Should I Tell a Recruiter I Was Laid Off?

The old line about always being honest isn’t always good advice when it comes to job hunting.  Interviewing for a job isn’t about being a honest person, unfortunately. It’s about landing yourself a good spot.

There are certain things you should be careful about disclosing and being laid off is one of them.

Now, there is a difference between being honest and being deceitful. As we will discuss below, if you are asked point blank why you are no longer at your last role, then you should definitely be up front about it. But this is not due to any sort of ethical principal, ethics in the job market are non-existent, unfortunately.

Instead, what you need to do is make sur that you don’t put yourself into a tight spot when it’s found out you lied.  Because being less then forthcoming during an interview with a recruiter isn’t anywhere near as bad as straight up lying to them.

What we’re going to look at below is a few questions surrounding how to deal with recruiters and their questions if you’ve been laid off.

Does Getting Laid Off Look Bad?

Yes, and anyone who says otherwise is not telling you the truth. Sorry, that is the honest truth. The only circumstance under which it is feasible to not come off as a less than desirable candidate is if the company closed, or some surreal circumstance such as Covid-19 made all operations cease. But then you’d say you were furloughed, which is different.

But yes, being laid off looks bad. Why exactly were you laid off? Employees who are valuable to a company are never laid off. And so that means that you were laid off.

Here are the main reasons a person keeps their job and isn’t laid off:

• They are productive and make money for the firm.
• They network and have people in the firm protect them from lay offs.

That’s it. And if you weren’t a productive person (when compared to other people) or were able to network well enough to get higher ups to protect your job, then you’re going to have to deal with the question: “Why did your last job end).

But don’t worry. Most people are not productive. As a recruiter who has placed thousands of people across every industry, I have no illusions about the typical persons competency and ability. Most people will deal with this issue, so it’s nothing to be ashamed about.

However, it is something you need to be prepared to discuss. And that is what we’re doing here. We’re going to discuss how to handle that question without becoming nervous or looking weak. Those are actually two worse things to a recruiter.

I’ve placed some excellent people who have been laid off. All it took was a bit of finesse and the right attitude.

Recruiters’ vs Employers: Two Approaches to Laid Off Questions

First, it’s important to understand the difference when interviewing with a recruiter and a potential employer. Frankly, you can be more honest with a recruiter. That’s because they are working with you to get you a role.

When you are interviewing with a potential employer, it’s more of a classic negotiation situation where you are not on the same side or same team. It’s not an adversarial relationship, but it’s also not a team game.

So you might volunteer to a recruiter that you were laid off and then tell them you’re unsure about how to handle that topic during a job interview. If they are a good recruiter, they will tell you what I’m telling you. Which is: don’t bring it up, but don’t lie about it either.

If you’re speaking with a recruiter, be open about the situation. Perhaps you were laid off because the company was downsizing. They will guide you through how to handle that. You could frame it in a way that does not make you look weak, such as your role was going to be moved to a division where you had no interests, and so you decided not to continue on with the company.

The key point is that you need to strategize with your recruiter to determine how to make the optics look better.

What Do You Say in a Job Interview if you were Laid Off?

First off, don’t say anything unless asked. It’s like the old saying, less is more. So, because being laid off is a negative, don’t bring it up unless you need to.

Second, if you’re asked directly why your last job ended, be honest.

If you are interviewing with a potential employer, and you say you quit your job because of some terrible incident (which you make up) odds are they will flag you anyway. Employers don’t want people who rock the boat. They want steady people who can work under pressure.

You have to forget the idea that employers are caring people who want to be considerate of your personal situation…it’s simply not true. That’s lip service from company PR divisions and most of the time individual employees are not valued. Your value comes from the value you bring to the company, and until you’re working there you are just another face in the crowd.

If you’re looking for a basic script I would give people who were laid off and tell them to use, you’re not going to find it. Why? Because using scripts is a sure fire way to make yourself look bad.

No, instead what I told people was to be honest if they were asked. But don’t be ashamed or embarrassed and don’t speak negatively of the firm. They could slightly “neg” the firm, in the parlance of reddit culture…but don’t overdo it.