I have often wondered how to handle the question posed by the viewer on Ethical Dilemmas in The Workplace: The Ethics Guy on ABC News. I have never been let go from a job before, and I hope I never do, because like the viewer, I would be complete lost as to what to say. This question has always left me to scratch my head when I skip over it as I’m filling out a job resumes. What do employers want to hear, and what should I tell them.
If an interviewee was fired from a past job, this tactic on asking these types of question to said future employee would really allow the interviewer the chance to really get to know the interviewee on a much more personal level, then would have otherwise been possible had the interviewee not been fired on the previous job. I feel this really give the employer a good opportunity to really understand the character of the person he is interviewing. People who have never been fired can just by pass this question, which weather good or bad, would not allow the interviewer the opportunity to discover the moral character of the interviewee.
Bruce Wienstein PhD from TheEthicsGuy.com expresses that what is important when this question does arise in an interview is that you can confidently express what you can bring to the company. I would use this opportunity if asked about my past employment to show them how I have learned by being confident and expressing to them exactly how I have developed and changed since then. I would want them to know that even if I made a mistake, that I can confidently learn from that mistake and use this insight to better my place within the company.