Ask A Manager: how to explain to interviewers why I quit my job without another one lined up

[minoanmiss]

A reader writes:

I recently resigned from my position at my previous employer due to its toxic environment and unsupportive senior management. I was constantly being thrown under the bus. The position didn’t align with my career goals anyway, and I could no longer reconcile the fact that I was in a stressful, low-paying job I didn’t even want.

Now that I’m doing interviews, potential employers are asking me why left, and I don’t want to necessarily badmouth my previous employer. I typically say that it didn’t align with my career goals, but interviewers have been following up with questions like “Well, why didn’t you stay in your position until you found another job?”

Should I be honest? How can I answer the question without saying bad things about my previous employer, but give an answer they’ll accept?

Yeah, this is the problem with quitting with nothing else lined up: because it’s relatively unusual to do, it makes employers think there’s a story there, and it worries them. Were you fired? Forced to leave? Did you leave in a huff because you’re a prima donna? Or did you reasonably choose to get out of a situation that any reasonable person would find horrible? They don’t know. They realize that it could be that last one, but they also realize that it could be one of the others and that makes them nervous.

You can try an answer like “I wanted to to take some time and really focus on finding the right fit for my next move,” but even then most interviewers are going to assume there’s more to it. If you tack on “and I wanted to take a bit of time to help with some family issues” or something like that, it’s likely to resonate more with many people, so that’s another option.
But basically, yeah, this is one of the problems with quitting without another job. It’s not totally logical that people react that way (after all, if you’re able to afford potentially lengthy time off in between jobs, why shouldn’t you?) but it’s definitely A Thing that comes up in interviewing if you do it.

Comments

[xenacryst]

Hmm. So, one of the things that I'd go to AaM for, and in general, if I were looking for advice in a professional setting, is how to, for lack of a better word, spin a situation to my advantage. AaM utterly failed to do that in the answer, and a lot of the commentary is strangely focused on whether saying you were getting out of a toxic situation is harmful, neutral, or subjective. However, there's plenty we could tell the LW about what to say when asked about the situation that is some combination of truthful and satisfying to the hiring manager and also paints you in a decent light - some of the commentary touches on this. And there is a lot we could tell the LW about how to take advantage of the time without work that really improves your profile to a hiring manager - learn a skill, complete a project, etc. - and this is barely even mentioned in the commentary, much less by the AaM answer.

So color me confused by the discussion over there, and a bit disappointed - leaving a position without a new job lined up is hardly unusual in my line of work for a variety of reasons (understood that that varies), and being able to use that time and present it positively is absolutely a professional skill that should be imparted.