‘ Outplacement Outtakes ‘ v.21 – Helping Ron to Develop Rational, Balanced Responses to Difficult Interview Questions

Many are coping with their own personal understanding of what may have gone wrong in their previous roles, second guessing actions and conversations they may have had over the previous months.

Generally, there are two possible scenarios:

Scenario 1. The candidate was let go as part of a downsizing or restructuring plan. This is generally the easier of the two circumstances to explain to a new employer because most people who work within business, understand that organizations must re-organize from time to time to stay competitive.

Scenario 2. The candidate was singled out and asked to leave for some other reason – This second scenario however, can be a little trickier to respond to because there are often a lot of emotions still at play for the candidate.

When Ron started to work with us through the interview preparation process, explaining to a potential new employer that he was terminated from his last position became a sticking point for him during his career transition.

He had worked for 15 years for a group in the education sector as a Branch Manager in Calgary.  A year before he joined our program, he was asked to change roles within the organization and relocate to the company’s head office in Toronto as part of a restructuring plan.  A role he declined due to his family’s personal commitments in Calgary – not to mention his wife’s lucrative job in the oil industry.  The year since he declined the relocation had been a stressful one for Ron as he could feel the communication, his responsibilities, and his relationship with senior leaders at head office start to wane.  When he was ultimately told that the Branch Manager’s role in Calgary was being eliminated and his employment terminated, the emotions caused by the accumulating stress came to a boiling point.  A boiling point that seemed to linger too long for Ron’s own good.

During his first few job interviews, when asked about the reasons for his departure from his previous employer, Ron couldn’t help himself but to launch into a long tirade about how he was unfairly treated after 15 years of excellent service.  He appeared bitter and resentful as he had obviously not yet left his past in the past.  He was quickly eliminated from any job competition he engaged in until his CMS outplacement program coach helped him to understand how his emotions were getting the better of him when asked this common question.

Rebuilding our job seekers confidence, exploring, and addressing reasons why they may have been let go, and shifting mindsets about their future employment is an important part of the job of our Program Coaches at CMS.  Helping candidates like Ron to develop rational and balanced responses to questions such as why did you leave your last position?, are crucial to our candidates portraying themselves as professional potential employees who are keen to move forward in their careers and contribute to a new organization in a positive way.