How do I tell potential employers I want out of a job after 2 mo?

October 11, 2016 8:17 AM

Been at a job for 2 months. Not what I was told it was be. I want to bail but concerned how potential employers will see this. What do I do?

After 10 years of hell, I was hired at a new company two months ago. When I interviewed, I knew ad agencies were notorious for long hours and/or travel. However, since this is in a segmented market, I know it's rare for continuous long hours.

I specifically told the VP/boss that in no uncertain terms am I looking for long hours and I want work-life balance. I asked specific questions such as what time do people get out of the office, how often are weekend hours required, work from home required, etc. They told me it's dead by 5:30 and weekends are rare.

Well a month into it, the VP told all of us "no one works as hard as I do. This 8-hour time sheet is bullshit and from now on, if you have plans but work needs to be done, you must cancel them. I am all for work/life balance but work comes first. All of you better start putting in over 8 hours every day."

Also a month into it, I heard that they went through 5 employees since January and I witnessed 1 walk out after 2 weeks of being here. The last person in my position upright quit on the spot after 3 days. We are a very, very small division of a larger agency and our division is considered "a start-up". But it's also known via Glassdoor that this division is hell on earth with the VP's behavior (think working for Gordon Ramsay).

I get that work must get done but I see my son a total of 1 hour or less each night and weekend. He's 7 and well, this is not what I signed up for. It sucks because I like the atmosphere/people and the work is interesting becuase I HATED the corporate life after 10 years. But I don't want to spend my life working 12 hour days until retirement. Honestly, I probably would stick it out for a year if it wasn't for these ridiculous hours. I hated the corporate life THAT much.

So how do I handle my resume/interviews showing that I wish to leave my current job after 2 months? Do I put an explaination in a cover letter? Do I say nothing until and interview and be honest? Does my honesty make it seem like I'm lazy? I have ONE contact who is going to let me apply at his agency (and touted work/life balance. He said he works from home often and is done by 5...and he will be my boss) and he knows the schpeal as to why I want to leave.

But I'm concerned about the image it projects. I'm an ACD here but should I put it as freelance and fib that my time is up?

How do I handle it?

posted by stormpooper to Work & Money (19 answers total)

"Policies were changed right after I started, and it's not a good fit unfortunately." Moving on after just a couple of months is really not that rare; no need to fib.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:19 AM on October 11, 2016 [29 favorites]

"The job wasn't what I was led to expect."

This is not unusual. I would say nothing about it, probably wouldn't put it on my resume, but if absolutely cornered I might vaguely suggest it was temp/contract.

I heard that they went through 5 employees since January and I witnessed 1 walk out after 2 weeks of being here. The last person in my position upright quit on the spot after 3 days

Yeah, no, just get out.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:29 AM on October 11, 2016 [8 favorites]

2 months is easier to explain than 10 months. It's easy to get told that a job is something that it isn't, and I think all hiring managers have been through that scenario (or heard about it) at least once.
posted by xingcat at 8:33 AM on October 11, 2016 [14 favorites]

Fib away. Unless you need a security clearance, they're totally not going to care.
posted by Melismata at 8:36 AM on October 11, 2016

I think it's not a problem at all to say that a job wasn't a good fit, and the sooner you do it, the better. You can get as specific as you want if pressed, but I wouldn't fib about it.
posted by getawaysticks at 8:37 AM on October 11, 2016

Don't lie. It's terrible advice. Aside from there being nothing about your situation that needs covering up, recruiters and hiring managers are not stupid, and there's a good chance they'll figure things out. Would you rather have to explain a lie or a lousy job situation?
posted by mkultra at 8:44 AM on October 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

Be semi honest while getting your next job, and after that this job can drop off your resume or stay, as you desire.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:48 AM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

I would bet the other places you end up applying -- if it's in the same industry -- know that where you work now sucks. Don't worry about it.
posted by thirdletter at 9:15 AM on October 11, 2016

I wouldn't even bother listing it on my resume, I would just fold that two months into the time it took for my previous job search, or say I took some time off to spend with family, traveled, whatever.
posted by Bretley at 9:17 AM on October 11, 2016 [3 favorites]

You're a professional and in my opinion, recognizing your own value should make you more attractive to a company - at least the kind you want to work for - not less. Somebody bait and switched you, you're worth more than that and you're taking your skills elsewhere.
posted by ftm at 9:22 AM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

You don't even need to list it on your resume.
posted by J. Wilson at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2016

I mean, you'll probably want to put it on there for this current job search so that it doesn't look like you're unemployed, but once you get a new job, you never have to list it again. There's no rule that your resume has to list every place you've ever gotten a W-2 or a 1099 from. Get a new job, then erase it.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:34 AM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

For such a short tenure (3 months or less) I agree you can just leave it off your resume entirely. Otherwise, if you choose to list the position or need to explain the situation in more detail, you should avoid speaking too negatively about your employer or particular individuals there but you can certainly say that the work duties and conditions turned out to be substantially different than what you understood at the time you were hired. Everyone gets one or two "freebie" short tenure jobs over the course of their career and this can be one of yours.
posted by 4rtemis at 9:40 AM on October 11, 2016

Be honest but not bitter.

I would much rather hear a candidate is smart and proactive enough to recognize a bad fit and move on (and mould it into a positive learning experience / interview story!) than one who's leaving the same role two years later but who's hated it from day one and done nothing about it.
posted by citands at 9:43 AM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Regarding dropping it off, I agree after I get hired at another company but in regards to my previous, I lost my job in May and was unemployed until August 1. However, my husband was in a serious car accident a week after I lost my corp job so I know I can always say that I took the time off to take care of him prior to being hired.

Would that gap be an issue too?
posted by stormpooper at 9:47 AM on October 11, 2016

Short-term leave for a family emergency is certainly not an issue at anywhere that you want to work (if it's an issue, then you don't want to work there). As for gaps in general: as a hiring manager, as long as the person with the gap is honest about it when I ask, it's never affected their employability.
posted by Mogur at 10:48 AM on October 11, 2016

I would put it on your resume now, but not address it in your cover letter. As a hiring manager, it wouldn't be a total red flag, but I would be curious and probably ask you about it in your interview. I think how you frame it there is important - you want to say enough so that it doesn't sound like you're hiding something, but not so much that you're trashing your current employer.

I would say something like "After I was hired, I realized that I wouldn't be able to do my best work there because it just isn't a great fit. However, I really thing Xcompany will be a great fit because Y and Z reasons." If they press you on it I think it's ok to tell them what happened, especially if you frame it in terms of your ability to do your best work.

FWIW, as a manager I think that VP is an idiot. Anyone with brains knows that working longer does not mean producing more or better work, especially in creative or knowledge fields. I would be totally fine with you as a candidate if I heard that story as your reason for leaving, but if you just said "the hours were not conducive to work-life balance" without more detail, I would worry just a little bit that you were going to be someone who didn't work hard. I know that's not fair, but hiring managers don't really have much to go on. So I think if they press, you should give these details.
posted by lunasol at 11:30 AM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Two months isn't unheard of at ad agencies, unfortunately. The good news for you is that most people in this world have heard horror stories about rival agencies, if they haven't experienced the horror stories firsthand.

I don't think you need to leave this job off the resume, either. Some recruiters specifically look for previous experience at an agency as a primary job requirement. If you came from a corporation or working in-house somewhere, it may help to have an agency on your resume, even if it was short.
posted by pourtant at 9:33 PM on October 11, 2016

I once left a job after six weeks, for somewhat similar reasons. (Turns out I was the third person in the role in a year, due to the Jekyll/Hyde VP.) I was honest in future interviews - said "it wasn't a good fit" (true), but then explained why I believed Future Company was a better fit. I eventually dropped that brief stint from my resume.
posted by writermcwriterson at 9:00 AM on October 12, 2016 [1 favorite]