In a job interview, what’s the best way to answer the question about why you lost your job?

“Being fired, downsized or laid off, they’re all euphemisms for the same thing – losing your job,” said Paul D. Storfer, president of HR Technologies, Inc., a strategic management and human resource software firm based in Purchase, N.Y.

“In a job interview, you always need to be honest, because the truth will out. . . . If you were downsized, put a positive spin on what happened. If it’s true, say the company ran into trouble, and, as a result, there were no longer the kinds of opportunities you were looking for.”

In that way, the executive points out, “you’re addressing the fact you’re no longer associated with the company without saying exactly what happened.” And without telling a lie.

Storfer, who advises corporations on management and human resource issues, has a staff of 12 and does the hiring.

“It’s important how you answer the question because it indicates your competence in dealing with adverse situations,” he said. Employers want to hear what you’ve learned from the experience.

“In 1981 I lost my job as part of a downsizing at a major communications firm in New York,” he said. “I spent a month licking my wounds and then I did a thorough self-examination to find out what I really wanted to do.”

That’s when he started his first company.

“From it, I learned it’s important to be on the cutting edge but not ahead of the blade,” he said. “I’m on my second business now and it’s going strong.”

Even though he didn’t go on job interviews, the executive still had to answer the question, what happened to you in your last job?

“What really happened is I got caught in a political situation and I was out,” Storfer said. “But the way I describe it was that we had a divergence in the way we looked at things, how we would proceed – and it didn’t make sense for me to stay. And that was the truth.”

While the process of mourning the loss of a job is understandable, Storfer said, don’t bring up your disappointment at the job interview. “Let it go,” he said. “If you were laid off, the job probably wasn’t a good fit for your capabilities. Look at it as an opportunity to find a situation in which you can succeed.”

Bonnie Boersma, placement coordinator at Robert Morris College in Chicago, suggests being philosophical about being downsized or laid off.

“Sometimes those things happen,” she said. “You want to be careful not to say anything negative about yourself or your employer. Say your company was being restructured, your position was eliminated and it was time to move on. But never say you were fired.”

Carol Kleiman is the author of “Winning the Job Game: The New Rules for Finding and Keeping the Job You Want.”

(Wiley, $16.95). Send e-mail to ckleimantribune.com.)

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AP-NY-04-01-03 0613EST