How to get a job after being fired for misconduct

All the companies have policies in place and specific criteria before checking who they should hire. So what happens if you got fired from a job for misconduct and now you want to find a new job?

What is a misconduct normally is?

Well, it depends.

Let's assume that there is/was no legal action against you (that had a several impact in the business or the revenue of a company), so there is no permanent record of any significant misconduct. As soon as you have had one more job, the question will seldom arise.

What do to after a being firer for a misconduct?

A good practice is in general, to make sure that you understand what you did wrong, spending some time to think about it, and practice explaining what happened in very general terms (in some cases you might don't want to go in full detailed but explaining a high level overview of the issue that happened and was the reason of being firer for a misconduct.

Then what is even more important is to explain why it will never happen again and how you changed your way of thinking. Try to be in the shoes of the person who is interviewing you. Would you risk your career by hiring someone who being firer for a misconduct without really believe that this person is aware of their mistake and they really understood the issue? Probably not.

So make sure that you present yourself in a way that shows that you have a clear view of what happened and that now you a way different view about the topic so that it will never happen again.

Then after you master that (explaining and sharing the reasoning behind the fact about being firer for a misconduct), you will then practice how to avoid the question coming up.

Well, An important detail here:

The word “fired” will never come out of your mouth. You were “let go” or “laid off” or “released” or at worst “terminated”. If at least one other person was fired at around the same time, then you say “WE were let go”. This is completely different. Every word is important here so make sure that you are very selective when picking words to describe your situation.

Then just start applying to jobs. The minute you get another one, put your heart into it.

Learn, grow, get better at stuff. Life is long, and memory is short, so don't get afraid to make the next step.

We all do mistakes and the most important part is to learn from them and share your learnings with other people.

Is the hiring manager going to know that?

Probably yes. A lot of companies (depending on the position and the business type) tend to ask for referral or a letter from a previous employer. Some times they even ask you for a phone number so that they can call back and ask for details about you.

So at some point the company will learn about this. So being transparent from the beginning is even better. Don't try to hide it

If you try to hide it, the company or the hiring manager will not feel that they can trust you so they will quickly move on to the next candidate

So try to use a combination of honest humility and strategic thinking here to ensure that you can get the job

So first, just be honest with both yourself and any potential employers about why you lost your job and what really happened with your previous company.

Don’t waste time making excuses, but confront whatever “misconduct” means in your case. Make a decision to be a better employee in the future and share your view with the new company.

Companies always appreciate when you can reflect and learn from your mistakes so be ready to explain clearly and humbly what you did and how you would avoid being in a similar position in the future.

If the misconduct was more personal in nature, be ready to share what you have learned and how you will avoid the misconduct in the future.

The truth is that there is not a stamp on you about being fired for misconduct.  

What is the best way to get a job after being fired for misconduct?

The best way is to try to get a reference from a friend or colleague. This will make things better since the company will trust you instead of questioning. Having an internal reference from a friend or colleague will give you an advantage over other people

Conclusion

Being fired for misconduct is definitely a challenging situation. Try to reflect and think about it in order to be able to explain the situation to any new potential hiring manager that will perform an interview with you. Getting fired it doesn't means that you can't find a new job if you can present yourself in the correct way. Try to be honest, share the reason behind why you got fired for misconduct and be open about discussing and explaining the situation