Ella Kallish is a nationally syndicated columnist with 17 years experience marketing candidates directly to decision-makers inside business organizations throughout the United States. Her "Ask Ella" column now offers you personal, strategic and tactical advice on all your workplace questions. E-mail: Send Your Question To Ella

Dear Ella,

I was a management employee at a sporting goods retailer in one of our retail outlets. I had been in the position for nearly three years. I had recently received a nice raise and was trying to become an overall store manager.

We got a new automatic ordering system for our store and, consequently, we received an excessive amount of product. I had to take this product in and then ship it back out the following week.

Some of the products in this shipment were firearms that were counted after they were stacked in the storage vault. One of the serial numbers was not on the manifest. I quarantined it away from the rest of the firearms to follow-up later. Unfortunately, we were busier than normal and I left the store without addressing the gun issue. Three days later, another manager and his employee discovered the extra gun, tracked it down by serial number and found that it wasn't properly transferred.

The morning after the gun discovery, I came into work and the director came in and questioned me about the firearm, and then terminated me on the spot. He would not give me an exact reason, except to say that there is a zero-tolerance policy for gun-count issues. How can I explain this termination to prospective employers?

Dear But It Wasn't Loaded,

What you say depends on whether you're applying to another sporting goods store or for a sales management position in general retail sales.

If you are applying to a sporting goods store, you'll have a problem with the termination if it also sells guns and ammunition. After all, you dropped the ball on a matter that could have had huge liability costs to your employer if that gun had been illegally seized or used in the process of a crime. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), could also decide to levy fines against your company for not following ATF guidelines for inventorying firearm products. Fines levied by the ATF could ultimately result in the revocation of a license to sell arms altogether and the loss of revenues generated from those sales.

When selling deadly weapons to the public, there is no excuse for not doing the job right the first time. If you felt that you were too understaffed to do the critical job you were hired to do, then it would have been better to have resigned then to do what you did -- a half-measured job that put the public and your company in jeopardy. Based on the reason behind your termination, the odds of your getting hired into a similar position at a competitor are slim to none.

However, you still could be successful when applying for retail management positions outside the scope of heavily licensed retail products such as guns. When an interviewer asks why you left your last employer, say that you were understaffed in an important area of inventory controls around the sale of firearms and ammunition and that this made you very uncomfortable. While you shared your concerns with management, you were unable to resolve the workload requirements with the resources that were afforded to you.

Further, state that while inventory controls are not a life-and-death issue for most retailers, they are where the sale of guns and ammunition are concerned. Since you and your employer were unable to come to terms on this very important issue, you both just agreed to disagree and part ways, and you were let go.

On applications, under the question, "Why did you leave your last employer?" write: Ethics.

Dear Ella,

I work as a claims analyst for a health insurance company. Lately, I am not feeling challenged with my content of work. I have asked my supervisor for more challenging work or added responsibilities, but she continues to offer those opportunities to other people. I am working toward my bachelor's degree and would some day like to get into management, but I feel that I am not getting the development opportunities at my current job. What should I do?

Dear All That You Can Be,

Since your immediate supervisor isn't listening to you, check internal job postings for something better -- in or out of your current department. If there isn't anything available that appeals to you, or if your supervisor won't support your move, look to a competitor for something better.

Once you have an offer in writing from another company, you can choose to move or use that offer to leverage a better position for yourself within your current organization. Know that pitting one company against another in competition for your services will ruffle some feathers on both sides of the divide and make your employment, if you should choose to stay on rather than move, more volatile in the short term.

Whatever you decide to do, however, I'm sure you'll do well as you appear to be bright, conscientious and seem to know what you want out of a career.

Private Career Coaching Workshop With Ella Kallish

• How To Write A Resume
• How To Market A Resume
• How To Follow Up On A Resume Sent
• Beginning, Middle And End: An Interviewing Strategy
• Expert Corner: Michael Gage/Career Center University Miami
• Ethics In Corporate America
• Program Provides Opportunity For Continuing Ed
Changing Communication Models
A Thought: Documenting Your Work Life

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Written By Ella Kallish
For more information on Ella Kallish go to AskElla.com.
Ella Kallish is available for corporate and group seminars.