Free Career and Job Search Advice

heg · Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 2 Career Advice: +0/-0

I resigned and left a job 7 weeks ago due to being ostracised/bullied by half of my workmates. I did not have another job to go to. When I first left I was putting on job application forms that I left because I wanted a new challenge and new opportunity. However when I went to register at one agency, the consultant asked me what the real reason was. She said I should tell the truth and that it happens to many people - that U can't always have compatible working relationships. Also a worker at the job centre said I should just put my reason for leaving as "incompatible working relationships." (As I put my reason for leaving on the job seekers allowance form the real reason of being ostracised/bullied my co-workers). However I am not convinced putting "incompatible working relationships" as my reason for leaving will do me any favours! If I put this prospective employers may think I am not a good team player etc! Which I don't think is true - I just had the unfortunateness of working with some not very nice people! Should I put on application forms that I was being ostracised/bullied by co-workers?
Can someone who interviews prospective employees, or decides who to hire, or works in HR, or someone else who really knows the right answer, please advise me as to what I should put on application forms and say at interviews if they ask? Thank you.

lexa10881 · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:45 am Post subject:

There has to be a better and more general term....maybe something that refers to an unfavorable work situation overall and not the colleagues specifically? Why not try something such as " unfavorable working conditions" and leave it at that? If they ask you to elaborate, explain but try to be as non-negative as possible.

http://www.cvtips.com/interview_question_1.html

Randy · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:26 am Post subject:

If you were there only a few weeks or couple of months, I wouldn't mention it at all.

heg · Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 2 Career Advice: +0/-0

I was there for 6 months!

Randy · Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:39 am Post subject:

I still wouldn't list it.

Bill S · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:03 am Post subject: Left for Personal Reasons

List the job only because if a prospective employer does a search on you they will find the job. That you lied about working there will cause more trouble than why you left.

Now, as for the reason you left - I'd state "left for personal reasons" which leaves you the opportunity to elaborate or not. Don't bad mouth the company as this will make you a possible problem.

averagegoddess · New User Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 5 Career Advice: +0/-0

Heg - you absolutely should NOT put that you were bullied/ostracized. YES, it makes you look like a)not a team player or b) some kind of social outcast. Your original statement was excellent. I might rephrase it as "Seeking new opportunity for growth." It is highly likely that your interviewer WILL ask you to expand on that, to explain how you felt unable to grow in your last position. As with anything in an interview, come straight to the point, and do not ramble. I would perhaps explain that the individuals with whom you were teamed were very set in an outdated way of operating, and after six months, you realized that you would not be able to learn new skills and grow in that environment. That is an answer any interviewer should be able to respect. Further, it does not badmouth either the company, or the people, merely says they were set in their ways.

I hope this helps!

Randy · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject:

Oh, yes. Make sure you tell a prospective employer that your coworkers were "outdated in their mode of thinking" and he's going to lean back in his chair, rub his chin, and picture you--after working for him and with his current crew--for six months or so and thinking the same thing. That'll go over well.

One more time, for dramatic effect: This whole interviewing process is, at best, a silly game. If not, people wouldn't spend so much searching for help on how to "spin" the truth, say the thing in such a way so as to sound the least bit "negative". And at worst--and as is usually the case--we're right back to the obvious: It's far more about first impressions than anything you say/don't say, any qualifications you do/don't have.

It we've reached the point where truth--THE truth, the brutal, honest, painful truth--is to be avoided during these so-called interviews (more rightly understood for what they are--an interrogation)--if we've reached that point, and we have, then we're all pretty well screwed because we've all agreed we're going to pass ourselves off as Mr. Happy Team Player Who Lives Only To Serve The Great Corporate Gods and the ONLY result from that charade is misery of the worst kind.

But rest in the comfort that you'll have a nice bank account. That'll make you feel oh so much better when you realized that day after day for the rest of your life you have to keep up the pretense, the illusion of the false-self you created just to get hired.

This isn't just sad and pathetic, it's stupid and betrays the real reason for all this current "conventional wisdom" and "expert advice": Everyone's scared to death--scared of losing/not finding a job, scared of "terrorists," scared of tax increases/decreases, scared of strangers, scared of child molestors, scared of this disease and that, scared to damned death....

Living in fear sucks, doesn't it? So truth and honesty of character be damned and sacrificed for a "job" and all the "safety and security" it's supposed to represent, right?

Good luck with that....

averagegoddess · New User Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 5 Career Advice: +0/-0

Haha - ok, Randy is right... Outdated was probably not a good choice. I was thinking something along the lines of what you were ACTUALLY doing was not what you had understood from the job description, and that was the first verbiage to come to me. Adapt as you wish. Perhaps a better idea altogether would be to say that the positions you aspired to were currently filled by individuals who were, for all appearances, going to be there long term, and you wished to have more opportunities for advancement. Ultimately, the idea to get across is that the fit was not good, but with no fault.

Randy is also correct that interviews are a form of game - cat and mouse, if you will. Unfortunately, since the system shows no signs of changing in time for your next interview, I would advise you to play the game to the best of your ability. There are many many people who successfully land themselves in the career of their dreams via the traditional route. Not everyone desires to be an entrepreneur or a game-changer. Best wishes!

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