| |
| |
|
Careers & Employment Information |
|
|
|
Handling the Dreaded Why Did You Leave? Question
If you left your last job under less-than-ideal circumstances, you probably dread the "Why did you leave?" question that almost always comes up at job interviews. Here's how to handle it. First and most important, never lie. If you were fired, don't say you quit. It's very easy for companies to do background checks that will reveal this lie; it will probably come back to haunt you. Besides, you don't want to start off your relationship with your next employer with a lie, do you? KISS. No, I'm not referring to the ancient rock band or kissing up to the interviewer. Keep It Short and Simple. Tell what happened--you were terminated, you quit, your job was eliminated--whatever. Do not go into detail unless asked. Don't say anything negative. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding your departure, don't say anything negative about your former boss, coworkers or company. Any negativity, frustration or anger you express will only reflect negatively on you. Stay positive! Tell what you learned. If they want more details about why you left, tell them what happened and what you learned from the experience. This will give you the opportunity to say how you turned a negative into a positive, and how you will handle similar situations differently in the future. For example, if you were fired for violating a company policy, you could say something like, "I was terminated for violating a company policy that I feel wasn't communicated to me clearly. I should have taken the responsibility to read all of the company policies and ask questions about those I didn't fully understand. That will be the first thing I do in my next job." Employers love to hear stories about how employees take responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes. Practice your answer. You should do this with every anticipated interview question. Develop your answer and practice, practice, practice! Offer proof of your abilities. Confidently tell them that you can provide references or letters of recommendation to verify that your job performance is normally above par, that you usually get along great with your supervisors, etc. Make sure they understand that what happened to cause you to leave your last job was the exception, not the rule. Bonnie Lowe is author of the popular Job Interview Success System and free information-packed ezine, "Career-Life Times." Find those and other powerful career-building resources and tips at her website: http://www.best-interview-strategies.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Employment - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Squirrel Effect An industrious black-tailed ground squirrel has his home beneath a stump not far from my office window. I've been watching him squirrel away provisions for winter. 3 Reasons To Hire From Outside Your Industry While at times it may prove comfortable and convenient to hire from within your current industry, often the best candidate for the job comes from outside your "comfort zone". How can that be? As a recruiter focused on a highly regulated and competitive industry experiencing significant growth nationwide, here are 3 reasons to hire from outside your industry:1. When the Teacher Becomes the Student A relationship expert once said that during an argument, there's usually three sides to every story: his side, her side, and of course, the truth.This is something we must definitely keep in mind as teachers. Mystery Shopping Mystery shopping is an excellent way to make extra money. In fact, some people make a full time living doing it. What Everybody Ought To Know About How To Change Their Career or Profession and Still Survive... Dr. Denis Waitley, trainer of leaders, including Super Bowl and Olympic athletes, Apollo astronauts, and Fortune 500 executives, is the most listened to voice on personal and career achievement and the author of the all-time best-seller, The Psychology of Winning claims that the 21st century is unlike anything we could have imaged. Searching for Employment Searching for a job can be a daunting and confusing task for anyone, whether he or she is just entering the job market, looking for a better job or find him or herself without a job after several years with one employer. A job search can be successful when the person looking for a job knows exactly what they should and should not do when looking for a new job. Can Nurses Be Entrepreneurs? Yes, Nurses can be entrepreneurs. In today's market place nursing has a unique service to offer not only to hospitals but nursing homes, private care and doctor offices. Active Listening Skill Tips for Interviews During a job interview, a potential employer asks, "Can you take on more than one project at a time?" If you respond, "Yes," you may want to rethink that answer. According to Dynamic Listening: Interview Skills, a computer based training module from Mindleaders in Columbus, Ohio, you should avoid one-word or one-sentence answers. How to Choose Your Ideal Career They say that most people do complete and total career changes at least once often twice in their lifetimes. Very few people chose the ideal perfect career for themselves when they're in high school and blissfully happily work those same jobs for the rest of their lives. In Control - Inside Tips on Interview Success No, you can't control how the interview will be conducted, nor can you control the outcome. But you can influence it greatly by the way you present your personality and your skills. Reading the Want Ads--Not for Jobs--For Information What? Want ads are where job announcements are, not information!Wait! Job want ads are full of information if you know what to do and how to use them.Doubtful? Here are some ideas of the kinds of information you can find as a job seeker. Ask For That Raise! For nine years Jeff worked for company G as an engineer. Flying airplanes was his first love. The Myths of Career Change Chances are you already have many ideas about what it takes to successfully transition into a new career, even if you have never done it before. Some of those ideas might be useful - most probably are not. Resumes Arent Important - They are Everything When it Comes to Getting an Interview Employers and recruiters receive hundreds of resumes for every position they are trying to fill. To select their shortlist of candidates to interview, they look for the most common resume mistakes most applicants make and eliminate them first. Reinventing Yourself for Multiple Careers In many countries around the globe, people are born into their station in life and hence their professions. It is unnecessary for them to plan a career as they are expected to perform one specific job their entire lives. Resumes, Networking, Headhunters - Useless Without Marketing Sweet Spot A career transition is no longer about getting your hands on a list of contacts, networking with headhunters, or going online to look for work. It's better than that. 10 Ways to Speed-Up Your Job Search Effort Today everyone knows at least one person who has lost their job to down-sizing, right-sizing, cut-backs, production reduction or a mean, vicious "bogus leader" who could care less about your family, your life or your existence at the company. This may sound a bit overboard, but everyone has probably experienced the manager, supervisor or company leader from hell, and if you haven't just stick around. 10 Tips For Writing A Winning Resume Your resume (or curriculum vitae), combined with the cover letter, are the master keys to opening the prospective employer's mind and door so that you can proceed to the next step in the process - the big interview!RESUME WRITING TIPS AND STRATEGIESHere are 10 valuable tips for anyone writing their own resume, or who is having someone else write one for them. These tips and strategies are an abridged version of what is contained in my new eBook, "Instant Home Writing Kit". How To Choose The Right Resume Format After a thirty (30) second glance lots of resumes get thrown into the wastebasket. One of the reasons this happens is because the resume writer has failed to use the appropriate resume format. Image and Style Count When I was a child, there was a pool nearby and every year my parents bought us season tickets. My brother and I swam there everyday.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
