Dreaded interview question - Why did you Leave your last Job?

nikki76_2

Hi there,

I currently work as a Team Secretary and have been with the company for 2 years. Previously I worked for a law firm for 6 months, and before that a law firm for 8 years as a Employment Secretary.

I am wanting desperately to leave my job as a Team Secretary as I feel I am stuck in a dead-end job and want to become a PA/Senior Secretary. My only problem is I have had 2 interviews recently and they have both asked me why I left my previous emplioyer (the law firm where I was for 6 months). The truth is I was one of 4 secretaries and was constantly singled out and bullied / verbally put down in front of the other 3 secretaries. The firm was very clicky and there was too much favouritism with certain members of staff. This partner also had his "blue eyed girl" and no one was better than her. Since I left, another secretary and the office junior were forced out for the same reasons .. and then believe it or not, the same office manager who was forced by the Partner to take us into an office and tell us we were not doing our jobs properly! This man left me on anti-depressants and affraid to even look for another job for 6 months, I hated leaving the house and still even now (2 and a half years on) get very paranoid. As I worked as an employment secretary before I know I didn't stand a chance of taking them to tribunal. I was asked in a letter by the company after I sent in my resignation (was signed off work with stress) if I wanted to raise a grievance - waste of time!

How do I put across my reasons for leaving this company at interview without sounding negative. I have heard that interviewers take anything that is said negative against a previous employer as a big "no no". I was left stumped at a recent interview as I just did not know how to answer the question.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Nikki

Dithering_Dad

Just tell them that the job wasn't what you were led to believe it was at the interview and in the job advertisement. That you "gave it a go" for six months but it just wasn't suitable for what you wanted to do in your career, so you decided to pursue your goals elsewhere.

I wouldn't even mention the real reason. You won't be attached to a polygraph, so lie.

Basically, if you tell them any of what you just posted you won't stand a chance!!

belfastgirl23

Assuming that you have done research on the firms that you are currently applying to...

I'd just say that the right opportunity opened up with the firm you are with now and you decided to make a move. If pushed I would also say that the company culture didn't suit you but i wouldn't get drawn into talking about it too much. I'd talk about what you moved to rather than from, so any improvement in terms and conditions or whatever should be stressed, especially if you can demonstrate that this is what you're doing again now.

Good luck with the interviews.

nikki76_2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Just tell them that the job wasn't what you were led to believe it was at the interview and in the job advertisement. That you "gave it a go" for six months but it just wasn't suitable for what you wanted to do in your career, so you decided to pursue your goals elsewhere.

I wouldn't even mention the real reason. You won't be attached to a polygraph, so lie.

Basically, if you tell them any of what you just posted you won't stand a chance!!

Thanks - I'll try that for my next interview. The Team Secretary job is a nightmare, Believe it on not I am on a 3 month notice period!!! I'm that fed up I am putting in my notice tomorrow, after all I have 3 months to find a job. I am just worried that if I get offered another job sooner, will they refuse to let me go before the 3 months is up. Others have left before 3 months in the past but we are very short staffed within the secretaries and there is already a secretary leaving on 18 May!

nikki76_2

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I'd just say that the right opportunity opened up with the firm you are with now and you decided to make a move. If pushed I would also say that the company culture didn't suit you but i wouldn't get drawn into talking about it too much. I'd talk about what you moved to rather than from, so any improvement in terms and conditions or whatever should be stressed, especially if you can demonstrate that this is what you're doing again now.

Thanks for your message, the only thing is I have a gap in my CV from the time I left the law firm til the time I got the Team Secretary job.

I suppose I could always say I did some temping but I don't like to lie.

Dithering_Dad

well, you had to take time off to nurse a sick parent or relative. I agree with not lying if you're trying to make it look like you've more experience than you have or if you were sacked for incompetence because then you're behaving in a fraudulent manner with your prospective employer (i.e. they're getting someone who may not be able to do the job or may be a discipline case). In this case, you're just hiding a negative blip on your job history.

In your case, you just ended up with a crappy employer. I don't see why you have to carry that burden around with you forever.

annie-c

If I were you I'd tell a little white lie. It's not as if you're covering up a murder!! You have to take some action, because, unfortunately, it is likely that if you tell the truth, it will cast a doubt over their minds. Not because you did anything wrong or because you deserved any of what happened to you - you didn't! But just because they will be looking for the easiest route to finding a new employee and if someone with a less 'complicated' work history is also being interviewed, human nature will lead them to pick the least 'complicated'.

If I were you, I'd think of a way of framing the past in positive terms, the above + a little white lie about temping/travelling/caring for a relative/time off due to a lottery win... .

Really important tip - practice saying all of this out loud, over and over again until you can say it with no emotion creeping in from past bad experiences and with no hesitation.

I say all this from experience... I left a job under difficult circumstances some time ago and it is now all water under the bridge. But to make sure I got the job I wanted at the time that it was all still very 'raw', I actually wrote myself a script and practiced saying it out loud and answering various kinds of imagined questions over and over and over, until I was completely desensitised to it. In the real interview the questions came up a bit differently than I'd expected (as often happens) but the practice really helped me to 'flow' with my story....

Another important tip - remember that this part of the interview is much 'bigger' for you than for them. Don't get so hung up about this that you 'forget' to rehearse all the other more obvious and important questions about how your whole career to date has made you the absolutely perfect candidate for this job now.

Good luck - let us know how you got on.....

Tori_Bellatrix

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Just tell them that the job wasn't what you were led to believe it was at the interview and in the job advertisement. That you "gave it a go" for six months but it just wasn't suitable for what you wanted to do in your career, so you decided to pursue your goals elsewhere.

I wouldn't even mention the real reason. You won't be attached to a polygraph, so lie.

Basically, if you tell them any of what you just posted you won't stand a chance!!

I agree with Dithering Dad - Explain the job wasn't for you, you weren't being challenged in your daily role and that there was a lack of career progression.

Also, with regards to the 6 months off - You can say you wanted a small sabbatical and used the time to spend with family, travel etc ...

Mrs_J_3

nikki76 wrote: »

I am wanting desperately to leave my job as a Team Secretary as I feel I am stuck in a dead-end job and want to become a PA/Senior Secretary.

There's your answer. You are looking for career progression and feel you have taken your current role as far as you can. It's given you wonderful opportunities, but you know feel you now need to move on.

IT's the truth, without being negative. If it helps think of all the little stuff that you can now do because of that role in particular to help get a positve frame of mind. I detested my old job, but by forcing myself to come up with some things that were good about the job (even if they only lasted a few days!!) it helped make me feel more positive about the role, and that should help you appear more positive in an interview when talkign about it.

LittleVoice

Mrs_J wrote: »

There's your answer. You are looking for career progression and feel you have taken your current role as far as you can. It's given you wonderful opportunities, but you know feel you now need to move on.

IT's the truth, without being negative.

It works for the reason for leaving current job but doesn't fit so well for the problem with reason for leaving previous job which is where OP is concerned.

Nikki: If you use years rather than years and month to note jobs on her CV, could the law firm job and unemployed time be omitted entirely? Is the 6-month job relevant to your career progression. (This may depend on your age and how much other work experience you have.)