Should I disclose I've left the firm in interviews?

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the situation. In terms of your question:

Q: For firms that I have already been interviewing, should I proactively mention I left the firm? And for firms that I apply after I left, I would suppose that I need to be upfront that I left the firm.

No need to mention it if they don’t ask.

If they ask why you want to move to that company, you can answer by referring to the positive elements you see in that company that were not present in your previous company.

The only situation where you have to say that you left the firm is if they ask explicitly if you did so. In that case, you will have to confirm you left. 

If they ask why, you can say that (i) there was a lack of business and the company decided to reduce headcount (assuming that’s true), plus (ii) you could have improved in X, Y and Z by doing specific actions (that you can explain). You learned the lesson and want to bring now your experience to the new firm.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there, 

You have no obligation to disclose why you left. 

You can also say that you decided to leave the job to look for other opportunities, in particular, because you wanted more of [insert the reasons why the firm you're interviewing with is great]. 

Don't make this harder on yourself by putting so much pressure. If anything, try to set up your application strategy so things are actually easy, and that means applying broadly across the industry. You can use the following guide for this:

• Maximising your chances of getting a consulting job during an economic downturn

Best,
Cristian

Hi,

don't lie when being directly asked, but don't offer these information proactively. If you need to talk about it though, it's actually not that uncommon that firms are downsizing in the current economic climate. So this is not necessarily a sign of failure on your end. 

Focus the conversation on what you want to do going forward and what appeals to you with respect to the role you are currently applying for.

Best of luck

I resonate with Francesco on this one. The specifics should be only on a need-to-know basis. Unless explicitly asked - just let it be.

Hi there,

agree with the other coaches here - don't mention, unless asked, but also don't lie about it.

Also, would not over-estimate how much the interviewer actually cares. Most don't at all. Leaving a role after 1 year is nothing unusual nowadays and there can be many legit reasons for it. The days when most folks in the corporate world spend half of or even their career with 1 firm and when someone gets bad looks for hoppingare long gone. The vast majority of employers understand that and for consulting firms its particularly true.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

You gain nothing from pro-actively sharing this! Just don't bring it up. If it comes up, focus on the positives (always).

If you're recruiting after the end date and they ask, you need to be upfront, but you can talk about the “truth” in a certain way. Emphasize what you learned. Emphasize positives of the experience. 

Ultimately, you can/should spin this in a way where it is still positive and viewed as a value-add to your candidacy.

Hello,

Good question. I would follow standard practice on putting month + year on your resume, and I would only disclose this information if you are directly asked about it in the interview. No need to volunteer it proactively, but do prepare a good narrative in case you are asked about it.

Here's what to do:

- Apply while you still have a job. As such, you can state in your resume that you are still working there

- You don't need to update your linkedin yet. It's fine if you take a couple of months to do it

- Don't lie, but don't offer any information that is detrimental for you.