The toughest challenge faced by job seekers in the marketplace today is the interview.
As if that weren’t daunting enough, having left your last job under difficult circumstances may well even make this an even more terrifying prospect.
If you were sacked, or left under a black cloud, there is a possibility that you have some negative emotions around your
last job – and this is going to come across as soon as you’re asked about it.
You may be resentful, or be still trying to figure out how you can make yourself right, or how you can justify your actions. You may be feeling guilty, even though it wasn’t your fault. And your mind might go in to overload if you were asked, in the heat of an interview, “So, why did you leave your last position?”
The trick is to deal with this question before you even go to the interview.
Why?
Well, you may have heard Kevin talk about how if you’ve got emotional baggage around any issue, it is going to come across in the conversation, even if you don’t mention it! Kevin talks about boarding a plane, and not wanting to sit next to the passenger who has his stuff in a mess, strewn all over the other seats and the aisle. In the very same way your interviewer is also going to be put off by any emotional baggage you may be carrying.
We actually communicate a huge amount of information, subconsciously, in our energetic field, as well as our body language, and appearance.
Now, stowing any baggage around a sticky issue is one way to deal with it – but there will still be a sense that you are holding something back, and hiding something.
As a Money Coach, I actually use an emotional releasing technique with my clients to help them completely jettison any unruly baggage from their plane, leaving them clear and tidy for any impending situation. The process focuses on undoing the tangle of negative thoughts and emotions around a specific issue – in this case it would be anything upsetting about your last position. The full technique is beyond the scope of the article here, but, here is a short process you can go through, which will work wonders to getting you through that awkward question.
Get ok with the situation you had at your last job
Spend time mulling it over. You’ve probably been doing this anyway, but this time really focus on your thoughts. Instead of trying to attribute blame, to either yourself or your employer, let it be ok for it to have been exactly how it was. We waste a huge amount of energy wrestling with things in our minds, trying to make ourselves right or someone else wrong. No matter what happened, who did what, or how you felt, you now have the power to let it be, and let it go.
All experience is good experience, and it is all contributing to your higher wisdom. Each difficult situation you come through helps you evolve as a human being. Embrace this, and feel strong.
List all the good things about the job, and what happened when you left
This includes all the things you learnt, and all the benefits that came out of it. You may never refer to this list again. The thing is, in doing this, we are literally rewiring your brain in a positive way.
In this positive space now, how would you answer the question “Why did you leave your last position?”
Get creative if you need to!
Have an answer that is truthful, but positive. You may want to draw on some of the insights you had in making your positive list.
Now meditate on the response you came up with. Tweak as necessary. Try it out a few times either in the mirror, to a friend, or your furry companion. Get ok with it.
In doing this, by the time the question is asked at interview it won’t throw you. And better yet, you won’t have to spend any more time worrying about being asked it!
