The tip this week is about being honest. I am going to give you an example of how to explain a situation at interview which you feel will prevent you from getting the job. In my example, the situation is about being dismissed.

I was interviewing for a management position this week and noticed from the candidate’s CV that he was not currently in work. The gap between the last job and the interview was about six months. So I asked the candidate why he left his last position. The candidate was direct and said that he was dismissed. In his view it was an unfair dismissal and he was in the process of taking his former employer to a tribunal to fight his case. We then talked about the circumstances of the dismissal and it did appear that the candidate had been the victim of an unfair dismissal. We then proceeded with the rest of the interview and identified that the candidate had the relevant experience for the role. He was then recommended to proceed to the next stage of the selection process.

If the candidate had attempted to ‘cover up’ or in any way avoid talking about his experience this would have had more of a negative effect than the actual position he was in. The candidate was clear, straightforward and objective about his case which meant that he came across as a credible candidate.

If there is something in your past that you would prefer to gloss over – don’t. Most companies verify qualifications, take up references from previous employers and do background checks so they are likely to find out about your ‘secret’ anyway. It is much better for you to bring the situation up – than the company to discover it after you have started work. This would result in a dismissal which would be very difficult to explain.

One word of caution – this tip applies to serious issues: dismissal, criminal records, health issues etc. We will advise you how to handle poor exam results, lack of relevant work experience, issues which should be handled in a completely different way, in next week’s tip.