Question:
My employer, for which I worked as a contractor worker, just terminated my contract. My supervisor claimed that I lacked confidence and the necessary technical skills, yet all of the other employees in my department disagreed and a few of them even wrote letters of recommendation for me in which they praised my technical and team skills. Potential employers are now asking me why my contract was not renewed. What should I tell them?
First Answer:
There are several ways to approach this. One way is to say that you decided to seek employment elsewhere because you were seeking a new or different challenge.
Other alternatives would be to mention that your contract was not renewed because the supervisor was looking for a little different skill set than you had or that there appeared to be personality differences, but that your work was excellent as evaluated by other people there (you have recommendation letters).
The problem with talking about personality differences is that the emphasis in the interview shifts from what you can do for the new company, in a positive vein, to what went wrong at your old place.
I would probably consider the option of not dealing with the negative and trying to focus on the positive by saying that I decided to look for something different along the lines of the position you are applying for. That puts more of the decision into your hands rather than your former employers. Try to focus on a different area of the job you'd like to emphasis more rather than problems with a dissatisfied supervisor.
-- David Gordon, Advertising/Promotions Internship Office, Columbia University in Chicago, Illinois.
Second Answer:
You need to know what your supervisor will tell prospective employers about the reason for termination. Your former employer may have policies that muzzle its employees from providing references in order to prevent lawsuits from former employees who get less than stellar recommendations. Even with such policies, a prospective employer might network her or his way to your supervisor in addition to the references you have provided. You might even want to have someone call him or her posing as a prospective employer to ask why the contract was not renewed. If your supervisor gives a more positive reason for non-renewal such as reduced demand for services such as yours, you tell the same story.
If your supervisor is going to tell prospective employers what he or she told you, you might want to ask for more specific feedback and how you could improve both your ability to lead or present or sell with confidence, and your level of technical skill. The supervisor may have received negative feedback from a client or the managers of other departments with which you interacted and that feedback which would be more important to the renewal of your contract than the opinions of your co-workers.
I would therefore seek references and recommendations from customers, vendors, and others outside your department to offset your supervisor's criticism. This will also help you objectively assess your levels of confidence and technical skill.
If everyone raves about your performance except your supervisor, you explain that your contract was not renewed due to differences of professional opinion about the process or outcome of your work, or to a bad fit with this role in this organization, and be prepared to explain. Reasonable people differ and you are better served being straightforward about such disagreements.
-- Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City.
Third Answer:
Contract work opens job seekers up to new experiences and situations in the workplace. Your unceremonious dismissal is but one of the more cold-hearted realities of contract work. But the upside to being a contract worker is that you assume total command of your career path. You are not dependent upon a supervisor to recommend you for the next advance and you do not need the mentorship of a manager to move you along a path that will provide opportunities to grow and exploit your skills.
When discussing with potential employers your contract status it is best to emphasize that your employment as a contractor is a work style of choice. It allows you the freedom to expand your network and find new challenges that will help you advance in your career at an acceptable pace. Document your performance and focus on accomplishments from old jobs that prove useful in new jobs. Emphasize your fulfillment of the contract and not a former employer's lack of the same.
Treat your relationship with your former employer as a simple business transaction. As long as you can show that you carried your end of the bargain, this should not be an issue for a new employer in need of your skills.
-- Kelly Stone, myjobsearch.com.
