Let's be honest. If you put down that you were fired from your last job you aren't getting hired. DO NOT WRITE DOWN A JOB YOU WERE FIRED FROM unless you were there more than five years. I've personally known two different managers and watched them cycle through resumes- they both do it just about the exact same.

A boss gets...we'll be conservative...fifty resumes(okay, VERY conservative). The first step is the purging step. If you got fired from your last job, your resume goes in the 'A' pile. We won't discuss the nasty fate that awaits it, but we'll hint at it by just mentioning that the 'B' pile are the keepers.

Be warned: not only fired individuals go in the 'A' pile. Those of you with very sloppy handwriting also get ditched on the purge. You incompletes share their fate.

Now the really bad news. You have a good history and nice handwriting. You've only made it to the 'B' pile. Now it's down to the 'Pile Reduction' Phase (like I said before, that was a very conservative estimate). In the Pile Reduction Phase, you get eliminated if anything feels wrong about your application or if anything is OBVIOUSLY wrong with your resume. Blatant lies are immediately thrown in the garbage, so if you're going to misrepresent the truth you'd better do it in an intelligent way.

In the 'PR' phase (that's pile reduction) they eliminate you for most anything. One of the bosses I know discards any application or resume that has as much as two spelling errors. Yes, even in this phase.

The final phase before interviewing potentials is the 'Upgrade' phase. In this phase, you get ousted if someone looks more professional than you, has more experience, or if the boss just likes them more for any reason. The name is a common one. I'll just say that some names are preferred to others and nothing more. The Upgrade phase is where you can't just be excellent, you have to be MORE excellent than your fellow job-seekers.

People who say it's easy to get a job aren't wrong. The problem is that the jobs ANYONE can get SUCK and pay NEXT TO NOTHING.

DO NOT put down that you were fired from a job on your resume unless you had an outstanding record and a long employment there. Under 'reason' you don't have the room to put the full reason. Just print something like 'Want to Discuss' or something vague that says you are happy to report the details, but don't put something that blasts your last boss or last job because then you get put in the PR phase's 'A' pile.

Be good
Good luck

Learn more about this author, Vincent Able.
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