advice needed

Sarah1991

I'm hoping to get some advice on what to say in an interview I have next week.
I've been in my current position 6 months and I handed in my notice last week, I couldn't handle it anymore, I was miserable, it was a very toxic environment and it was affecting my mental health.

I've an interview for a role next week and I'm worried what to say about only being in my last position 6 months, my roles previous to this have been 3 & 4 years so I'm hoping they take that into account. I don't want to bad mouth my current company as it's such a small industry. What could I say to explain only being there 6 months?

lbc2019

Say it was a short term contract

jenjoeful

This situation is not a rare one.
In the interview do not speak badly of your employer, or explain the negative aspects of the role, this will avoid the interview thinking that you looking like the problem, diplomacy will be your friend.
Explain that the role wasn’t what you had expected it to be, and give some small examples why, the work is X but i was assuming Y, removing any emotion if possible.
Explain then how you think the new job suits you, based on the job description and what you’ve been told. You think you’ll be a lot happier in this role...

Dav010

Have a good explanation at the ready when asked about your reason for short term job.

https://m.independent.ie/business/jobs/employers-wary-of-interviewing-shortterm-jobhoppers-37723859.html

nullObjects

lbc2019 wrote: »

Say it was a short term contract

Be careful with that one if you need a reference.
Sometimes the letter is written as:
"Person X was employed here as a full time employee between Y and Z"

Best of luck with it

klm1

Don't stress it too much, your interviewer will be able to look past it and see that you have normally been in roles for 3-4 years. I interview people all the time and when I see something like this, I don't dwell on it too much if the rest of the work history is good. Sometimes people and companies are just not a good fit for each other, it happens.

Do have a reason ready;
Explain that you thought you were joining a company that you could spend a number of years working for but;
1. The role has turned out differently
2. The role isn't as challenging as you expected

I would avoid saying its a contract role, as the obvious inference from that is that if you were good for the duration of the contract, the company would have made you permanent. And, as someone else said, avoid bad mouthing your current company.

Best of luck in the interview.

Clareman

You can always say that you always admired the new company and when you saw an opportunity you felt you had to go for it as you think you are a great fit for both the role and the organisation.

OMM 0000

If asked at the end of the interview -

"You know, I'm not the kind of person who likes to jump between jobs - my roles before this were three and four years each.

My current job is not what I hoped it would be. Part of this is my fault - in the interview I should have asked more specific questions to ensure I fully understood the role and the culture in the company. It turns out the role and company were a bit different to what I hoped for.

I have since learned from that and it's one of the reason I had so many questions in this interview!

Based on my understanding of this job and this company - I'm pretty confident I would be happy here, and it's the kind of job and company I am looking for."

Something like that. Basically you're a long term sort of person, and what happened in your current job was an anomaly. And you've learned from it.

If asked at the start of the interview, say something similar and that you will have a lot of questions in this interview to make sure you fully understand the role and company.

Of course this means you genuinely do come with a bunch of questions so you will fully understand the role and company.

One of the questions I like to ask, and maybe this is controversial, is how long people tend to stay in the department. This let's me know if people are happy (or at least comfortable) there.

Sarah1991

Thanks so much for the replies everyone, I really appreciate them!


I'm feeling a bit better about it now, I was just worried it would reflect badly on me.


I'll say about the role being different than advised because that is true and I'll avoid saying anything negative about my current place.

LimeFruitGum

If it is a small industry, they probably have heard these issues about your former company already. However, the above advice is all sound. best of luck!