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Fired Resume Template

Your professional life isn’t always going to be plain sailing. One of the most challenging obstacles to overcome is getting fired, being let go due to company restructuring, or losing your job as part of cost-saving due to a downturn in business.

Here we explore how to create a resume under these circumstances and avoid the stigma or black mark attached to being fired or let go.

-> DOWNLOAD A FREE FIRED RESUME TEMPLATE

Use the right words in your resume introduction

Your resume begins with your name and contact details, including your email address and telephone number. After this, you should write an introduction highlighting your interest in the job, your relevant skills, and the experience that makes you an ideal candidate. You may have approached the topic of losing your position in your cover letter, and you can mention it here. You could say that your job ended, you were let go, or terminated, but be concise, don’t badmouth your old boss, and focus everything else in your introduction on promoting your positives.

Place your skills before your career history

Now you want to get right to work on building a positive case for consideration. Create a resume section called skills rather than beginning with your work experience, which draws attention to your termination.

The first step is to review the job advert and job description to gain insights into what the recruiter is seeking. If the job requires hard skills such as specific software proficiency or soft skills, such as interpersonal skills or problem-solving, prioritize these. Look to demonstrate how you have successfully used them in the past and the result, which could be employer recognition, a high accuracy rate, company cost-savings, or overachieving a sales target.

Add your previous jobs

The career history on your resume should appear with the latest position first. You should include the start and finish dates for each job, going back up to ten years, highlighting achievements in the most relevant roles.

Showing that you are active after you are fired can be very beneficial. For instance, if you took a part-time job, offered your services freelance, or volunteered to work for a charity or local business, the role you were fired from will no longer be at the top of your previous jobs.

Qualifications

Add your professional qualifications and the details of any courses you might have started after losing your job. Follow these with your degree, if you have one, and highlight modules and projects that relate to the position you are seeking. If the qualifications do not directly align with the new job, consider what transferable skills and personal traits you were able to develop.

Interests and hobbies

The interests and hobbies resume section is optional. Still, it may provide an opportunity to highlight transferable skills once again or show that you have remained active since you were fired. If an interest offers no potential to help you get your next job, you can leave it out.

–> DOWNLOAD A FREE FIRED RESUME TEMPLATE

Resume templates

If you have been fired and are searching for a new job, get your resume up-to-date by exploring our career resume examples: