What advice would you share for someone who suspects they were fired due to restructuring but were told they were fired because they weren’t independent?

2 Comments

1. AnonymousOctober 25,2024 at 12:58PM UTC

   First, why would it matter, and who's asking? UI will ask for your termination paperwork to verify if it was a layoff or for cause. That is a legal issue and is required to determine UI eligibility. If it was for cause, it will want to see the write-ups/PIPs. For any interview, deflect the question by saying, "The job did not align with my skills and career goals," and explain why the job you are interviewing for is better aligned. If it was an interim job to pay bills, include that in the explanation. Any potential job does not need any more reason than that and generally will not take up precious interview time with a discussion of why you left your previous job.

2. AnonymousOctober 25,2024 at 5:03PM UTC

   When a company does a restructure they often give weak reasons for terminations so as not to trigger any legal action. If this is you that is affected when interviewing other places the best response is the company was realigning business units and my role was affected. I was not alone in this restructuring plan, it affected X% of our team. End of story. DO NOT tell them you were fired.

   You could as an addendum also say that you knew it might happen to your team so pro-actively you started to look in the week(s) prior to this event.