# My New-ish Job is Bad, How Do I Explain at Interviews? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598 "2022-10-02T22:22:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598/101 "2022-10-06T21:45:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, if they probe really deeply, then I guess it’s worth being prepared for that brutal frank honest description of the detailed issues, but be ready to describe it clinically - i.e. ‘this thing happened, causing this thing’ and ‘this attempt to resolve this thing did not succeed because x’ - not _‘this happened to me, and it was bad and I didn’t like it’_ At some point the right answer is that the information is covered by the prospective employee’s NDA with the old company. Management changes might be associated with new business directions, which the old employer would not want to get out. So “I’m not at liberty to discuss that” would be a good answer if they get too deep. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598/102 "2022-10-06T21:53:10Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > Hmm. When we were hiring, after the interview, we would put the application on hold until we recieved a reference letter or phone number to call. The best references are our current employees or friends of the boss, of course. I’m not sure if I’m reading you correctly, but when I was working it was clear that I was not allowed to give a reference for a former employee. I was asked, by a person I knew fairly well. When I retired I could and did. Employees speak for the company, and an employee running down someone is as bad as HR doing it. > [@msmith537](#): > > I interview constantly on both sides of my desk as part of my job. There are no right “answers”. HR will typically hand out a list of standard interview questions, but rarely have I ever seen anything on how to interpret someone’s actual response. > > What people should take away is that interviewing is about connecting with the interviewer and proving you are the best fit for the job. It’s not about correctly answering a bunch of standardized questions correctly. Absolutely right. But while we’re at it, there is one thing many people don’t get. It is not just what the candidate says that counts, but also how they say it. Would you rather hire someone who gives answers in a monotone or someone who gives the same answers in a voice that makes it sound like they would be excited to work with you? An interview is a performance. Interviews and auditions for acting jobs are a lot more similar than you might think. Think of it that way and you’ll have an edge. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598/103 "2022-10-06T23:55:55Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Interviewers will not interrogate you on your current/prior position. Your experiences have been very different from mine, either as interviewer or interviewee. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598/104 "2022-10-07T01:10:12Z")
I had a few comparable experiences with pharmacies. After I moved to another city, I was telling some stories, and my supervisor was skeptical, so she e-mailed a husband and wife she had gone to school with who lived in the first city; both of them were online, on separate computers, and responded with lengthy diatribes about how they knew exactly who she was talking about, and what the problems were and that they were probably even worse than whatever I had told her. She came in the next morning and said, “You were right. Horrible, horrible mismanagement.” For those of you who are wondering if this included the woman who had a near-fatal car crash and the reporters’ e-mail boxes crashed after they did stories about it, you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598/105 "2022-10-07T09:26:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Interviewers will not interrogate you on your current/prior position. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Your experiences have been very different from mine, either as interviewer or interviewee. Same. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-ish-job-is-bad-how-do-i-explain-at-interviews/972598.md?page=5)