Absolutely excellent!

I'm hearing more than a few people here advising you to "tell the truth, it's part of the program". Well, don't! I agree with the commenter who said the program also teaches boundaries. Respect those boundaries.

Also, under no circumstance should you say anything negative about a previous employer. The interviewer will generalize that and assume you will do the same to them and hear disloyalty.

Likely the prospective employer won't even know you were fired. It's true that employers avoid liability and generally give only the basics: Dates of employment, job title, etc.

If that employment gap is addressed, go with the "personal" explanation and leave it at that.

Good luck!

A recovered alcoholic is protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act. A former employer cannot discuss a persons disability. A person can be fired if they are drunk but not because they seek treatment.

A former employer might need to be given info about the ADA and a law firm that specializes in this should be consulted.

Remember---getting work and doing the work are two entirely different animals. Only marginally related.

The question in the job interview is: "Does your past incident have any erlationship to the job you will do?"

And only you know the answer to that. No one else. Least of all the HR weenie.Past performance is NOT an indicator of future performance. It just isn't.

What's relelvent to the WORK is your talents. That's where you want to focus.

So if you feel that discussing the incident is relevent to the job you'll do have at it---tell them all you want.

But if you want to discuss the talents you bring to the table---which I'm betting you do---talk about that.

Why did you and your last employer part ways? "It wasn't a place where you could do what you do best everyday." That's the truth right? So by all means speak the truth.

But if you focus on the truth that is relevent to the WORK you'll be doing you'll have a better shot at connecting to that work.And you'll be telling the truth.

There is no script to a job interview. And NO ONE has a monopoly on truth. But there is a purpose to the interview. Stay true to that purpose. Imagine a baseball player going up to bat and striking out. Instead of walking back to the dugout he wanders out to the pitchers mound to discuss his relationship with his mother. Would that be true to the purpose of what they were doing?

Same thing for you. Stay true to the purpose of why you are there. Not the interview. The JOB.

Make the connection between your talents and their work.

Discuss ultimate truth later. When you celebrate the fact that you got the job.

In my position I have had the opportunity to do a lot of hiring for an academic library. My advice would be to work part time in a library - preferably in the sector in which you are interested in (academic? public? special?) - be the best part-time librarian you can, develop relationships with your co-workers and superiors, attend conferences, network.... eventually a full-time job will open up and someone will recommend you, endorse you - the history will have faded in importance and at some point not even matter any more. best of luck!

Unless you really pissed someone off, most employers will give you some sort of a recommendation. Rarely, except for extreme malfeasance (stealing, sexual harassment etc...), will former employers not give you some sort of a recommendation. Try to secure that and then fashion your response in the interview around that. I would be surprised if you could not get some sort of a recommendation. If you can't get a recommendation, then I think you were the subject of a hit job and on the outs anyway.

What you want is an answser that gets you a job. Sorry, we're fresh out of those. But here's another one:

I enjoyed my previous position and the people I worked with and wish things had ended well. I was fired because I used poor judgement one day in arriving for work the day after I was out all night partying/celebrating/whatever. I was still somewhat inebriated and I was fired. As I said, I wish I had used better judgment, stayed home, and understand why they fired me. Since then I have successfully completed an alcohol abuse program and have not had any problems.

It is a crappy job market. I missed the local statute that said you couldn't park a motorless vehicle in front of your home, and was storing my parents' pop-up trailer until they found another place. A lazy cop had it towed and charged me with abandoned property instead, like, putting a ticket on it.

So now I have a record over a stupid petty thing that wasn't true in the first place and is of no harm to anyone.

Which wouldn't matter in a job market where people actually want new hires. When unemployment is low, companies you're just meeting really want to get to know you. When it's high, they just want to get the 500 applicants down to a reasonable number... so truthfully checking the "yes, I have been convicted of a crime that was not a motor vehicle violation" means one goes to the bottom half of the stack.

I got part of a job by keeping in touch with companies I've worked with that liked me. I'm also increasing my job skills by taking classes. I think it helps in the interview when you can tell people how you spent the time off to become a more valuable employee.

Privacy is not the same as dishonesty. When LW applies for a job, the interviewer isn't going to reveal the dark details of her personal life to LW. I've been around plenty of 12-steppers, and frankly, they tend to overshare.

LW,

You're getting a lot of advice from folks to lie about why you were fired.

If you're trying to recover via a 12 step program, I'd recommend against that. Your recovery depends on your capacity to be honest. A 12 step program is based on honesty. You need to learn to be honest with others and honest with yourself. If that means you have to work harder to get a job or even change fields, so be it. Your focus has to be on developing your recovery. Lying can harm your recovery. A job is not worth your recovery.

I'm sure I'll get shouted down. I've done this, though. I went to law school with 3 years of recovery. I told my entire law school class that I'm a recovering alcoholic. I've made the disclosures as necessary to various state bar admission committees and employers. I don't go out of the way to tell people about my past problem, but I don't hide it either. It's uncomfortable to tell people, but they mostly don't care and will care less and less as you get more time behind you.

If you can't get back into the field right away, you might want to think about getting any job and taking some graduate classes. Another job will improve your work history and graduate classes will keep your hand in.