Are you able to differentiate between the position you left and the position you’re applying for? If so, then say that you were looking for a job where you’d be doing D, E, and F (things you’d be doing at the new company) rather than A,B and C (things that you were doing at the old company). I wouldn’t mention high turnover, a high-stress environment, or health issues.
If that won’t work, then think about a skill you have that you want to highlight. State that you think this skill is one of your strengths and you want a position that will take advantage of it, and you felt like it was underutilised in your old position.
The problem is that nobody quits a job without another one lined up for no reason. And I haven’t quit a job without another job lined up since I was 16 and scooping ice cream and kept getting scheduled for the 4 pm - 11 pm shift in spite of my insistence that I couldn’t work past 8 pm (and it was, in fact, illegal to have me work past 8 pm) because I had a bunch of honors and AP classes and a ton of homework. Haven’t been laid off, either.
So what do I say, if asked, that’s both truthful and isn’t going to set off alarm bells?
When I left one radio job, the remaining people gifted me with a staff list with all the folks who’d left over the past couple of years xxx’d out, along with colorful comments. As I recall, about 90% of the staff had come and gone over that time.
You never had to mention insanely high turnover when applying for a new radio job; it was assumed.
I left a management job after about 11 months and thought it was going to sink me. It did in the sense that I was essentially demoting myself and have to work harder to convince other that I might be suitable for managerial roles, but I’ve held supervisory positions since then.
Today’s world is more mobile - it’s a fact of life that employees and employers tend to accept.
If you are trying to get the same job at another place, aren’t you going to run into the same problem (minus the chaos, maybe)?
About all you can do is try to elide the question by saying you left because it just wasn’t a good fit. They call your old firm, if the manager does anything other than confirm your dates, it’s likely the only other thing they’ll say is confirm you left vs being fired.
No, I have now had 4+ months off to rest my brain and recover and do post-concussion cognitive therapy and am feeling MUCH better. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t be looking for a job.
I interview and hire engineers. I have for about 20 years. I am well aware of all the local employers of engineers and their turnover rates.
I only ask people why they left previous jobs if I spot a pattern - such as a resume with 5 different companies in the last 5 years.
Ugh. I was hoping to get some good advice from the recruiter who placed me in my last position. I got the feeling that she was hinting I should let people assume that I was laid off because of COVID. I wasn’t, and although I don’t plan to bring it up unless it comes up in the application process, I don’t want to lie, either.
Maybe I should just say I had an injury, needed some time off, and am recovered, and leave it at that?
What’s wrong with saying that? Are you applying to jobs where you are expected to be invulnerable?
I know corporations are full of jerks and all, but people act like you can be successful so long as you follow some script and say just the right things at just the right times. There are entire industries dedicated to propagating this bullshit. The reality is that most decisions are made based off of some moron’s whim and biases and whatever they think is in their best interest. I say “moron” because in my experience, people in corporate America tend to gravitate towards the simplest, stupidest, easiest, most selfish answer, regardless of how smart or educated they are. For example, I have a very successful friend who, in a blog posting of how he formed his startup, manages to glorify one business partner who resigned when he realized he didn’t have the necessary industry experience to lead their marketing team or whatever. In the same article, he also criticized those employees who jumped ship early when the business looked like it might go under. I guess it’s ok to leave his company so long as it serves his interests.
So in other words, in idiot-corporate logic, companies don’t want someone who badmouths former employers, would jump ship when things weren’t going well for the company, is looking for more money, or isn’t on the upward career track. But then why would you leave a company if it was a great place to work, business was doing well, you were getting paid well, and had opportunity for advancement? If we hire someone like that, they might leave us too and tell other people what a shitty place this is to work, how bad our business is doing, how cheap we are and how much we don’t give a crap about our employees!
For your situation, I would simply say that you had to resign due to an injury and that due to COVID-19, your position is no longer available at your old company.
Although, one question I might have is was going on long-term disability not an option? I don’t know the relevant laws as they relate to your situation, but I would think that might come up.
I actually have no idea whether going on long-term disability was an option, but I also knew that the idea of returning there filled me with dread. I was a mess, and my husband and all my close friends were begging me to quit. I also just found out today that one of my former colleagues is on disability leave because she had a nervous breakdown. It was really not a place with reasonable expectations. I had to get a letter from my neurologist in order not to have to work nights and weekends, which HR referred to in conversation with me as a “reduced schedule.”
My state doesn’t have government disability benefits. At the time I left my old job my brain was not working properly on a number of levels, or I might have investigated the possibility of a disability leave - I don’t believe the private LTD coverage kicked in for 3 months, and I had no idea how long it was going to take me to recover.
I think the consensus is no, you shouldn’t say that. Many people are saying not to bring up health issues, and they are right. Listen to them.
As others have said, keep it simple. “My previous position wasn’t a good fit.” Don’t worry about quitting without something lined up, most interviewers will probably take it as a sign of confidence. If they ask for details, hem and haw and make it clear you don’t really want to disparage another company. If they insist, say something more specific than management dysfunction or high turnover. For example, managers had unclear expectations, or employees received no recognition for their work, or whatever was specific and true about the environment.
Let them assume that you had enough of a financial cushion to take time off between jobs. It’s not unusual to quit a job and take some long-overdue time off, especially since you would not expect to be taking time off right away at a new job.
My rule doesn’t apply to people doing consulting. And it doesn’t really apply to people who are laid off in massive shakeups. But if someone has a resume that shows that a year or so after they join the company goes bust, I’d be scared of hiring him. Also, four years is not in any way a short term. The resume I’m thinking of had every job last a year or less.
I’m sure you have gotten good at getting the signals of upcoming disaster. I’ve avoided layoffs by finding a new job before the axe falls. Alas in the last job I had the layoffs I knew were coming took too long, and so I retired before getting a nice package to retire.
You don’t have to lie, per se, but you also don’t have to spill your guts. (Or talk about injuries.) Managers know they aren’t going to get honest answers here so most don’t even bother. Anyone who goes on about what incompetent managers the old company had is not going to get the job, not because of being disloyal but because the person is too dumb to know not to do that.
Letting people assume it was Covid related is fine. With over a million people a week filing new unemployment claims, someone asking “why did you leave your previous job” is kind of clueless. So I bet you don’t get asked. If you do, why not say something like “these things happen.”
Even if I don’t get asked in an interview (which I may well be), I have yet to see an employment application that doesn’t request that info. And I have always been asked to fill out a general employment application when going for an interview. I need to be prepared to put something on the application, even just a few words.