Ok. So I’ve been rather irresponsible for the past 6 months or so and I don’t really have an excuse here. Mostly playing EverQuest instead of actively looking for a job. I had a decent amount of money stashed away and I live a very frugal lifestyle. But of course money is a finite resource and I need to start making some again. I need some advice on how to extricate myself from this situation.
Yeah, yeah. I’m a lazy bastard. Mea Culpa. But back when I did have a job I was always a reliable employee who did his job respectably and who was never once late to work even by a minute.
I found this incredible job offer that I feel confident I could do and that I would enjoy doing. A low cost grocery outlet. I worked at exactly the same type of place in my last job, and I actually did enjoy doing it. The only reason I quit was because my boss was absolutely intolerable. I know, I know. Everybody hates their boss. But this is different. My old boss was relentless with his harshness. And I know it wasn’t just because I was new to that line of work that he gave me a tough time. He gave all his employees a tough time. He made my manager, a sweet old lady who had worked at his store for 14 years, burst into tears on several occasions. I simply couldn’t work there anymore.
So what should I say during the interview if they ask why I’ve been out of work and why I quit my last job? I understand that in job interviews honesty is not neccesarily the best policy, but I’m going to have to tell them something.
My eternal gratitude to anyone that can help me out here.
I mean, deep down you surely had a reason other than wanting to play EverQuest?
Why not be honest and tell them that you had some money stashed away and that you needed an extended vacation to re-evaluate where you were going in your career? That will show them that a) you don’t NEED them for money and that you truly are interested in the job for the job, and b) that you’ve had six months to think about it and you’ve selected THEM as your perfect job.
I would even embelish this a little by suggesting that I had saved enough to have 12 months off to evaluate things and hadn’t planned on coming back to work yet but the opportunity they were presenting was too tempting to pass up…
Or, if you actually want to land a new job, just tell them you didn’t feel there were any opportunities for moving forward in your career at your last job. I would gloss over the fact that you haven’t worked in six months.
I do a lot of hiring and I have to assume most other hiring managers are about as knowledgeable as I am. I’m pretty sure that most people don’t take six months to figure out that this place is the place they want to work.
When we get people who say that they quit a job because there were no opportunities for advancement, yet they didn’t get another job for a while, we tend to think they are a little dumb. A job with no advancement is better than no job at all.
And the six month gap should be on the resume/app. Don’t dick with dates, ever (not that anyone is suggesting you do).
I would just say that some personal things came up, that you could afford to take some time, and that everything is fine now and you’re eager to go back to work.
“Mostly playing EverQuest instead of actively looking for a job.”
The only major break I’ve had between jobs was 3 months; I got fired right before Christmas, decided to spend the holiday with my parents and grandparents, and then started looking seriously in mid-January, but with the job market, it took me two months to find the awesome position with the company I’m working for now.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I got escorted out of my previous job on December 9th, when “Shadows of Luclin” got released on the 10th. Nothing whatsoever.