Interview Answers for Tough Questions - What To Say If You've Been Fired, Laid Off, Or Out Of Work

By Don Georgevich
 

Job interview questions are impossible to answer when you feel angry about being fired, guilty about being laid off, or depressed about being out of work. Your emotions are going to work against you in the job interview.

The best thing to do is keep a clear head and have some prepared answers!

We all know that the unemployment rate is soaring, and it's true that layoffs are common, but it doesn't seem so common when it happens to you. You probably feel like you have a lot of explaining to do.

You have to explain why you were fired. You have to explain why you were the one laid off in your department. You have to explain why it's taking you so long to find work. You have to explain why there is a gap in your resume.

The best way to explain your situation in a job interview with a potential employer is to be honest, but brief.

Did I mention brief? Brief is the key. Rambling on and on will get you in trouble. You'll get tongue-tied and say the wrong thing. Rambling is a beacon to your interviewer that you are hiding something.

And there's really nothing to hide. Just explain yourself clearly, be honest, be brief, and be prepared with the best answer.

You Need to Bring a Singular Focus to Everything You Do

Career Tip of the Week

Those who do one thing well are more valuable and wanted than those who can do many things not so well. This is what separates those who make the biggest impact from all the others who are just as smart. Any person or group of people who achieve greatness in any calling generally do one thing in the best possible way. Bring a singular focus to your job search and do what you do as well as it possible can be done.

Continue the Communication Process

Job Tip of the Week

A little-known job search secret is that a significant percentage of people get jobs each year using non-traditional methods to communicate with potential employers. Communication is key. Once you interview with a company-or even send in a resume-you do not have much to lose by communicating further. For example, calling before sending a resume is a great way to get the employer’s attention. Calling after an interview to reaffirm your interest is another great way to get an employer’s attention. Making sure you remain on the employer’s radar with a series of notes (even if you end up getting the job six months from now) also helps a lot.

10 Secrets for Searching for a Job During a Recession

Focusing your efforts on jobs in growing industries and demonstrating how your work has generated revenue are just two simple ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the job seekers competing for positions in a down economy. 

If you're tired of struggling to find a job and don't want an economic slowdown to hurt your chances of landing a new one, follow the best practices outlined in this story for conducting a job search when times are tight.

Identify New Ways of Job Search

Career Tip of the Week

Questioning assumptions, consistently doing new things and finding new ways to search are among the most important things one can do in a job search. The more you embrace new methods of looking for jobs, the better off you will be. Your job search and your career are too important to allow yourself to be stuck in one way of thinking. You need to open your mind and ensure that you do everything within your power to think about your job search in a way that gives you more opportunities and not fewer.

Job Search Secrets: Targeting Done Right

What's the best way for job seekers to land a new job in this dismal market? Target specific employers and network your way into them, career experts say. It's sound job search advice. Unfortunately, most job seekers go about this the wrong way (or they don't do it at all), says Vicki Brackett, a career coach and president and CEO of Make It Happen Consulting.

Did You Get My Resume?

Google the phrases job hunt and black hole and you'll turn up 55,700 results. The reason for this confluence of terms, as any job hunter will tell you, is that applying for a position increasingly involves two phases.

Recruiters say the percentage of online applications viewed by an actual human being ranges from 5% to 25%. And while it drives job hunters crazy, there's a good reason companies use so-called applicant-tracking systems to screen and rank candidates.

How to Get the Attention of Employers

By Rob McGovern

Are employers ignoring you because you aren't appealing to their new recession-oriented mindset?

In the past 6 months virtually every employer has transitioned to a new candidate evaluation mindset, although sadly most job seekers haven't adjusted to this "new normal." A few job seekers have figured this out and it is the secret that is getting them hired.

In this email I'm going to tell you how to make this necessary adjustment to your job search, with the goal of dramatically improving your odds of landing a job.

The "New Normal"

The biggest change in today's job market is that almost every "open" position is now a "replacement hire." Meaning, unlike boom times when jobs were created due to growth (e.g., "let's add another position because we can't handle all these orders"), the job openings you are looking at today are the result of someone leaving a company. They were fired, transferred, retired, or voluntarily left the company. When the job market gets into this mode, the nature of hiring decisions change dramatically.

What's the biggest difference?

In a "replacement hire" market, employers are focused on hiring impact players. To use a sports analogy, if you lose your star running back in midseason, you don't think about waiting for next spring's college draft. Rather, you head straight to the free agent market to hire the best impact player that's available today. Employers are in the same mindset. Getting approval to hire someone has become extremely difficult for managers, so when they get the green light they want to make sure it's a great "game-changing" hire.

Now for the advice

During times like these, the theme of your job search needs to be that you are an impact player. This feeling and message needs to permeate everything you do, from your resume and cover letter, to your interview responses, to your thank you note; the employer needs to feel that you are an impact player. They want to know that hiring you will lead to an instant improvement in their department. That means you need to convey confidence, self-assurance, and a message that you can step into the job and immediately make a positive impact on their business. Here's what it might sound like in an interview session:

Hiring Manager: Why do you want this accounts receivable position?

You: I'm confident that I can help you quickly reduce the amount of overdue invoices you have. I have six years of accounts receivable experience, and I would expect that you'd start to see results in the first week after me starting in the job. I'm not someone who is afraid of hard work, and digging into a new challenge is something that I relish.

Hiring Manager: How would you go about doing that?

You: On my first day I'd start a triage process, where I'd rank the outstanding invoices by size and age. If you're like most companies, 80% of your outstanding collections is attributable to 20% of your customers. Next I would create an action plan for each client, and immediately start making collection calls...

As you can see, this is a much different interview style than answering questions with cliché's like "I'm a fast learner and a good team player." My suggestion is for you to reread your resume and cover letters, think back to your last interview, and ask yourself whether the employer would think of you as the best free agent on the market, or just another job seeker

If the answer is the latter, you've got some work to do. (If you need help with your resume, check out Jobfox's resume writing service, it's one of the most popular resume writing services on the Internet.)

Best of luck with your job search,

How to answer the "Why You?" Question

by Rob McGovern

Recently I interviewed "Bob" for a job at Jobfox. His first response told me he doesn't "get" the new normal job market. I asked him why we should choose him for the job, and he answered, "Because this position would give me an opportunity to learn a new skill set, as well as work for an exciting high-growth company."

Huh?

We should pick you so you can learn and do exciting things? Did someone give you the idea that we were a benevolent university that paid people to learn and have fun? Virtually every corporation's charter states that the company exists to make profits for its owners. The fact that people have fun and learn things is extraneous in this job market.

The mistake this job seeker made was employing a 2007 job seeker's attitude. Back then it really was all about the job seekers, and employers pitched you on why you should join an organization. Now, it's reversed. Your objective is to convince the employer that you can help them achieve their business goals.

Bob would have been much better served by responding to the "Why you?" question with, "I think I'm the best qualified person to come in and solve your Web analytics problem. Not only do I have three years experience using your chosen Web tool but I'm also willing to work long hours and to commit myself to this position." With this response Bob would have positioned himself as the answer to the problem the employer was trying to solve.

This change of tone and approach should permeate every communication you have with a potential employer. For example, the objective statement in your resume should talk about what you can do for the company, not what you want for yourself. The same goes for your cover letter, follow-up letters, and phone calls. When the hiring manager is interviewing you for a position, he or she needs to feel like they can just plug you into the departing person's desk and the problem will be solved.

I hope you find this information helpful as you tune your job search.

Referrals Can Change Your Employment Situation

Career Tip of the Week

When you start on a job search, the most important tool you can equip yourself with is referrals from influential people. During the interview process they ensure that you are trusted more and salary negotiations are favorable. Even after getting a job, chances of promotions and raises are higher if you’ve come armed with strong referrals.

There are several powerful job search tools such as websites, mass mailings, and talented recruiters, but there is nothing more powerful and effective than a recommendation from a person of influence. You need to nurture such connections because they could change your life and your employment situation in an instant. Never burn any bridges.

Hiring Pros on Social Networking Sites

An expert panel of recruiters shares insights about how social networking sites can be helpful in a job search. Read more...