Reason for leaving old job

2792722

Good evening,

I have an interview coming up for an accountancy role, now there is one role (my first role after graduation) on my cv where there is a grey area as to the reason why I had left, the situation was:

I had actually mystery health condition which left me with severe headaches amongst other symptoms, leaving me unable to work, I eventually recovered after 3months.

At the same time the director was in and out of hospital a lot at the time too so had lost a lot of clients (small company) meaning I was the next in line to be 'cut'.

So it was almost the perfect storm and we mutually agreed on ending my employment.

Although neither sound particularly convincing or positive as reasons for leaving - which do you think is the lesser of two evils should I be queried on this?

- Leaving due to illness - will this happen again? , contagious etc
- Leaving due to staff cuts - incompetency, not good enough to keep etc

Or perhaps some other excuse - resigned to try new roles, etc

Thanks for any help in advance.

sangie595

I always find that the truth is one that you never subsequently get caught out on. But if you aren't going to tell the truth, never tell a lie!

ThemeOne

I would just say the company was doing badly and they couldn't afford to keep you.

TBagpuss

Was this your most recent job, or have you worked elsewhere since?

How long had you been there? If you were new then 'leaving due to staff cuts' doesn't necessarily suggest incompetence, I think a lot of the time it simply says 'newest hire, cheapest to get rid of' (particularly true of you'd been there less than 2 years) .

If it wasn't your most recent job it may well not come up at all, unless it looks as though there is a pattern of you only staying anywhere for a short time.

I agree with Sangie, don't lie. But you can be truthful: "The director was in and out of hospital and the firm lost a number of clients, so they made staff cuts" is true and doesn't reflect badly on you, particularly as you were so junior at the time

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

How long ago was this and how long was it between leaving that job and getting the next one? If it's a fair while and it wasn't long (3 months isn't too long) before you get your next job, then just say you moved on to that one. Put the dates down as vaguely as possible. If you put Job 1 - finished Feb 2012 and Job 2 - started Mar 2012 nobody is going to question it or notice. If it's longer ago than that, just put the year.