Need to vent re: getting terminated a couple of weeks ago

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

So, I was let go a couple of weeks ago from my job, and I'd only been there four months. I hadn't been told anything was wrong, that I needed to improve, etc. It was total bullshit.

Today, I see the ad for my old job. Get this:

In the ad they wrote, "Must be able to work effectively within a team environment." I take this to mean they felt I didn't.

A little background:

I did my best -- in fact I think I went out of my way -- to get along with people there, including my co-worker. I knew my boss before I even got there (in fact, she's the one who told me about the job to begin with and recruited me for the job), but oddly, she never really warmed up to me once I got there. It's weird. My first day, I asked if we might go to lunch so that we could talk more about my role at the firm (the plan was for me to take over her job in seven years when she retired) and how it would evolve. She basically shot me down. Also, within 10 minutes of me being there, she told me that the woman who I'd be working with was already complaining about having to take any direction from me (my title was "senior ________" and hers was the same title, minus "senior". I'm thinking this probably pissed my co-worker off, but not really my problem. Apparently, she was offerred my job, but didn't want it.).

Here's my concern:

I have an inteview on Tuesday, thankfully. Am I being paranoid, or do I have to worry that a potential employer will see that ad and think I was a "trouble-maker"?

Oh, and here's another interesting "tid-bit": In the ad, they readvertised my job without the senior title. Makes me think the lady I was working with changed her mind, they promoted her, and they decided to get someone in with less experience so they could pay less. I also think perhaps my boss didn't like me after all and was looking for an excuse to get rid of me.

[Nikia]

1. Lots of job ads include the line

I don't think that you should take it personally. I definitely think that potential employers won't consider it to be commentary about you.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. Hope not.

I'm pretty raw (as you can tell) about the whole thing. Was not really given a good reason for why I was let go (seemed bogus to me); I'm in an at-will state, so they don't really need a reason to fire someone.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. I agree with Nikia, that line is common in ads.

All it means is that the employee will not be working independently.

[PlanetBev]

3. This kind of shit is so hard, Scrub

You get more than one person together and you've got office politics and bullshit. There's always some asshole who's threatened by your very existance. Sometimes the chemistry just doesn't work for the other person, but they make you think that you're the problem.

Sometimes they're too chicken to tell you they don't like you. Once I was told that they were eliminating my position, but when I called the following Monday (just for the hell of it) they had already hired someone for my position. Bunch of weenies.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

9. PlanetBev, that stinks.

My boss was a total coward. I even knew her pretty well before she hired me. What does that tell you?

[Maddy McCall]

5. Your final "tidbit" is the most important facet of your story.

You weren't fired because of anything you did. You were fired because your underling decided that she wanted to be "senior____________," and because of her longer-term employment with this company, it looks like the boss gave her what she wanted.

You were just a casualty of her upward mobility...or at least it seems that way to me. That has nothing to do with you, other than that you stood in the way of her ambition, and she didn't want to take orders from someone who didn't have as long-term employment with the company as she did. So you were bumped to make room for her.

About the ad--I wouldn't think about it another second. No one will notice that the "team player" sentence was added. You noticed it because you know how the ad read on the first go-round.

Don't beat yourself up. You weren't fired because you did anything wrong.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

6. Yeah, it just sucks that now I have to put that I was terminated

from a job when my resume was clean as a whistle before; it's like fuck you corporate America.

The witch should have decided she wanted the job to begin with to save me the heartbreak, eh?

Thanks for your support, though, guys.

Thankfully I have an interview on Tuesday. I'm trying to figure out how to answer the question about why I'm not there anymore after four months. I can't say for sure the chick got my old job. What they told me was "My experience wasn't up to the level of the job," which was bullshit; they were displaying my work in the office, and the president of the company complimented me on it (I got him to write me a reference letter that came in the mail, as a matter of fact. Cha-ching!).

I was thinking of saying something like, "It was mutually agreed (even though it wasn't) that it wasn't a good fit in terms of style, not competency." Does that sound good?

[Maddy McCall]

7. That sounds great.

I wouldn't go into all of the office politics. That's what I'd say, and then I'd remind the interviewer of the letter from the president, in which your work was praised.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

8. It was 4 months out of 14 years of a distinguished working career.

[sleepyhead]

12. Just say "not a good fit"

That covers it, and doesn't sound like you are being bitter or making excuses. One termination in an otherwise stellar job history is nothing to be ashamed of. Your interviewer probably won't pursue it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. There's nothing in that ad that points at you ...

Forget the ad. And, if you feel like griping about how you were treated, how unfair your termination was, save it for DU. We can sympathize. Your new-job interviewer can't.

The interviewer should be interested in your qualifications etc. Not the politics of your old job. If the interviewer wants to know why you were "let go", just offer to get your old boss's phone number (and don't worry, your old boss will not give reasons to a cold-caller).

Best of luck with the interview.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

11. I won't say anything bad about the employer (not good policy

to do that). I was told by the ex-employer that I'm to give the HR woman as the reference, as all calls for references are to go to her (company policy). They aren't allowed to give any more info. than the standard she worked from this time to that, her salary was x number of dollars, etc.