[maybird]

Any recommendations for someone who's been fired?

How can I help someone who's been fired bounce back?

What should someone who's been fired tell potential employers why they're no longer with a previous employer?

I'm trying to help a friend, but I've never gone thru this, so I feel powerless.

[nkohari]

I was recently fired by the company that acquired the startup I co-founded. It took me about six weeks to collect my thoughts and recover.

Getting fired is kind of like having someone you care about die, in that you go through Kübler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.

I think the most difficult part for me was a loss of identity. I had associated myself so deeply with the product that we were working on that once I was asked to leave, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. It may have been particularly significant for me since I had built the product originally, but anyone who cares deeply about their work attaches some portion of their identity to their job.

The key thing to remember is that a job is not a career, and a career is not a life. You had a life and a career before your job, and you'll have a life and a career after. Spend the time off doing things that give you positive energy -- for me, it was reading and biking. Give yourself some time to recover, and you'll be better for it.

As far as what to tell prospective employers, I think transparency is always the best approach. Be honest about why it didn't work out, but don't spend your time talking negatively about the company that fired you. Unless you got fired for embezzling money or something, the root cause was some sort of incompatibility between you and the company you worked for. Just like breaking up with a significant other, there's nothing shameful about it -- if it didn't work out, it didn't work out.

For what it's worth, I personally wouldn't hesitate to hire someone who had been fired (unless it was a clear pattern of extremely negative behavior). A strong will is necessary to do great things, and strong-willed people are often difficult for companies to corral. :)

[patio11]

What should someone who's been fired tell potential employers why they're no longer with a previous employer?

There is virtually no answer to that question that makes you sound like a better candidate than you were before it was asked. I'd be strongly inclined to say some variant of "It's a tough economy.", which is non-specific, virtually guaranteed to be a contributing factor, and avoids faulting either party.

The canonical answer is some variant of "We weren't a good fit for each other." Then, again, refocus the conversation on how you'll be a great fit with interviewer's company.

[tomjen3]

Why not just say 'they hired me for a different role that I was not suited for'?

[patio11]

Because a) that sounds like you have a problem and b) that sounds like you blame your problems on other people, including people that the decisionmaker empathizes with more than he empathizes with you. That sets him to thinking whether you're going to blame him for hiring you in 6 months after you're fired from his company.

There's just no percentage here for you. (An American idiom: basically, no outcome of this line of thinking is going to help you.) Just handwave towards the economy and start talking about happy subjects.

[Avenger42]

Keep in mind that they're going to go back to the company, and if your characterization of your parting is different than that of the company, it will reflect negatively on you. If (and only if), during your parting, your boss says something along those lines, then you're probably safe in repeating it.

[larrys]

"virtually no answer to that question that makes you sound like a better candidate "

My first reaction to this was to think that someone could somehow turn this into a positive if they could solve this dilemma as in "No! I was fired for (insert reason) but I overcame...and now I"m ..."

But then I realized that similar to breaking up in a relationship if you reveal the reason to your new partner and say that you learned from it, and aren't the same person, all that will do is alert the other party to be especially vigilant to the particular behavior, and in fact then you are automatically disadvantaged. Everything you do is magnified greatly. "Oh boy. Here we go again just like their old job"

About the only thing I can think of (and in fact recommend this when trying to get rid of a sales person) is to produce a reason that can't happen again. Such as "I was fired because I had to take care of my sick mother. But she died and I now live alone and don't have any other relatives". Etc.

[elliottcarlson]

If the person was let go due to cost cutting, general layoffs, etc - then they should be straight up with a new employer that that was the case. In other cases, describing it as not being a fit would be a good description IMHO. Obviously it wouldn't benefit anyone to say they were let go due to incompetence or anything like that - since it could often be that the job itself wasn't aware of the persons skill set.

The only recommendation is for the person not to give up, start looking right away - if this person is a developer, there are so many opportunities right now that it shouldn't be hard to find a position regardless of your work experience - though depending on your locality it might require moving. For example, New York is booming with tech jobs at the moment.

[portmanteaufu]

You might consider posting this as its own Ask HN thread. I'm sure the HN crowd will have a wealth of knowledge to share with you if your question gets the visibility it deserves.

[michaelt]

A lot of people recommend you shouldn't badmouth your previous/current employers in a job interview. Which you can use as a reason not to say why you're not with a previous employer.