Help! bad experience at last job, should I mention this at new interview?

starrynightsky

I quit my last position because of a serious issue with my manager in which I consider myself to have been the victim, although I chose not to make a complaint. I was only there for 3 months, however it was listed as my current position on my CV during which time I applied for several other jobs. I now have an interview for one of these jobs, and I am worried about what they will ask me about my last position - for example they might ask whether they could use my last manager as a reference? (I have other previous excellent references), or they might ask why I left the job, how I found it etc. I don't know what I should say. Each and every of my jobs so far have been good experiences where I have walked away with a good reference, but with this job it ended badly and I am on bad terms with my manager there.
At the same time I don't want to say to these interviewers anything that might be construed as negative or bad-mouthing my last company.
Any tips?

mysteries1984

they might ask whether they could use my last manager as a reference?They might, yes, but don't you have two referees on your CV? You can use them, I'd say. I've never been asked if someone could call my current employer for a reference. Having said that, I've always had my current employer down as a referee, so maybe it's a null point.

they might ask why I left the job
Can you say it was temporary, that you were looking for a new challenge, anything like that? I left a job before, 3 months in, because I couldn't stand it. I said I was going back to college and that I'd just gotten better results than I'd expected. I did go back to college in the end, but they weren't necessarily to know that. Irrelevant in your case, but it's doable.

[Jackass]

DO NOT MENTION NEGATIVE WORK EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERVIEW

That is rule number ONE!

An employer doesn't care if your last boss was an asshole, all they care about is whether or not you may cause problems if you're mentioning falling out in a previous job.

IF they ask why you left your last job, just say it was a temporary contract position.

IF they ask about references, you can give them from different jobs, and in the extremely unlikely scenario where they ask for one from your last job, two important things to note is that it is illegal to refuse you a reference and it is illegal to give you a bad (written) reference.

Depending on where your last job was, contact the company HR department, senior manager / owner of company and ask for a statement of employment, which will read the dates you worked there without any comment and more importantly wont have your x bosses contact details on it.

Best of luck.

Bandana boy

[Jackass] wrote: »

it is illegal to refuse you a reference and it is illegal to give you a bad (written) reference.

they can give you as bad a reference in writing as they like ,as long as they can prove it.( i.e a record on attendance ,timekeeping ,that you were fired for gross misconduct)


Also if they do not want to give you a reference they can just state you start date end date and position ,this in itself says volumes if this is all you can get from an employer.

Irish_Elect_Eng

[Jackass] wrote: »

DO NOT MENTION NEGATIVE WORK EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERVIEW

That is rule number ONE!

that it is illegal to refuse you a reference and it is illegal to give you a bad (written) reference.

Best of luck.

As the last posted said this is incorrect, poor references are very common.
Besides most reference are not written they are verbal, and are just as damaging.

HR folks in different companies in my experience have a good relationship, often through their professional membership bodies.

Most of the time they can sort out a reference with a single question:

"Would you re-hire this person?"

If the answer is no then they often do not need any more information :-(

carbon nanotube

[Jackass] wrote: »

DO NOT MENTION NEGATIVE WORK EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERVIEW

That is rule number ONE!

An employer doesn't care if your last boss was an asshole, all they care about is whether or not you may cause problems if you're mentioning falling out in a previous job.

IF they ask why you left your last job, just say it was a temporary contract position.

IF they ask about references, you can give them from different jobs, and in the extremely unlikely scenario where they ask for one from your last job, two important things to note is that it is illegal to refuse you a reference and it is illegal to give you a bad (written) reference.

Depending on where your last job was, contact the company HR department, senior manager / owner of company and ask for a statement of employment, which will read the dates you worked there without any comment and more importantly wont have your x bosses contact details on it.

Best of luck.

saying you were not learning new skills or felt no career progression is valid reason in an interview ? plus location...

meganj

carbon nanotube wrote: »

saying you were not learning new skills or felt no career progression is valid reason in an interview ? plus location...

I would echo this. Saying something like you felt you weren't progressing in your career, or you felt it was time for a change to further your own personal development, is a lot better then saying you had an awful time with your previous boss.

I can't imagine an employer would seek a ref from your current boss, as long as you have other references. If the person does make a big deal out of it the most important thing is to remain calm and not get emotional when talking about it, you do not want to look like you have something to hide.

eviltimeban

Unless it was an amazing job and would affect your chances of getting the new job, I would leave it off your CV altogether. You could always "extend" the date of the last job to cut off a month... if they ask what you did for the previous two months, you could say research, or a business plan for your own business that didn't take off, or looking for work, or contracts, or travelling...

A two / three month gap on a CV isn't a huge deal if you have previous longer term jobs under your belt and good references. Sure how many people are looking for work for months and months...