Before you attend your first interview, you should research the interview process and learn what types of questions an interviewer is likely to ask. A number of excellent books on interview skills and questions are available. Books like How to Turn an Interview into a Job and The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book by Jeffrey Allen can help you practice critical interviewing skills.
As an unemployed job seeker, however, you have a number of additional issues to address before you meet your first interviewer. You need to be prepared to answer questions about your current situation without harming your job prospects.
Do I Tell Them I Was Laid Off?
You don't want to lie, but you're afraid the truth may harm your prospects. What do you say? There are a number of approaches to this difficult situation. They include:
Honesty. If you are in an industry that is currently experiencing a great deal of turmoil (such as manufacturing, electronics, computer hardware, airline, steel manufacturers, Wall Street brokerage firms), your situation is almost the norm. In this case, honesty is the best policy. Tell your prospective employer that you were laid off because your former employer was having severe financial problems. If you plan to use this tactic, be sure to have a couple of facts on hand to support you. Mention the number of people your employer let go. Toss out a few figures about how much your previous employer lost this quarter. Your goal is not to harm your previous employer's reputation but, rather, to make it obvious that you were just one of a long line of casualties in your previous employer's losing battle with the bottom line.
You are unemployed by choice. This can be a tricky explanation. Why would a level-headed, employed individual choose to be out of work? If your previous employer was losing money rapidly and offering great severance pay packages, however, you may have chosen to take advantage of the offer.
You resigned under duress. Your previous employer offered you a stock option that never materialized, or you exceeded your targets and didn't receive the expected bonus. When you pressured them for it, you were pressured to leave.
There are a number of reasons you may have chosen to leave on your own. You have to be careful, however, that your reasons don't lead a prospective employer to wonder if you are a difficult person to work with in general.
Before you go to an interview, practice what you will say.
Talk with others who have experience hiring people in your situation and ask them what they expect to hear and what kinds of statements will raise a red flag. Above all, be straightforward yourself, and don't modify your answers if you talk with more than one person at the same company over the course of the interview process.
