It’s the question that you bump into every time you have an interview and each time it’s asked you stumble around for the answer.
Don't fret. Here are some tips on how to prepare so that the next time you run into it you won’t feel like the interview is going sideways with no hope of recovery.
1. Be prepared for the question and work out the answer well in advance of an interview.
2. Make a list of all of the reasons you were unemployed for that time and be prepared to also identify the things you accomplished while you were out of the job market.
3. Even if you were let go from your last job, chances are you can still come up with a few positive things that happened at with your last employer. What projects did you work on that highlight the skills that will be helpful to your prospective employer?
4. Talk about what you learned from the experience you had with the employer who let you go. It’s admirable when a person can take a look back at a bad experience and describe how it gave them a better understanding of something or provided insight into something they needed to learn.
5. It’s never a good idea to put 100% of the blame on the previous employer. The person interviewing you wants to know that you are capable of getting through a difficult time and ended up with some significant expertise.