Some interviewers will never ask you why you were fired, some will be more subtle and ask in a delicate way and others will straight out. You will need to prepare your answers for this.
Why were you fired or laid off?
You need to ask yourself the same question. Getting fired is a very emotional and hurtful process, regardless of the reasons. You may or may not have seen it coming at that time. You were probably very annoyed and now that sometime has passed, assess what actually happened before you go to the job interview.
Fired on account of a company takeover
In the aftermath of any merger to takeover, people will be out in the street. One of the reasons for a takeover will be to produce a more competitive product or service and this will involve cutting costs for efficiency. If your job was a victim of such a process there is no need to try to finesse or cover it up at the job interview. It was just a business decision and not an indictment of your performance.
Fired due to internal restructure or downsizing
Companies continue to evolve as their products and industries do. Every so often, there will be a restructuring to gain efficiency or a downsizing due to profit loss and more competition. Your role and maybe whole department may have been cut. There should be something that you learned from this, something positive. You need to keep an interview positive, do not come across as embittered.
Fired with Cause
If you have some disciplinary action against you, then there is every chance that this will come up during a background check. The severity of the action does matter. If it is fraud or violence, then you will need to be open about this with recruiter during the application stage. Interviewers will need to be convinced that you have seen the error of your ways and that this is all very much in the past.
