The Joys of Job Searching: 5 Reasons You Got Fired from Your Last Job

So it's time for you to hit the old dusty trail again and log back onto monster.com to search for another job. Everything was going well? Only in your mind. Let's see...You were probably doing one or more of the following:

Lied on Your Resume

This one is the biggest and simplest reason employers fire (or never even hire) potential candidates. Some companies don't even bother to check specifics of an application until after you are hired. Even IF you are doing a great job - guess what - you're outta here. Remember that space on the application for "Reference Numbers" the company could call to check out your past job experience and talk to your old boss? Many companies will intentionally look up the phone numbers themselves online just to make sure the numbers you wrote down weren't your roommates' or buddies' phone numbers. Pretty nifty trick if you ask me.

Stretching your academic background, even in the slightest, can cost you a very good job that you otherwise would have been hired for. And the worst thing about it? You knew what you were doing from the start. It can be tempting to add that extra point onto your GPA or include that extra degree you never got, but when the real facts come out, you are caught blatantly cheating a company that probably has much more experience than you think. They hire hundreds of people a year; what makes you think you can beat the system?

Trust is something that must be established between the employer and employee from the very beginning (it is also one of the basic principles of being a good person). If you were hiring someone, you wouldn't want to be leery of everything they said and did, now would you?

You Abused your Down Time

Another big reason your probably got fired was that you utilized company time to do other things such as talk to your friends, search for new jobs, buy things on the internet, take frequent coffee breaks, etc.

Whatever you do, make sure (even if you aren't doing anything) that you at least look busy. If you are paid hourly, a company expects you to use that hourly rate to do something productive for the company. And if you get paid on commission, well, you really aren't doing yourself any favors.

Some people like to search for new jobs without leaving their old one, but they have no way to do it during normal hours (or without access to the internet) without doing their main searches online or at the office.

If you send messages or emails through company emails (or even with your Yahoo Account), it's very easy to track where and when you sent your messages and emails. There is no way to hide an IP address - no matter what you may hear.

Don't Work with People Well

You think your job is all about you? Working in a corporate environment forces you to be part of a team. A lot of the projects you will be working on will involve having to become productive and spit out results, no matter how much you hate Ryan, the guy who spit in your coffee. To do your job effectively, you will need to cooperate with everyone around you. Failing to do so will result in alienation by your co-workers and eventually your being disposed of for someone who CAN work well with others.

Displayed Bad Manners/Etiquette/Respect

This isn't your house, and you can't do whatever you want. Things such as being disrespectful to your superior, disregarding personal hygiene and dress code, and consistently showing up late for work are plenty enough reason for your boss to fire you, no matter how well you balance the company's accounts. An image is extremely important to a company's upkeep as well as keeping all of the employees in line. You not only make yourself look bad, you are a bad influence on other employees. Supervisors will not tolerate any of this type of behavior, so if you think your mother wouldn't approve of the actions you are about to make, then think twice and don't do them.

Other displays of blatant disregard for rules include drinking on the job, use swear language, say something that offends the company, or using any illegal substances. You were probably raised in a well mannered family - don't let loose.

Didn't Do your Job. Well.

This one's simple. You made a mistake, you make lots of mistakes, and you do the minimum expected out of you. As an employee, you must understand that you don't have much job security unless you prove yourself indispensable to a company. Someone who has skills sets that are encompassed by others can easily be replaced for another person with that same knowledge and more. Even if you aren't the jack of all trades, if you show that you are sincerely willing to work hard at your current position, there is no reason for a boss to fire you.

Going out of your way to produce results for a company is one way to get noticed. Not going out of your way to not produce results for a company is also a way to get noticed, but probably not in the right context.

Show your interest in what you do (after all it's your job), be accurate, help others out, and you will slowly solidify a good feeling in your supervisors' minds that you are here to stay. Even if you want to leave, they will hate to let you go (and may even give you a raise to make you stay).