how do i honestly say i was terminated without cutting my chances at finding a job?

Question

i was terminated for excessive absences due to illness; if it wasn't chronic bronchitis it was other health problems; my employer was more than reasonable but finally had to let me go; now i don't know how to respond when and if i go for an interview

Answer 1

Wow...that has to be tough. Well, the first thing you need to do is to make sure you are well enough to start a new job. Now, I understand the lack of finances, and the need to go back right away, but if you were absent a lot due to illness, any future employer is going to want to know if you are truly well enough to be productive and stay on the job enough to justify the expense of hiring and training you.

Next, get a doctor's note giving you the all clear. Once you have that, don't hesitate to tell the truth. Because if you lie, and it comes out later, you could risk being fired, and your employment chances would be worse. During the interview, if the question comes up why you were fired, let him or her know that you were gone a lot due to health issues. People do understand more than you may realize, but expect the question to come up of if you are well enough to work again.

This is where the doctor's note comes in handy. Let him or her know that you were given the all clear, and are ready to return to the job market. If he or she understands, you should have no problems getting a job then.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You should plan on going for a job interview, so get prepared. You are not the first or the only person to be let go for excessive absences. Do not hang your head in shame, it is an unavoidable problem that many people go through. The next employer will be concerned that you have gotten your health problems under control and that you accept the responsibility for getting to the job every day.

So, when the next employer asks you about why you left this job, you need to be honest --- with a positive spin. Begin by admitting that you had a problem with your health at that time. You were having a problem with chronic bronchitis and instead of following doctor's orders to take a medical leave and clear up the problem you continued to try to go to work, which only caused the bronchitis to get worse and with a lowered resistence you caught everything.

NEXT you want to assure the employer that you are now 100% health and that you are doing positive things to avoid illness. You may want to mention that you now are on a vitamin regimine, that you have taken control of your health, that you have changed doctors. Whatever, you need to assure the employer this will not repeat itself.

You may want to say that your former employer was concerned about your excessive time off and you recognized that this was not a fair situation for either you or the employer. So, by mututal agreement they let you go (Do not use the word fired) and you totally understood that they did what was required by company policy.

Go on to say that out of that miserable situation you learned a lot about how to care for yourself when you feel you are getting ill, how to deal with health care professionals, and how important attendance is to keeping a clean work record. Then stop. If the new employer has any questions, he will ask. You may want to offer to go to a doctor to get a clean bill of health just to prove you are ready to work.

This is a situation where you step up to the plate and admit there was a problem, tell how you solved it, tell how it will not happen again, accept responsibility and move on. Good luck.

Answer 3

Address the issue in an interview, say why you were terminated (atfter all, you didn't steal something or punch someone). If you still have the health problems that caused the absences, you'll have a problem, but if they are (at least mostly) cleared up you might be OK.