St.Louis Business Journal
NEVER BLAME FORMER EMPLOYER EVEN WHEN FIRED

By Anna Navarro

July 2004  

Author's note: Client stories in this column are based on actual situations fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.

One of the most difficult aspects of getting fired is talking about it with prospective employers.

The first place I go with a client in this situation is to the unvarnished truth. What really happened? Did you do something wrong or fail to do something expected of you? What about your employer? Did he have unreasonable expectations or behave unfairly?

With the truth out on the table, we develop a strategy for how to present it. If the firing is your fault, it's best to talk sincerely about what you learned from the experience, how it changed your behavior, and how you would conduct yourself differently.

If the fault rests with your employer, crafting an explanation can be an even bigger challenge. You have to describe the situation in a way that is both fair to you and non-judgmental of the employer. You don't want to come across as a blamer. No employer wants to hire a person who shifts responsibility for difficulties to others.

Paul is a person who faced this dilemma. He was hired to do marketing communications for a large residential real estate company. He developed a strategic plan outlining the messages, the target audience and how he planned to reach them. His boss and top management signed off on the plan.

But Paul's direct boss only gave lip service to the plan. He would yank Paul off the track to execute promotional events that he'd dreamed up or heard about and wanted to participate in. These were always last minute efforts and although Paul gave them his all, he felt he never had enough time to do them well. He was also concerned that they were not reaching the right audience with the right messages. Meanwhile, his carefully crafted marketing plan sat on a shelf.

Paul attempted to discuss the problem with his boss, and eventually took his concerns to the CEO, to whom his boss reported. Paul was fired a few months later, just short of a year of being hired. He was told he was being let go because he wasn't having enough of a positive impact.

So now Paul had to figure out how he was going to explain this to prospective employers without sounding like a whiner.

I coached him to explain it this way:

"I developed a strategic marketing plan for XYZ Company, and it was approved by top management. My former boss was part of the group that approved my plan. But he has a very different style of operating than I do. He is very good at taking advantage of opportunities when they emerge, and frequently likes to do things on the spur of the moment. This has worked well for him over the years. He is a successful and respected member of the top management team.

The problem was that our two approaches did not mix well. I am a planner. I did my best to do things his way, but I was not able to get good results operating that way. That's why I was let go.

This way of describing what happened allows Paul to give prospective employers a factual account of what happened without making any negative judgements about his former boss or company. He also describes how he is different than his former boss, without in any way saying that his way is better. The effect of this is to make Paul appear fair-minded and non-blaming.

He explains that while he attempted to be a good subordinate, he couldn't get results by operating the way his boss wanted him to. This assures the prospective employer that Paul understands he needs to follow his boss' orders. But any experienced marketing person is likely to see quickly the advantage of Paul's planning over his boss' style of operating.

This approach has allowed Paul to defend himself without seeming defensive, point out his former boss' foibles without criticizing or judging him, and make the point that he was following orders without appearing to be a wimp. All of this flows from describing the situation in a detached, non-value-laden fashion.

Regardless of the specifics of a situation, the thing to keep in mind is that a job interview is the last place where you want to vent your anger or point fingers at employers who have fired you or treated you badly. The trick is to acknowledge your own shortcoming, and find a non-blaming way to describe what happened that is fair both to you and them.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.