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Fired for Lateness

Unfortunately, I was recently fired for excessive lateness despite several warnings, even suspension. There are many reasons & factors as to why I was late but I know that none of that will matter to a potential employer. This is the only job I have ever been fired from in my 15 years of employment! How do I handle being asked "Why did you leave your last job?" Otherwise, I am an excellent employee ( I was interviewed for a promotion two weeks before I was let go) How can I get them to see beyond this hiccup?

Tags: fired, interview, lateness, tardiness

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Permalink Reply by Gary W Capone on July 16, 2008 at 8:33am: Marilyn,

I'm a firm believer that it's better to be upfront and honest, even about things that will be a detriment to your search. If you try to hide this and it comes out in a reference check - you're done. If you address early one, during the first interview when the questions comes up, you have an opportunity to sell through it.

The key is showing a potential employer that your reliability will be better for them than it was in your last job. This really takes three things. First, you need to show what you're going to do differently so this isn't a problem. Second, you need to make it clear that this is a major priority for you and that you take reliability seriously. Finally, if you have references that show you we're reliable in teh past, that would help.

This will make your search more difficult - there's no way around that. If you're upfront and have a plan for addressing your reliability, you'll do much better.

By the way, this isn't something just hypothetical for me. I actually hired someone in almost exactly the same situation earlier in my career. This individual was absolutely adamant that the reliability problem they had was a short term situation they had fixed. I was impressed with their honesty and gave them a chance... and their attendance for me was near perfect.

Good luck!

Gary; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marilyn on July 16, 2008 at 11:02am: Thank you for the advice!!!! I will try that at the interview today! Wish me luck!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jarry on August 12, 2008 at 8:39am: Hi
I read your message . I felt bad as well as funny because instead of giving so many warnings and a suspention how did you dare to go late again.
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mammy

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