by Chauncey Kenton

Created on: August 21, 2008

The best way to address this issue in an interview is to admit that you made a mistake when you took a job that was not right for you. The job may not have been right for any number of reasons. I think that an experienced professional, either an HR person in charge of hiring, or a future supervisor, will understand that we all make mistakes in our careers - the key to overcoming a bad decision is to learn from it.

Also, in this volatile marketplace, a job-hopping history may not be the result of bad decision-making on the employee's part, but rather a reflection of our current economy. I know a couple of people who started new jobs, and were out of work in a month's time due to a sudden decision by the company to cease business.

In my career, the jobs that I left after a short period of time were misrepresented to me in the interview process, or a decision was made to change the job shortly after I was hired. On one occasion, I was hired as a full-time accounting assistant to an overworked head accountant, and I looked forward to helping this man manage his tremendous workload. But the man was so busy he could never train me to do my job, and he acted like training me was going to be a huge imposition for him.

I sat for several months in a cubicle with nothing to do, and after the fourth month, I started my job search all over again. When I was asked why I left Company XYZ after working there only a few months, I explained that the accounting manager was extremely busy and that I had been hired at an inconvenient time for him. I explained that I was a person who liked to hit the ground running, and that the position at XYZ did not offer that opportunity. Also, I told the interviewer that I felt ethically bound to seek a new job where I could contribute more to the company for the money that I was being paid. This seemed to bridge the "credibility" gap on my resume, and made me more appealing to the new company.

In another situation in my career, I took a position in a company that had a lot of internal strife between supervisors of two different departments. My job was to do the budgets, and due to the conflict between my boss and the other boss, I was not getting the information I needed to do my job. The stress of having to walk on eggshells while trying to obtain needed information to complete my budget task took its toll, and I left that job after six months. I explained to the next person who interviewed me that company ABC had some internal conflicts that affected my ability to do my job the interviewer said she knew exactly what I was talking about, and we had a great conversation about office politics and the detrimental effect on employee morale and the company's performance. She was a seasoned professional she knew exactly what I was talking about, and she told me she appreciated my honesty in discussing the incident.

Let's face it - it's all about how you present the facts. Remember to use that positive spin and apply it to the facts of your job-hopping and any other "stinkers" on your resume. You shouldn't lie about your job history, but you should present the facts in a manner that the interviewer can relate to. Make the facts work in your favor!

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