How to Answer The Why were you Fired Question

Social IssuesEmployment

  • Author Jonathan Walker
  • Published November 15, 2007
  • Word count 555

An employee always takes pride in their work. But for some reasons, there are really circumstances that an employer has to fire one of his or her people. This is a normal thing and there is nothing wrong with facing such a truth.

The natural thing to do after being fired is to get another job. During a job interview, you would definitely dread the question, "why were you fired?" Why do interviewers ask this question? This type of questions would point out to them your problem areas and in which circumstances you are most fragile.

How do you answer this question? You simply have to be truthful about it. If you have a circumstantial story for you to explain the reason why you are fired, try to tell your story as objectively as you can. When narrating, make it sound that you have genuinely learned from whatever experience that you had.

To help you during your job interview, here are some things to keep in mind when answering the question: "Why were you Fired"?

Do not say bad things about your former employer. If you do, this would only prove to say that you are whiner. You would definitely give your interviewer a bad impression if you badmouth your ex-boss. They may get the idea that you are not a team player or you have adjustment issues if you do so.

Do not blame you bad situation to anyone, especially office politics. Office politics is a reality that everyone should face and adjust with. Even if you are in a situation where dirty office politics exist, you should rise above it and deal with the situation positively.

Be honest and do not keep anything. If there is one personal reason why you were fired, let your interviewer know about it. Accepting what happened to your previous work and being honest and open about it would make you a mature person. Let your interviewer know that you have learned a big deal from your previous experience and you are more than willing to move on and improve your career.

Incompatibility with your boss and your co-workers should not be the reason you should give your interviewer. If you were a good employee, you should have find ways to befriend your co-workers and your boss. Being nice to everyone, no matter what their office ranks may be, would help you handle difficult situations. Employees who get fired because of their incompatibility with the rest of the working team only prove to say that they are immature and have social issues.

Lies do not have any place in an interview conversation. Making up stories would only complicate things and you would end up being confused yourself. First of all, most employers do employ background checks on their new employees. So, no need to lie at all, you would end up telling the truth anyway.

Answering the dreaded question 'why were you fired' is one of the most tricky job interview questions. You should be able to answer it well. There are only two things that can happen here. If you handled the question well, you would come out as a responsible and mature worker. Thus, giving you the chance to get the job that you wanted. If not, it may cause you to lose your future job.

This article is written by Jonathan Walker of Jobs in Recruitment

Article source: https://articlebiz.com
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