights to unemployment benefits, I won over my former employer, and unlike them I didn't even have a lawyer. The money wasn't much, but it was a moral victory. And I went to college and got my degree, which really needed to happen.

Fast forward to now. The wounds have healed, and I've been able to separate my love of that job from the misery I had at that company. I want to seek new jobs like it, and I have a shot now that I have a degree. I've also learned that the company in question was shut down by the blue-chip that half-owned it for...well, exactly the things I expressed my concerns about. You know, the ones that got me fired.

What do I say in my interview? I know they can't call and check for references...but, darn it, I'm still basically an honest person.

posted by anonymous to work & money (9 comments total)

You are being a bit opaque about what exactly the problem was with the first company, but ...

Why do you want to mention this in the first place? Do you think it will earn you some bonus points in that you will be perceived as being generally sharp, someone who can figure out a large organization? Or that you will be perceived as particularly honest?

This won't work, because, as everyone knows, there are always several sides to one story. So why you SAY that you were canned because you pointed out some problems to your boss, who knows what the real reason you were fired was. Perhaps it was an entirely different problem, such as constant tardiness (You SAY it was something else, but the person doing the hiring decision can't know for sure).

Instead, do you yourself a favor and say that you left the job in order to get a college degree, which you can even back up with your CV.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the way you told the story, you MAY come across as a potential whistle-blower or trouble-maker, and that alone may be enough reason not to hire you at many places. YMMV, of course, and other factors may weigh much heavier in the hiring decision, but I doubt that you are going to earn any bonus points in an interview by telling the story in the way you did here.
posted by sour cream at 9:25 AM on May 6, 2008

Similar to sour cream I would say if its brought up say that you left in order to pursue your college degree. If they don't bring it up I wouldn't either.
posted by zennoshinjou at 9:43 AM on May 6, 2008

Wouldn't that be lying?
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:46 AM on May 6, 2008

Don't bring it up thinking that you'll score brownie points as an honest, ethical person. Your prospective employer won't have the time or inclination to independently verify your account (as sour cream says, there are two sides to every story, and only fools and Judith Miller take one side's account as gospel). Bringing it up unsolicited will come across as base self-aggrandizement.
posted by pardonyou? at 9:48 AM on May 6, 2008

I don't understand why this would come up in a job interview at all. You can always just say you were laid off. As an aside however, if you live in the United States, there are laws to protect whistle blowers from being fired for whistle-blowing. It's one of the very few ways you could successfully sue for unlawful dismissal (I know this from doing jury duty in Massachusetts). If I understand your story correctly, it sounds as though the people who fired you were somewhat solicitous after the fact, which isn't surprising, considering their liability. Bottom line is: forget about it, but next time you are fired for blowing the whistle on a corrupt employer, get a lawyer!
posted by thomas144 at 9:48 AM on May 6, 2008

sour cream nailed it. As a manager, I am deeply suspicious of people who want to go into great detail about why they left a company or why they were fired. If you trash talk your former employer, the interview is effectively over from my perspective. You mention the company is no longer in business. Sounds like a reasonable reason why you don't work there anymore.

Number one interview rule. Talk about positives and accomplishments, steer away from negatives.
posted by uaudio at 9:49 AM on May 6, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Be careful about "lying" in your interview process, whatever that may be. If you say you were "laid off" and then they find out you were fired, then you'll have lots of 'splainin to do; resume fraud is definitely cause for termination.

On the other hand, you don't necessarily need to even go into the circumstances of why you left. You don't need to say you were fired, or terminated, or laid off. Maybe just a "I worked there from x to y. After I left, I pursued my college degree. The company no longer exists." That should curb any "what were the circumstances of you leaving that job" questions.
posted by jabberjaw at 10:17 AM on May 6, 2008

sour cream: You SAY it was something else, but the person doing the hiring decision can't know for sure.

This is not really true. Anon was granted unemployment benefits; that is to say (presumably, as the law differs slightly from state to state, although anon says that they're in a state that pretty harsh on employees) anon was demonstrably fired without cause. At the very least, there is an official record of this, and this official record can be consulted.

uaudio: You mention the company is no longer in business. Sounds like a reasonable reason why you don't work there anymore.

This, in my opinion, is a bad idea. I'll try to explain why.

It is possible that the company doing the hiring might find out about this history without anon saying anything. If, as anon says, the parent company was one we've all heard of, there are chances (which vary, of course, but they're still chances) that someone involved in the hiring process might know who it is this company is. Alternately, someone might succeed in getting in touch with someone who was at the company at the time.

Now, all that aside, there are several different kinds of hirers. The common wisdom is correct in stating that if you leave all the negative out and focus relentlessly on the positive, many hirers will be affected favorably. However, the hirers who are affected favorably by this don't impress me very much. I've seen a good share of them, and they're generally just looking for the most smiling person of the bunch, the happiest, dumbest worker. Jobs worth having (to me, anyhow) aren't jobs that can be filled by such people, and, more importantly, if a hirer is looking for someone like that, then I don't really want to be hired by them.

Moreover, lots of people, as sour cream says, won't be very impressed by honesty. They'll fear, on the other hand, that you'll be a squeaky wheel, and that you'll blow the whistle on company goings-on. Those, again, are not the kinds of people I want as employers. That might just be me.

The kind of employers who are impressed by honesty will appreciate what you did. You shouldn't go on about it- one or two sentences about it should suffice, and you should only mention it if you're asked- but you shouldn't hide it, as you have nothing to hide. If you discuss it with confidence and boldness, you'll win many employers over. You have nothing to hide. If anything, this is the sort of thing that catches an interviewer's eye and sticks in their mind.

So: don't bring it up unless they do, but if they do, explain clearly and briefly what happened, and relate it to the job you're applying for; tell them you appreciate honesty and strive to do things right. The right employers will be impressed by that. Remember, an interview is as much for you to check them out as for them to check you out.
posted by Viomeda at 10:22 AM on May 6, 2008

This is not really true. Anon was granted unemployment benefits; that is to say (presumably, as the law differs slightly from state to state, although anon says that they're in a state that pretty harsh on employees) anon was demonstrably fired without cause. At the very least, there is an official record of this, and this official record can be consulted.

Wrong standard. In many states -- Michigan is one -- unemployment benefits are awarded unless the employer can show that the employee was discharged for misconduct (interpreted to mean "willful and wanton disregard of the employer's interest.") This is much harder to prove than "just cause." Also, most employers don't fight UC claims with the same vigor they would defend wrongful discharge lawsuits, so it's not exactly prudent to point to a UC finding and declare: "See, they screwed me over!"
posted by pardonyou? at 10:44 AM on May 6, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]