Interveiw question (schools, colleges, living)

[Schel]

My husband is interveiwing now and at his old job was either forced to resign or quit. He chose to quit.

What should he tell employers when they ask why he quit?

One job he did not get because he told them this answer.

"It was a personal issue." And didn't go further into it. He also said "I'm glad to have it behind me though and look forward to moving on."

When he asked why he did not get the job, he was told he didn't like that my husband wouldn't elaborate on the issue further and they were concerned that he would not be satisfied in a lesser position that what he was used to.

So what is the answer as to how to answer the question of "Why did you quit your other job?"

Would really like some answers from those that HAVE been there done that please. AND NICE POLITE ANSWERS ALSO!

Thanks!

Schel

[GBCommenter]

I would guess the concern is a trust issue. Obviously, you have a very short period of time to establish trust. When you make very vague answers about why you left a company, it raises a red flag to a potential employer who has to wonder what problems he/she might be inheriting in taking you on.

Is it a possibility for your husband to be completely upfront about the circumstances? That would likely establish the trust, especially if he can explain how he has concretely moved on from that scenario.

[Schel]

Here is what he told an interveiwer yesterday,

"Ever since having the job I had, another employee had applied for the job and was not chose for the positon and I was. When I got the job he was angry that he didn't get the job and I did. For the last 4 years he had been sabotaging me, with things I could not prove. This caused me much stress so I did what I needed by quitting to improve my stress & health and made the choice to move on. I am glad to have it behind me though and look forward to moving on."



What are you opinions on how he replied to this?

I truly believe this may have been the case. A jealous employee could have been sending e-mails and tattling on my husband in hopes of moving into his position.

Honestly ever since he got the job, his boss has seemed to have it out for him. Little nit picky things, negative comments, never a postive comment or good job, always what he did wrong in the job. This would cause stress for any person. For example, at my husbands 1st reveiw, he made the comment to him "Well you managed not to blow up the building, I guess thats a good thing." He wasn't joking around, either, this was a serious comment. In the 4 years of working there he only had 2 yearly reviews, but the never hesitated to write him up for little nit picky things, a day late doing his building checks, propping a door open for a delivery truck, getting his building ready too soon during summer for school to open on time. (In other words getting his job done to efficently and completing the job early, yes they didn't like this, you would think that would be a good thing?) Denial of numerous vacation requests even though he had never taken much vacation. I could go on and on...

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Schel

Here is what he told an interveiwer yesterday,

"Ever since having the job I had, another employee had applied for the job and was not chose for the positon and I was. When I got the job he was angry that he didn't get the job and I did. For the last 4 years he had been sabotaging me, with things I could not prove. This caused me much stress so I did what I needed by quitting to improve my stress & health and made the choice to move on. I am glad to have it behind me though and look forward to moving on."



What are you opinions on how he replied to this?

I truly believe this may have been the case. A jealous employee could have been sending e-mails and tattling on my husband in hopes of moving into his position.

Honestly ever since he got the job, his boss has seemed to have it out for him. Little nit picky things, negative comments, never a postive comment or good job, always what he did wrong in the job. This would cause stress for any person. For example, at my husbands 1st reveiw, he made the comment to him "Well you managed not to blow up the building, I guess thats a good thing." He wasn't joking around, either, this was a serious comment. In the 4 years of working there he only had 2 yearly reviews, but the never hesitated to write him up for little nit picky things, a day late doing his building checks, propping a door open for a delivery truck, getting his building ready too soon during summer for school to open on time. (In other words getting his job done to efficently and completing the job early, yes they didn't like this, you would think that would be a good thing?) Denial of numerous vacation requests even though he had never taken much vacation. I could go on and on...

if your "husband" came in to me with a story like this in an interview, I'd give the the other manager(s) the secret signal so that we could cut this short and not waste anymore of our time.

[JanND]

Yes, He will have to use some fake diplomacy, until he gets the job. No potential employer wants to really hear negatives about his past employer....it makes them wonder if your husband is a trouble maker....doesn't matter if that is the truthful perception or not. Remember you are in the Midwest...WE really don't want the answer to "How are you"....Give them a BS line about what he wants for his future, and the opportunity to persue that w/in the new company....Elaborate on your skills, what he will bring to the table...bla, bla.
Never.....EVER.... run down your past employer to your potential employer, red flags go up. I do not think that the old company can say the negatives if called ro references....you should check w/ your Dept. of Labor for that answer. If your husband was being treated so badly, I hope you did report to dept. of labor in your state. Good luck.

[1stpontiac]

Agree with the others that he's got to get a positive, or at least neutral, spin on why he left. Virtually every article I've ever seen to the effect of "X number of things you should never say in an interview" include negative or gossipy things about the previous company.

It sounds like this could be a good time for a little interview training. Does he have access to a career center from any colleges or schools he's been to? Even paying for a few sessions from a private career counselor might do a lot of good, since it sounds like his credentials are good enough to get interviews and he just needs a little help developing answers to this question.

I would think (I'm certainly no expert) that the best solution would be to turn the question toward himself and his qualifications. "I'm looking for new opportunities in a company with room for growth that rewards my hard work..." or something along those lines.

[Kebinminn]

I've had a miserable job too and I know how it can go south through no fault of your own. Now I work with great people, it's wonderful. I just want to let you know there's hope after misery.

I think the best thing to say that the company was moving in a direction that he felt was no longer a good fit so he decided to move on.

[GBCommenter]

Originally Posted by JanND

Yes, He will have to use some fake diplomacy, until he gets the job. No potential employer wants to really hear negatives about his past employer....it makes them wonder if your husband is a trouble maker....doesn't matter if that is the truthful perception or not. Remember you are in the Midwest...WE really don't want the answer to "How are you"....Give them a BS line about what he wants for his future, and the opportunity to persue that w/in the new company....Elaborate on your skills, what he will bring to the table...bla, bla.
Never.....EVER.... run down your past employer to your potential employer, red flags go up. I do not think that the old company can say the negatives if called ro references....you should check w/ your Dept. of Labor for that answer. If your husband was being treated so badly, I hope you did report to dept. of labor in your state. Good luck.

There's probably some truth to this, both on the front you should probably use positivity or neutrality and in the respect Midwesterners tend to be adverse to the actual in-your-face truth.

One thing that did stick out to me and I think you have to think about how an employer would read it is, if I'm reading your latest response correctly, is that you say hubby left because of how he was treated by his boss since he started and it caused so much stress. However, he stayed 4 years. I understand I wasn't living it so don't understand the entire picture. I also realize one might stay for a while to try to give benefit of the doubt or try to give it the "college try". It's also not as though it's a piece of cake to get a new job. That said, 4 years is a pretty long time when your argument is the intolerable stress level. You need to think how you'll reconcile that disconnect (from the viewpoint of a hiring manager).

[Ghengis]

I believe the OP's husband was asked to resign for failure to follow a lock-out/tag-out (workplace safety) program.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by Schel

My husband is interveiwing now and at his old job was either forced to resign or quit. He chose to quit.

What should he tell employers when they ask why he quit?

One job he did not get because he told them this answer.

"It was a personal issue." And didn't go further into it. He also said "I'm glad to have it behind me though and look forward to moving on."

In the HR world this type of answer raises a red flag. I wouldn't recommend a candidate who provides a response like this.

Originally Posted by Schel

Here is what he told an interveiwer yesterday,

"Ever since having the job I had, another employee had applied for the job and was not chose for the positon and I was. When I got the job he was angry that he didn't get the job and I did. For the last 4 years he had been sabotaging me, with things I could not prove. This caused me much stress so I did what I needed by quitting to improve my stress & health and made the choice to move on. [font=Verdana]I am glad to have it behind me though and look forward to moving on."

This is a bad response too. The last thing a hiring manager wants to hear from a candidate is about the issues they had with co-workers that caused them to quit their last job. What does that say about the person's ability to work well in a team environment?