I Just Got Fired!!! Now What?!?

“The less said the better.” (Jane Austen)?

“It is best to say as little about a difficult or unfortunate topic or situation as possible (to avoid making it worse or dwelling on it for too long.”)?(idioms.thefreedictionary.com)?

The quote “The less said the better” encapsulates a profound perspective on communication and its nuances. At its core, this phrase suggests that sometimes, silence or brevity can convey more meaning or have a greater impact than verbose or elaborate speech. It advocates for restraint in speech, implying that excessive words can dilute or obscure the intended message. (Elevatesociety.com)?

Hmmmm…that last one seems to violate the exact message they’re trying to convey! Ha!?

And…what does Scripture have to say about talking a lot? Here are just two I thought could be useful:?

• Ecclesiastes 6:11 “The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they?”??

• Proverbs 10:19 “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.”??

And in conclusion…. No, that’s not the end of the blog, but the fundamental principle I’m hopeful you’re picking up has been clearly stated. ?In multiple ways. ?And in only one language.?The. Less. Said. The. Better.?

How to Explain Your Departure When You’d Rather Not

Now, I realize that if you’ve been through the unfortunate experience of being terminated from your employment, you’ll need to be able to say something about the reason for your departure. And I will get to that. But you’ll do far better with your explanation if you keep the fundamental “the less said the better” in mind.?

Inevitably you’ll have to give a reason for your departure to a future employer. Somewhere along the way through the interview process, any talent acquisition team worth their salt will have someone, somewhere ask you, “So, can you tell me the reason for your departure?” (NOTE: For a broader visit into this question, please see our 11/28/23 blog titled, “Why Are You Leaving (Or Have Left) Your Current Position?”). Depending on the inquirer’s experience level and/or intuition, a short answer may do the trick and allow the interviewer to go on to the next topic.??

To illustrate, I’ll use a real example I encountered several years ago with a woman in one of my small groups. She worked as an hourly worker in a warehouse on the loading dock and was responsible for logging all the incoming shipments of goods. ??

At the end of a heated exchange with her supervisor, she told the supervisor to basically, “Take this job and shove it” (so to speak), and then walked off the job without giving notice. She acknowledged having barely beat being fired by the supervisor. Hmmm, how should she explain her departure under such egregious circumstances??

We worked through three levels of depth on how she could communicate her departure with a potential future employer with the foundation that less is more and to never lie. ?Here’s the escalation process we went through and roughly, the responses we developed:?

1. At the interviewer’s first inquiry, keep the response short and simple. The vast majority of interviewers will take your statement at face value and then move on to the next question. Your Answer: “My supervisor and I were not aligned.”?Or, “The relationship with my supervisor never developed and that led to me leaving the position.” NOTE: ?You’re not saying you were let go/terminated.?You’re making truthful statements without going further into detail.?
2. If the interviewer then asks, “Could you expand on that a bit, please?” ?Your Answer: “Sure. I believe I successfully followed instructions and performed well, but he was not open to suggestions for improvement, and I want to improve what I’m doing, not just fulfill a procedures manual.”?
3. And then, if the interviewer still wants more (like a good interviewer should, by the way, because so far you haven’t gotten to the root issue), you’ll want to be ready to go further into detail. Your Answer: “The stress with the relationship became so great that I ended up leaving the position after an intense discussion with my supervisor. We had never been able to get aligned on “how” things were getting done, even though the “what” of the job description was being fully completed.”?

The absolute key to being able to succinctly and completely give a good response to the interviewer comes through practice! If you think you’ll be able to somehow manufacture the answer, or to deliver a pre-written (but not verbally practiced) response, you’ll be sorely disappointed.??

Our Crossroads Guides Can Help

This is another great reason to have a free conversation with one of our Crossroads Guides! They can help you develop a response and listen to you say it to ensure it’s coming across the way it should. Their deep experiences, compassionate approach, and level-headed methods of dealing with emotional and spiritual needs in a practical manner will be of great support to you! ??

If you’ve been fired from a job, it’s not a good feeling. And odds are quite high that you’re not “eager” to talk about it. ??

But…you’ll have to. AND, we can help you with that! The less said the better is a great adage, and one that applies well with our Crossroads Career approach to this situation. Blessings!?

Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.

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