Why You Left

The following is an excerpt reprinted with permission from What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Job-Hunting Online, Sixth Edition: Blogging, Career Sites, Gateways, Getting Interviews, Job Boards, Job Search ... Resumes, Research Sites, Social Networking. Copyright © 2011 by Mark Emery Bolles and Richard Nelson Bolles, Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Comments from me follow the excerpt.

Don’t ever try to explain, in writing, why you left a previous company. Not in your resume, not in a cover letter, not in an email. Most people don’t write well enough to avoid sounding like whiny, picked-on troublemakers.

Human communication involves so much more than words. Tone of voice, facial expressions, body language . . . we’re all experts at divining such subtleties by the time we are three years old. When you give a verbal explanation, all of these delicate nuances are present and cumulative, assisting the listener in empathizing with you. But when putting the same explanation in writing, you give up many of the tools we use to communicate, and thereby risk your ability to connect with the reader.

And of course, you have created and freely given away a document that you now have no control over, with the chance that not all who read it will view you in a positive light.

Finally, whether writing or speaking, don’t volunteer your reasons for leaving a position. If asked, try to couch it in terms of a better opportunity coming along for your personal and professional growth, Don’t mention disagreements, people who were hard to get along with, abusive bosses, or idiotic company policies.

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My thoughts on this issue:

• I couldn't agree more with the advice above. NEVER put the reasons you left another company in writing.


• Do not complain, belittle, put-down, or say anything what-so-ever against a former employer. Yes, they may have been led by Satan and his minions, but you don't have to say that. Doing so will only cast you in a bad light. Let it go.


• Instead, the reason you left a job is always this: you wanted more responsibility/challenge (or some version of this). Paint yourself as a high-achiever wanting to and capable of doing more, but you just weren't able to at the old company (because there was a hiring freeze, because they didn't have an opening, because they were too small to grow, etc.) You LOVED the company and would have stayed there your entire career, but the opportunities just weren't right. Believe me, this story works. It's positive and makes you sound like someone they want to hire.


• Of course there are other valid reasons you left a company that you can share that could also be considered positive. (I put the one above there in the situations where you disliked the company or you actually did leave for career growth.) For instance, you could have left to tend to your dying father in another state. You could have left because your spouse got a job in another city and you had to move too. You could have left because you had a baby and wanted to stay home until the kids were grown (which they are now, and it's no problem.) Anything that paints you in a good light is acceptable. If there's not something like that you can share, then go back to my "career growth" reason for leaving.

Comments

[optionsdude]

Incredibly good advice and something that not everyone may think about.

[Mike Hunt]

As someone who changed jobs frequently I think you need to have some explanation but I think the reasons FMF gave are good. The reason I give for having changed jobs and moved overseas is to live with my wife, that seems to be reasonable. Sometimes family reasons can be reasonable, also it is appropriate to list if the company was bought out or merged.

I have to emphasize that nothing good can ever come from talking badly about a company or person- keeping it positive is essential!

-Mike

[am]

I agree; but once I broke that advice. I had simply given my boss a letter with my resignation-three sentences. In a letter to his boss re; my leaving, my boss claimed I had another job (I didn't) and that I was leaving because of another employee (I wasn't.) That person was on shaky ground and this could be used to fire him. Although I was scared, I went to that boss and told her the truth.