{"id":74000,"date":"2018-11-07T16:18:30","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T14:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.expresspros.co.za\/?p=74000"},"modified":"2024-11-26T08:56:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T06:56:20","slug":"you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/index.php\/you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"You left a toxic work culture &#8211; how do you explain that in an interview?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Written By: <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/2018\/10\/so-you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Movin&#8217; On Up Blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><strong>Where do you even start?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/files\/2018\/10\/GettyImages-819974134.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7650 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/files\/2018\/10\/GettyImages-819974134-300x200.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/files\/2018\/10\/GettyImages-819974134-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/files\/2018\/10\/GettyImages-819974134.jpg 724w\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes a good company goes bad. This can be for a range of reasons: from sketchy financial situations and harassment issues to nepotism and endless gossip. The possibilities are practically endless. Regardless, the result is the same\u2014you probably leave.<\/p>\n<p>But while interviewing with new companies several of them ask why you left your previous job (especially if you weren\u2019t there for very long).<\/p>\n<p>How are you supposed to respond? Should you tell the truth? Or do you need to dress it up as something else? The answer is a mix of both.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><strong>Tell the Truth (But Maybe Not Every Detail)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Being honest about why you left a job is a good thing. But try to keep your emotions and the specific details out of it. For instance, if you left because of nepotism, stay away from saying \u201cI left because the CEO only promoted friends and family members into leadership positions.\u201d This makes it sound like you were bitter about the promotion landscape, and might have been coming up for excuses why you weren\u2019t promoted.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, go with something along the lines of: \u201cI was ready to take on more responsibilities and enter a management position, but the company decided to go in another direction. While I respect that decision, I believe I\u2019m ready for a position like [name of position you\u2019re interviewing for], and am excited to take that next step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This way you\u2019re staying truthful, but keeping the focus on you as a productive individual and your own career hopes and dreams.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><strong>Keep the Focus on You<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t spend too much time talking about the culture and misdeeds of your last company. Your interviewer wants to know more about you as a job candidate not about how your last company was run. Keep emotion out of the interview, give a quick soundbite about why you left that job, and continue to keep the light on yourself and why you\u2019re perfect for the position you\u2019re interviewing for.<\/p>\n<p>If you spend too much time talking about how bad your last job was, your potential employer might think that\u2019s how you\u2019ll talk about their company in the future.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><strong>Show What You Learned<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Try not to place all the blame on that old company. What was it that finally made you leave? Focus on that element, and turn your leaving the company into a learning experience.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, perhaps there was uncontrollable gossip in the office due to a lack of clarity from management regarding the future of the company. Instead of saying that you left because \u201cpeople wouldn\u2019t stop talking about me behind my back,\u201d opt for something positive:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a lack of clear vision for the company going into the future, and this trickled down into discontent among employees.\u00a0 To be honest, I wasn\u2019t sure where things were going either. However, I eventually realized that sitting around wondering about things wasn\u2019t going to do anything to change my circumstances. I researched ways for the company to improve, and brought them to my supervisor to forward up the chain. When no action was taken regarding those concerns, I decided to leave the company. I wish them all the best, but I think for me, personally, it\u2019s time for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n<h6>Original article <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.expresspros.com\/movinonup\/2018\/10\/so-you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview.html\">here<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written By: Movin&#8217; On Up Blog Where do you even start? Sometimes a good company goes bad. This can be for a range of reasons: from sketchy financial situations and harassment issues to nepotism and endless gossip. The possibilities are practically endless. Regardless, the result is the same\u2014you probably leave. But while interviewing with new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[95,531,72],"class_list":["post-74000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews-2","tag-interview","tag-work-culture","tag-workplace"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Interview Tips - Get The Job You Have Always Wanted<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keep emotion out of the interview, give a quick soundbite about why you left that job, and continue to keep the light on yourself and why you\u2019re perfect for the position\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/index.php\/you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview Tips - Get The Job You Have Always Wanted\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keep emotion out of the interview, give a quick soundbite about why you left that job, and continue to keep the light on yourself and why you\u2019re perfect for the position\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/index.php\/you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expresss Employment Professionals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-07T14:18:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-26T06:56:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/expresspros.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Blog-headers-9b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"715\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vicky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"vicky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expresspros.co.za\\\/index.php\\\/you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expresspros.co.za\\\/index.php\\\/you-left-a-toxic-work-culture-how-do-you-explain-that-in-an-interview\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"vicky\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expresspros.co.za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5f9b52de6dd9c6be1a466b977ee7ae84\"},\"headline\":\"You left a toxic work culture &#8211; 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