How honest is too honest?

cjmcork

I've recently left a job in a place where I still have close ties - so close in fact that some of the candidates applying for my job have been onto me - one has asked if it's a nice place to work - now the secretary is lovely, but the boss is an absolute bolloc*s - advice??

Puffin

be honest BUT describe your boss's behaviour/actions only in concrete terms, and avoid judgement terms.

ie rather than say 'the &*&^%% made me do work he was meant to do' say 'he did delegate work to me'

rather than say 'he's a control freak' say 'he has set up procedures that all his staff must follow to the letter'

cjmcork

how's this?


it's a very exciting place to work - my biggest issue with it was that I found it extremely lonely, as I was the sole staff member with boss for 6 years - that said, the secretary starting last year made a huge difference to the place. She's an absolute darling - I miss her so much - you'll spend much of your day with her, as boss tends to take a lot of meetings and goes through phases of being on site visits.

No 2 days are the same - so there's immense variety with a great workload, but I know boss is hoping to get more staff, so that should help a bit.

cjmcork

someone else advised using this:

You enjoyed the work and variety each day brought and, in all, it allowed you to progress your career to your current role


am going to use this!

chris_oc

cjmcork wrote: »

how's this?


it's a very exciting place to work - my biggest issue with it was that I found it extremely lonely, as I was the sole staff member with boss for 6 years - that said, the secretary starting last year made a huge difference to the place. She's an absolute darling - I miss her so much - you'll spend much of your day with her, as boss tends to take a lot of meetings and goes through phases of being on site visits.

No 2 days are the same - so there's immense variety with a great workload, but I know boss is hoping to get more staff, so that should help a bit.

TBH that actually sounds like you're trying to "sell" the job! Which is grand but there's no need IMO. Just don't say anything to offensive and don't go into detail about anything if he/she asks. If it's an actual friend who's applying for the job, then I'd probably be brutally honest with him/her...

Puffin

i tend to agree- you are making the job sound great.

Sherifu

Why don't you just describe the hours, workload, atmosphere. I'd leave specifics like the boss/secretary out of it.

Lolalane

Why do you have to discribe your job if you dont work for them any more?

Malice

I definitely wouldn't bad mouth anyone to a stranger as you never know when something like that could come back to haunt you, especially in Ireland! I've worked in jobs in the past where people have asked me about my experience. I have found that the best way to answer the questions is to be general e.g. Instead of something being tiring or stressful, call it an opportunity to rise to a challenge.

bug

Puffin wrote: »

be honest BUT describe your boss's behaviour/actions only in concrete terms, and avoid judgement terms.

ie rather than say 'the &*&^%% made me do work he was meant to do' say 'he did delegate work to me'

rather than say 'he's a control freak' say 'he has set up procedures that all his staff must follow to the letter'

best way of putting it.

Think of creative ways of presenting the negatives to look like objective challenges as above.

Never ever burn your bridges.