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[mj_romo]

I have been teaching five years, but prior to that I held an administrative job that I was fired from on a college campus. 

The situation was very strange.  I received a very good evaluation in November, and I thought my boss and co-workers liked me and that I was doing a good job.  Well, on Christmas break - barely a month from the eval - I received a letter notifying me that I was terminated and didn't need to return.  My boss then refused to explain/discuss the situation with me.  He hid behind the "while on probation, an employee can be terminated at will with no explanation necessary" - and my probation was supposed to be up about 2 weeks into January.  Wouldn't return my phone calls, wouldn't let me return to the office but had my office packed and things sent to me.  It was very bizarre.

At any rate, I have always disclosed this on applications when it asks: Have you ever been terminated from a position?  I respond with: Yes.  When working in this position at this U, I was terminated during probationary period with no explanation given per the employee contract.

Apparently, this is not a good answer.  I've been asked about the situation in interviews or asked to elaborate on my response, and I don't have a satisfactory response.  The last time I interviewed for a t-t position, I knew someone on the committee and met with her afterwards to get some pointers for next time.  She said that my response when asked about that situation was one of the key reasons why I wasn't hired.  She said my answer looks like I'm hiding something.

Now, I'm applying for several t-t positions at local CCs for this coming fall, and I think I have a reasonably good chance of getting interviews.  But, I keep staring at that question on the applications and wondering what to do about it?  Do I lie?  Should I elaborate more?  And, if I'm asked about it, what do I say then?

I don't want this one situation to be costing me the chance at t-t, and I feel like it is.  Advice, please.

[acrimone]

It is costing you.

You've a couple options, none of them pretty.

1) Lie.

2) Take your best guess and write it down.

"Yes.  When working in this position at this U, I was terminated during probationary period with no explanation given per the employee contract.  I believe I was terminated because the university did not wish to fill a non-probationary position, but I have been unable to obtain any further explanation."

3. Attach the letter to prove you have no idea what's going on.

It's the suxxorz.  I have a very similar issue from a job I had straight out of undergrad -- I was terminated with three days left on probation.  But I know exactly why they did it and I have no problem sharing the whole, drawn out story with anyone who asks.

Best of luck.

[starfleet_grad]

This situation bites, that's for sure. However, you are getting interviews, and that's the good thing. Apparently the incident is not getting you to the reject pile immediately, so what you need is a better way to explain yourself. I see a couple of things in your favor:

1. The vague letter telling you you were fired.
2. The good evaluation you received (at least this proves that you were not fired because of incompetence). I presume you have a copy of that.

In most states (if not everywhere), you have a right to inspect your personnel file, and I bet there's something in there. If your former boss isn't forthcoming, talk to the HR manager. If you are indeed being tripped up by this and the college stonewalls, talk to an attorney about your options. It's expensive, but if your future is on the line, it may be worth the expense.

Now, my inclination would be to do the following during an interview:

Someone asks the pivotal question. You chuckle, shake your head, and say something like, "Good question. I wish I had the answer." Then you discuss how much you enjoyed the job and were looking forward to continuing when you had your annual evaluation. Talk about that a bit and produce a copy of your evaluation form/scores. Then segue into the fact that a month later, out of the blue, you received "the letter." Show them a copy of the letter. Then tell them what you told us in the original post. You went to your chair, yada yada yada. It's important to keep that explanation conversational and to have a tone of incredulity about yourself. Do not forget to acknowledge that all this may seem strange or like you're hiding something, but you're not.

Anyway, that's just one suggestion, and you may have tried it before. Your issue seems to be credibility. Assuming that you present the full story, then somewhere in your choice of words, your tone, your pitch, your enunciation, your tempo, or your body language, people are perceiving deceit, and this perception is what you must overcome because losing a job in itself is nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe it might help to practice the scenario with a good friend or family member to get that person's input.

[tamiam]

There's a big difference between being terminated for cause, and being laid off for reasons that have nothing to do with performance.

You don't know what the reasons for your termination were, but you have absolutely no reason to believe that you were let go because of performance issues. You have a good performance appraisal.

For all you know, the boss's daughter got the job. Or the job was eliminated alltogether. Or any number of other things that have nothing to do with your competence or professionalism.

You were not "terminated" in the sense that the form is asking about. You can answer "no" to that question with a clean conscience.

There aren't too many people in the corporate world who haven't gone through at least one lay-off. In many industries, there's no stigma attached to it at all. Stop letting this get in your way.

[alohafromhere]

I am currently a member of a search committee which just rejected an applicant, who had been "let go" for a similar scenario.  We liked the applicant a lot, and had to ask the question -- "what happened?"  In the end, it wasn't that the applicant was terminated, but rather the tenor of the response that worried us.  Defensive, evasive, non-specific.  (Note: no suggestion that this was the tenor of *your* response*) We came away knowing that something unpleasant had gone down, but not knowing what exactly.  In follow up conversations with references, we got the same defensive, evasive, non-specific answers.  It made us uncomfortable enough that we didn't pursue this candidate.

I can  tell you what would have tipped the balance, and starfleet_grad nails it:

Someone asks the pivotal question. You chuckle, shake your head, and say something like, "Good question. I wish I had the answer." Then you discuss how much you enjoyed the job and were looking forward to continuing when you had your annual evaluation. Talk about that a bit and produce a copy of your evaluation form/scores.

If our candidate had done that, and been able to, in essence, shrug the event off as a down-sizing/nepotism/personality clash/something maneuver, we would have felt assured that we weren't dealing with a problem candidate, but rather a candidate who had encountered a problem institution. 

What we wanted as a committee was a clear sense of what happened.  Not gossip, not trashing another institution, but a narrative that made some sense.  I wouldn't ever suggest that anyone make things up, but as other posters have suggested, doing some questioning of HR, and looking in your files, may provide the material for that coherent narrative.  Also: get your references on board to tell the same story/narrative you do.  The key is telling it all in a neutral, self-deprecating, water-under-the-bridge kind of way.  You've moved on.  Etc.

Wish you luck on this one!

[kaysixteen]

I also got canned once two weeks before the end of a probation period, which, had I completed successfully, would have netted me lifetime civil service unionized tenure at this public institution.  It was not difficult to see why this was, as the job had been vacant for financial reasons for two years before the authorization to hire me was granted, and when I was let go, it was another eight months before the job was advertised again.  Indeed, when my subsequent employer checked this reference, my former supervisor, without any contact from me, bluntly told the man that I was 'downsized' for financial reasons, which, of course, I had known all along.

A harder case for me to deal with is the job I lost at a religious school, for openly religious reasons.

[mj_romo]

Thank you all for the advice.  I will definitely take it all under consideration when addressing the question on applications and in interviews.  I don't want it to cost me positions, as it clearly did in the past.

I did inquire with the HR department about the situation at that particular institution and was told that unless my boss authorized it, they did not have to share any records generated about me during the probationary period.  I have since taught at that campus and had the opportunity to run into my former boss, and he has gone out of his way to avoid speaking with me.  It kind of drives me nuts to not know what influenced his decision.  I do know the position I held was not filled again after another lengthy hunt for an appropriate candidate. 

But, I will carry the evaluation I received, as well as the termination letter, to interviews in case I should need them to back up my story.  I hadn't considered doing that before.  I will also practice my response to "what happened" so that it has the tenor Alohafromhere refers to.

[bigsky]

I do know the position I held was not filled again after another lengthy hunt for an appropriate candidate.

I think you have a sufficient answer right there. I would explain that the position was never filled/discontinued/dissolved, whatever.

[science_expat]

I would be very tempted to interpret your situation as being informally made redundant (laid off) and present it that way.

Hence I would respond "no" to the "been terminated" question and if asked about your employment history to answer truthfully but from the redundancy perspective.