How do I handle an interview question of can I contact your former employer?

The answer is yes. If you say no, they will assume that you were fired for misconduct and will not hire you. If you say yes, then they might not call; if they do call, they might learn only that the office was restructured and that your position was eliminated.

While this isn't a tax question it's a pretty simple one just the same. The answer to that question is ALWAYS "Yes!" Answering "No" will trigger more questions that may be very difficult to answer, most notably, "Why not?" Most employers today will only confirm dates of employment and starting and ending salary and little else. A common follow up question is "Would you re-hire the person?" and a popular answer there is, "We consider re-hires if and when they apply for a new position, not until then." Most hiring managers know that that's often BS but many of them will give the same response themselves. There are no laws that prevent a prior employer from discussing anything, but most severely restrict what they say to avoid the possibility of wrongful termination lawsuits. The only time that most employers will break their silence is if there is a major misconduct issue involving your actions with the employer (theft, embezzlement, assaults, etc.) or a threat to public safety such as one former colleague who brandished a pistol at work.

just tell them what the situation is

Depends greatly on why you were terminated. Restructured? Downsized? These usually are beyond your control if the cuts were made objectively without regard to performance. If performance evaluations were used, I would hesitate to agree to allow contact with your former employer, but I doubt that you really can prevent this. You could request to see any and all responses from your previous employer to determine if derogatory information was provided. As a former employer I was not allowed to provide negative information about previous employees. If I was asked if I would rehire this person I was allowed to say no.

Here's the 'trick' I've learned over the years. If you list your former supervisors name and number they may say all sorts of stuff about you (and usually it is stuff that is forbidden for a former employer to share). So what you do is get the phone number and contact name for your Human Resources Department. Use that number. About all they can do is verify that YES...you were employed there. FROM this date TO this date. And that's about all they can share. They cannot say whether you left of your own accord or not. They cannot say how high or low you were ranked. None of that is allowed. The HR department know what they can say and they know what will come back to bite them in the butt if they reveal it. See if the company has a Headquarters. Get that address and phone number if the company doesn't have a HR department. G'Luck... Mike Womack, Sr. Partner Zero Degrees Tax LLP Moore, OK

Metwo gave you great advice. Take it. That last employer cannot tell anyone the circumstances behind why you left your last job. It is against the law.

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