Dear Evil HR Lady,
I am a fairly recent graduate school graduate seeking a higher position in the library field. At the beginning of my school career I was very eager to gain any experience and took a very low paying position at a public library shelving books that lasted only 3-4 weeks. There seemed to be a mass hiring, as I started the position with about a dozen other people. At first things went quite well, but shortly afterwards several people were singled out (including myself) for incorrectly shelved books. The dynamics changed for those of us who were performing poorly and the environment became uncomfortable. At this point in my life I had several years (of) experience working higher paying jobs, was in a career change, and determined to make this work. Unfortunately, things only got worse. I was fairly certain that I was going to get fired because the person that entered the office before me did. When I went in they started to reprimand me and I responded that I did not feel the position was a good fit for me I would not be returning, but the manager continued talking and stated that my employment would end today and she was certain that I didn’t care, etc. I was so taken aback by this experience, I have and still do consider myself an exemplary employee and had never performed at such a level that I had to be reprimanded.
Was I fired?
Since then I have secured a professional position, but when I applied for the position that I now hold I was terrified that this skeleton in my closet would surface. I admittedly left this position off my resume and application. I felt somewhat secure doing this because I only had to go through a criminal background check and didn’t have to fill out an application until I was offered the position. I recently interviewed for another position at a university and am worried that if I am offered this job that this could possibly surface in a background check. I am uncertain how to handle this situation. I don’t want a position that I held for 3-4 weeks, 3 years ago to hurt my chances of furthering my career, but I don’t want to lie and have it ruin my chances of employment. Should I say was fired? Should I go into detail and explain that I am not certain if I was fired? Should I continue to pretend like this nightmare never happened and leave it off my application? Please help me with this recurring dilemma.
To read the answer click here: I was fired. Do I have to mention it on my resume?