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If you have been fired from a previous job then what you say in future interviews and how you say it will make all the difference. The basic guidelines are honesty, brevity, positivity, and confidence.
1. Honesty: In my opinion, you should never lie about being fired, because it will most likely catch up with you, and that could create problems for future employment. Not only that, but people respond positively when someone is being honest and genuine. I've also heard the idea that you should volunteer the information at the beginning of the interview. If you were fired due to your own poor performance, it is not necessary to explicitly state what the issues were. But you could hint to them. For example, if you always came in late to work or projects weren't completed on time, you could say, "I had to learn to better manage my time."

2. Brevity: Don't go into a long account of what happened by your previous employer. Say no more than a few sentences and move on. It is probably good to practice before hand what you will say in the interview.
3. Positivity: Turn the fact that you were fired into a positive experience. You could mention what you learned from being fired, "I learned to be more organized." Or that you now realize that you needed a different kind of job or environment.
4. Confidence: This is probably the most important factor here. If you can show the interviewer that despite the setback you are confident in your abilities to fulfill the sought after position, this will make a big impact. And ironically, it may even put you ahead of other candidates who were never fired.

Learn more about this author, Simi Brown.
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