Talent Trade Tidbit - Explaining a Bad Career Move
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Stephanie Moss, partner of the Thinking Ahead search firm. Today I want to talk to you about explaining a bad move.
How should I frame a regrettable job move in an interview?
For most of us, at some point in our career, we may make a move that we look back and say, that probably wasn't the best move for us. It might be something, hey, we realized we got there six months later and we're ready to make a move. It may be, hey, we were just there a year. Or it may be, hey, we did make that move and it probably tarnished our reputation a little bit. Either way, I want to talk to you a little bit about how do you handle that, especially once you get into an interview situation. First and foremost, you have to put it in perspective.
Why is putting a bad career move in perspective important?
Again, most people at some point have had one kind of bad move, one bad decision that they made in their career, especially if you're going to be in any industry for any length of time. It usually happens once. Second thing is I generally find honesty absolutely is the best policy, but be smart with your honesty.
How honest should I be when explaining a poor job decision?
Here's what I mean by that. First and foremost, you can't ever blame anyone else for your decisions. You made the decisions. You know, it's funny. I'll have people say, well, I didn't know this or I didn't know that. And my first thought is, well, why didn't you ask? Why didn't you ask better questions? You're interviewing. It's a job.
How can I explain a toxic boss or cultural mismatch without blaming others?
I mean, gosh, if I'm going to make a job change, you better give me a ton of questions I'm going to ask.
But that's okay. My point is you need to own whatever decisions you have made. Also, in owning that, you need to make sure that you aren't speaking poorly of anyone else. Here's a couple examples.
Let's say you did make a move and you got over and you realized the hiring manager was a nightmare. Even the market knows they're a nightmare, but maybe you just didn't ask enough questions to figure it out, or they did a really good job of hiding it in the interview process. Either way, it doesn't matter.
When should I stop explaining and move on from a past mistake?
But the point is, when you're talking to that next person about that move, what you can say is, hey, to be candid, there were some cultural issues that I knew pretty soon on I wasn't going to be a good fit for them. Most people know when they say cultural issues, it was probably some kind of personality conflict. It's just the way that it is. Last thing about explaining a bad move. Don't dwell on it. This is a big mistake I see a lot of people make. They want to over explain. Keep it simple. Most people can forgive a bad move. Now, if you've got three or four, at some point it's probably you. You just got to own that. But most of us have at least one somewhere in our background. So keep it simple. Don't blame anyone else for your decisions.
And honesty, smart honesty is the best policy.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:09–0:19
2
How should I frame a regrettable job move in an interview?
0:19–0:49
3
Why is putting a bad career move in perspective important?
0:49–1:10
4
How honest should I be when explaining a poor job decision?
1:10–1:25
5
How can I explain a toxic boss or cultural mismatch without blaming others?
1:25–1:57
6
When should I stop explaining and move on from a past mistake?
1:57–2:44