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How to find work after getting canned.
I didn't mean to wreck the company car--that
squirrel came out of nowhere!"
"OK, I made a few personal, long distance calls. Everyone else does it, right?"
Maybe "everyone else" does do it, but everyone else didn't get caught--you
did. Now you've been fired, and despite your explanations, it's totally your fault. How
can you convince potential employers that you are worthy of hiring?
I. Evaluate the circumstances under which you had to leave
"If you are fired from a job, you must first be brutally honest with yourself about
what really happened," says career counselor Norma Zuber, founder and director of
Zuber & Company in Ventura, Calif.
"You must take responsibility and not blame others for the problem, since it was your
fault. Honestly evaluate what happened and how you could have acted differently."
II. Address the problem with your potential employer...honestly.
"Be open about being fired," says Zuber. "However, you must be careful not
to overly castigate yourself, especially to a potential employer. A simple statement about
the problem will suffice."
Don't lie, but don't volunteer the information. You don't need to refer to it on your
resume, and you don't need to preface an interview by disclosing the details prematurely.
Save it for when (or if) the interviewer asks why you left your last job.
III. Accentuate the positive.
A person who enters an interview looking defeated won't get the job, no matter what's
happened in the past.
"Present what you learned from your experience and how it will help you be a better
employee. Also explain why it won't happen again. Emphasize your positive attributes and
contributions to your previous job. Show confidence and even some humor."
Being fired for missing one big deadline doesn't make you a deadbeat, and an open-minded
interviewer knows that. Accidents happen. We all say dumb things, make mistakes or cut
some corners now and then. The trick is showing how you can make lemonade out of your
lemon.
So put the past behind you and focus on the future. It's your
attitude now that counts.
Barbra Lewis is a freelance writer based in
Washington, DC.
Reprinted with permission of CareerBuilder.com. CareerBuilder, Inc. has emerged
as the leading provider of E-cruiting (electronic recruiting) services with the
CareerBuilder Network, its pioneering model to provide employers with a choice of the best
career sites on the Web from a single vendor. The CareerBuilder Network is made up of over
25 leading professional, broad appeal, diversity, and industry career centers.
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