How do I answer a hiring boss about being fired?

Sorry this is so long...
I was at a job for 6 years. The last 7 months, they changed management & the new management were uh, to be nice, slooow. Lot's of problems. So I was fired, went on unemployment, the new management appealed it & we went to appeals court over it. They lied in court about my character, my job performance, that I was lazy, etc., & basically that I just sucked. The court broke the case into 2 seperate cases (I won't go into it) & I defended myself & proved not only that I was a great employee, but I won both cases & the management was terrible & I could continue to collect the unemployment. Now...how do I oh-so-delicately tell this (or not) to my interviewers? I have been racking my brain about this for weeks. To tell the truth or not? And how to go about it, either way...Thank you so much.

You have to tell the truth because if you don't and they find out about it, they can fire you just for not being truthful on your application. They will ask for a short reason on the app. Short answer - new management trying to downsize. Will explain at interview. At the interview, I would play up that you worked for the former employers for 6 years with no problems. Six years with one employer is impressive in many cases so it will help to soften the blow of the termination. DON'T go into a lot of negative detail. You're not helping yourself by overexplaining the accusations the new management made. Just say that the reason they gave you (this stresses that their reason wasn't necessarily truthful - just the one they gave you) was that your performance wasn't up to their standards. Then tell them that after 2 independent reviews bythe unemployment bureau, their allegations were proven false and you were granted unemployment benefits.

It would help immensely if you could provide a personal reference from someone who worked as a supervisor with the original management team at your old employer. A good letter of recommendation in your file - even if written in a personal capacity since he or she would no longer be employed with your old company - could be a huge help.

Any other glowing letters of recommendation that you could provide along with a well written resume and your complete application would also help you. Without getting into a big display of how rotten the last management team was at your old employer, simply show them how valued you have been by others and anything they say negatively will look ridiculous by comparison.

Hope this helps. Good Luck

Tell the truth. If the hiring company has any merit as an employer they'll call your previous and find out anyway. And if they take the previous employer's word over yours after all the court nonsense you didn't want to work for them anyway.

wow. thats rough. i'm not an expert on this, but i would probably say "well....lets just say i worked there for six straight years and had NO problems until a 'new and improved' managment came into play". it's a little sarcastic, making it seem like you REALLY belive it, and it's vauge enough while getting the point across. but check out other answers, i don't know if this is THE BEST thing to do or not. i hope you have better luck this time around(:

Hell yeah tell them about what you had to go through because of the change in management at the old place. And hopefully they can see what the other place is doing and really take a look at how they do business too. Use them as an example of how not to do it. You sound like a person who knows how to get things done. Tell them...It will also show them you don't take crap from people...Good luck with it.

I had this same dilemma. I agonozed for nothing. If I asked why I left, I stated that I was looking for a change, and use it as an opportunity to tell them what you are looking for and your strengths, etc...

In the end, I opted not to say employer conflict. I was in a similar situation, and to me, that would be lying ---when I had done nothing wrong.

Good luck. They really just want to know what you have to offer their company, and 6 years is a long time to stay in a company. You don't have much to worry about. I worried for no reason.

Worst case scenario: New management , change of structure, and "Now, I'm looking for....."

Im in the same situation right now. I would say be honest. My only thing is im wondering when jobs do background checks does it show that you were terminated or does it show just the times that you worked for a company