Develop a strategy to deal with lawsuit, demotion but don't forget recent record

Q. Several years ago, my supervisor accused me of terrible, illegal conduct and demoted me. I sued and won. The lawsuit was quite public - if you Google my name, it is one of the first things that comes up, so any prospective employer is likely to find it. I have had a very positive employment record since then with exemplary performance reviews, with the same employer, but the demotion stands out on my resume. Now I am interviewing, and I don't know how to handle the demotion and lawsuit in an interview. I don't want to look like a disgruntled employee or a "litigation risk." How do I handle the issue of the demotion or lawsuit?

A. You have two separate issues here concerning your job search: the demotion and the lawsuit. As far as the lawsuit is concerned: There is no need for you to disclose that information in an interview. Don't refer to your lawsuit as an "explanation" for your demotion. Some employers are reluctant to hire someone who has sued a previous employer. It would be illegal for an employer to discriminate against hiring a candidate solely because he or she had sued a prior employer. That kind of discrimination is almost impossible to prove, says Robert B. Gordon, a management-side attorney and partner in the labor and employment department of Ropes & Gray LLP.

There are skillful ways to develop a resume so that you camouflage your demotion without actually lying about it. You can diminish its importance by de-emphasizing your chronology of job titles. One way to do this is to begin your resume with a "qualifications" or "accomplishments" section. You can then present your experience in a more favorable way than if you begin with a simple chronological work history.

Another strategy is to use descriptive job titles that explain your job function and responsibilities - e.g., "elder services outreach coordinator" - rather than your actual job titles.

The best thing you can do is to emphasize your excellent performance in recent years; your willingness to work hard; and your interest in, and qualifications and enthusiasm for the job to which you are applying. If the interviewer asks you anything about the lawsuit or demotion that they may have heard through hearsay, be straightforward and honest but brief in your answer.

You could lessen the chance that a prospective employer will find information about your lawsuit on the Internet by not using your name on the resume precisely as it appears in the lawsuit. The information about a lawsuit is visible on the Internet only by typing in the plaintiff's name in a very specific way - e.g., full name, with or without a middle initial; or first name, maiden name, and married name.

Remember it has been a number of years since both your demotion and your lawsuit. You can point with pride to your stellar record of accomplishments in recent years, Employers are most interested in the recent past, and in the future - what a new hire can do for them on the job tomorrow.

A. Gaps on a resume used to be the black hole of rejection for job applicants. An employer would see gaps, especially in lieu of current employment, and dismiss a candidate outright. That's not quite as true today for some employers as it used to be. Many more employees have gaps on their resumes for various reasons - prolonged periods of unemployment due to dips in demand in their field; maternity or paternity leave; sabbaticals by choice; and, increasingly, elder care.

As this is the second time that you are re-entering the job market after a period of caretaking, I am wondering what you said to employers the first time. Obviously, whatever story you chose to tell was effective, because you were able to secure another job. You might want to employ a similar strategy this time around.

I would advise you to be completely honest, and indicate that your layoff coincided with a close family member's need for a caregiver.

Interviewers will take their cue from you and the way you talk about the gaps in your employment history. If you treat your caregiving experiences with respect, honesty, and sincerity, rather than getting defensive about having taken the time off, then the employer will treat them the same way.

The resume format that might work well for you is the combination or hybrid format, which mixes a functional and a chronological resume. Start with a well-crafted career objective, if you have one. Follow that with a "summary of skills" or "qualifications" section. Include in that section both the skills you have honed over the years working in business communications and the new skills - finance, communications, multitasking - that you have acquired as a caregiver.

You may then want to include a section entitled "professional accomplishments" or "selected accomplishments." This allows you to focus on accomplishments, rather than job duties, results rather than responsibilities.

Then, have the chronological section of your resume, perhaps grouped by category, starting with "business communications," then "other experience," so that your current year of caretaking is not the first entry under "work experience." Follow your chronology of experience section with your "education." For examples of a combination resume format, see websites such as vault.com and jobweb.com or in any of Yana Parker's books in the series.

The best thing to do is to look at a number of sample combination resumes, put the books away, think about your own experience and the kinds of jobs to which you are applying, and then prepare a draft of your resume.

If you can, get some help from a career counselor or coach in putting a resume together. It's difficult to be objective about yourself and your own resume.

Also, you might want to schedule some informational interviews with former colleagues before you start interviewing. You don't want to risk sounding "rusty" in the interview. You may want to work on a new piece to add to your portfolio, even if it's for a nonpaying or hypothetical or generic client.

A. I sympathize with the bind that you were in: Should you go to work and miss the Super Bowl and the party or miss work and go to the party? By choosing to call in sick and go to your party, you probably realized that you were choosing the Super Bowl and your friends over your job, and that you stood a good chance of losing your job. And that's exactly what happened.

As Massachusetts is an employee-at-will state, your employer can fire you "at will," which he did. I suspect your boss was fairly confident that you had lied about being sick on Super Bowl Sunday.

Your only other strategies could have been to try to find a co-worker who would not have minded working on Super Bowl Sunday or to be honest with your boss about your situation. If you had been able to find a substitute, obviously your problem would have been solved.

If you couldn't find a substitute - which is more likely - then your strategy could have been to talk with your boss. Explain that you wanted to keep your job but that you were invited to a Super Bowl party that conflicted with your shift. Perhaps he would have been willing to negotiate with you: To have you come in for a shorter shift or to split your shift with another co-worker. Perhaps he would have said: "It's your choice, work or lose your job." Think of the situation for a moment from your employer's perspective: He probably wanted to be home watching the Super Bowl himself, but businesses such as food services are especially busy on days like Super Bowl Sunday.

I'm not guaranteeing that you would still have your job, even if you had been honest with your boss, but maybe you would. Now you have no way of knowing what the outcome of that conversation might have been. Your boss might have shown some compassion and responded more favorably to your honesty than he did to your lying.

Roni F. Noland is a career counselor/coach in private practice. She can be reached at rfnoland@comcast.net.

E-mail questions to jobdoc@globe.com or mail to Job Doc, Boston Globe, Box 55819, Boston, 02205-5819.