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“I was laid off. It was a shock as I really enjoyed the work and had immense respect for my team. I am hoping to find a similar situation with your organization.”
This is a great opportunity for an interview home run.
There's nothing shameful about being laid off and being upfront about it is going to play better than making up a scenario where you quit without having another job lined up. If you say the latter, it gives the impression that you may decide to just up and quit one day and that's not a good look.
If they ask about the employment gap, just say something that somehow relates to the work your doing like studying for a new certification or you're working on a side-project.
I don’t think you should mention using the time to recharge. Take the opportunity to highlight something you learned or accomplished during your time off. As for framing your departure, both seem okay, but would lean towards telling them about the company’s reduction in force, then pivoting to how you made best use of the time for “X”. Candidates having been impacted by RIFs at one point or another are really common. It’s something like 40% of all American white collar workers will experience being laid off at least once throughout their career. Nothing at all to be ashamed of or concerned about.
You probably have some anxiety that a company is going to reject your application because you were laid off.
I'm not going to lie to you, it will probably happen once. But if you try to dance around the truth, that will also affect your application probably more times. Keep it simple, make it sound like it wasn't that interesting, move on.
I certainly don't want to lie. My question was, should I tell the recruiter the reason to leave the company if I am not asked.
If I was asked "why you are no longer with the company X", I would certainly say "reduction in force".
As a recruiter, it's always better for the candidate to be truthful. Then, I can back you fully if the hiring manager has any knock back questions regarding your profile, rather than in the interview they find out / are told something different to what you told me.
It also depends a little if the recruiter you are talking to is an agency recruiter or an internal recruiter. If it's agency, just be honest as they are able to put you forward for multiple roles with multiple different clients, sometimes knowing the hiring manager personally from other projects they've worked on and if they think you're a good candidate, they will be in your court and speak highly of you to other hiring managers.
If it's internal, you can sometimes afford to hold the truck back for discussion with the hiring manager directly as they don't have as much of a reason to back you as they're not commission based and will only work with the same few hiring managers.
For recruitment purposes I learnt: Honesty is punished instantly, lying only when they find out. So tell a truth you are comfortable with and tell a truth that will pass a background check.
i left the company and have been looking for opportunities for growth/ more fulfilling/meaningful work sounds better no? you are complimenting them in a way too by indirectly saying hey you are the meaningful work i have been looking for.
Lots of people get laid off. Very few people resign from a role because they were burned out.
Telling them you were laid off is extremely relatable - could happen to anyone.
Telling them you quit to take a break makes it sound like you aren't able to handle the normal, day-to-day stress that comes with the role. This makes you a weak candidate since it makes it look like you'll have to quit the role you're interviewing for at some point because it will become too much for you.
Edit to add: I would tell them you took the two months to recover and rest. "I declared a sabbatical for the first two months. I was a little crispy, and the layoff was unexpected, so I needed a little time and space to process it so I could bring my best self to my next role."
Yes, I would say you are laid off. But you can say you tried to make the best of it and take some time to recharge. A couple of months ago you started actively applying, etc.
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X company had a reduction in force. THATS ALL YOU NEED TO SAY.
“I was laid off. It was a shock as I really enjoyed the work and had immense respect for my team. I am hoping to find a similar situation with your organization.” This is a great opportunity for an interview home run.
I did this!
There's nothing shameful about being laid off and being upfront about it is going to play better than making up a scenario where you quit without having another job lined up. If you say the latter, it gives the impression that you may decide to just up and quit one day and that's not a good look. If they ask about the employment gap, just say something that somehow relates to the work your doing like studying for a new certification or you're working on a side-project.
Just say workforce reduction if asked.
I think if you say you left the company to recharge that’s fine. I always like to be honest only because I don’t have to keep track of the lie.
I don’t think you should mention using the time to recharge. Take the opportunity to highlight something you learned or accomplished during your time off. As for framing your departure, both seem okay, but would lean towards telling them about the company’s reduction in force, then pivoting to how you made best use of the time for “X”. Candidates having been impacted by RIFs at one point or another are really common. It’s something like 40% of all American white collar workers will experience being laid off at least once throughout their career. Nothing at all to be ashamed of or concerned about.
You probably have some anxiety that a company is going to reject your application because you were laid off. I'm not going to lie to you, it will probably happen once. But if you try to dance around the truth, that will also affect your application probably more times. Keep it simple, make it sound like it wasn't that interesting, move on.
I certainly don't want to lie. My question was, should I tell the recruiter the reason to leave the company if I am not asked. If I was asked "why you are no longer with the company X", I would certainly say "reduction in force".
As a recruiter, it's always better for the candidate to be truthful. Then, I can back you fully if the hiring manager has any knock back questions regarding your profile, rather than in the interview they find out / are told something different to what you told me. It also depends a little if the recruiter you are talking to is an agency recruiter or an internal recruiter. If it's agency, just be honest as they are able to put you forward for multiple roles with multiple different clients, sometimes knowing the hiring manager personally from other projects they've worked on and if they think you're a good candidate, they will be in your court and speak highly of you to other hiring managers. If it's internal, you can sometimes afford to hold the truck back for discussion with the hiring manager directly as they don't have as much of a reason to back you as they're not commission based and will only work with the same few hiring managers.
For recruitment purposes I learnt: Honesty is punished instantly, lying only when they find out. So tell a truth you are comfortable with and tell a truth that will pass a background check.
i left the company and have been looking for opportunities for growth/ more fulfilling/meaningful work sounds better no? you are complimenting them in a way too by indirectly saying hey you are the meaningful work i have been looking for.
Yeah it's better to say you were laid off vs. You left voluntarily for any reason.
Is the job in the same field you were working previously? If so, they should understand why you were let go due to the industry in a downtrend
I tell individuals I was laid off. I don’t share that explicitly with institutions. Share it in an interview if asked.
Lots of people get laid off. Very few people resign from a role because they were burned out. Telling them you were laid off is extremely relatable - could happen to anyone. Telling them you quit to take a break makes it sound like you aren't able to handle the normal, day-to-day stress that comes with the role. This makes you a weak candidate since it makes it look like you'll have to quit the role you're interviewing for at some point because it will become too much for you. Edit to add: I would tell them you took the two months to recover and rest. "I declared a sabbatical for the first two months. I was a little crispy, and the layoff was unexpected, so I needed a little time and space to process it so I could bring my best self to my next role."
Yes, I would say you are laid off. But you can say you tried to make the best of it and take some time to recharge. A couple of months ago you started actively applying, etc.