“Why did you leave your last job?” It’s a pretty standard interview question, but how you answer it could be the difference between landing a new role and getting rejected. That seemed to be the case for a particular job applicant who didn’t realize that by telling the hiring manager her last job was toxic, she tanked her interview.
Job interviews are intense. Every single thing you say to the hiring manager matters more than you might want it to. Most people go in thinking that their experience or skills will be the deciding factor in whether they get the role, but sometimes things you think aren’t even relevant can matter more than whether you can actually perform the job.
A hiring manager rejected an applicant because she quit a toxic job.
“Apparently, leaving a toxic workplace is a red flag now,” an employee began in their Reddit post. “Overheard a conversation between a couple of coworkers this week and it honestly made me understand why the job market feels so [messed up] sometimes.”
The employee explained that the company they worked for had been looking for a front desk/secretary position. Their current front desk employee only works about 30 hours a week, and so the company was screening resumes and sending the “good” ones to their head of finance to find someone to fill the position.
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The current employee at the company admitted that the hiring managers had been acting unprofessionally when reviewing resumes, including laughing at someone who had attached a photo of themselves to their application.
“But then the finance lady started talking about an interview she did earlier in the week. She said the candidate was too overqualified and wouldn’t be getting a call back. The reason? When asked why she left her last job, the candidate said it was because of a toxic work environment.”
The hiring manager claimed that a toxic work environment wasn’t a ‘good’ enough reason to leave a job.
“So, apparently, being overqualified is bad, and leaving a toxic workplace is also bad. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but hearing that explanation kind of made the whole hiring process feel a lot more arbitrary,” the employee continued. “Is this actually a common mindset when hiring or was that just a weird take?”
Leaving a toxic work environment is definitely a good enough reason to walk away from a job, even if hiring managers don’t see it that way. Most employees, especially nowadays, are doing that more often as well. According to a survey released by employment platform iHire, 74.9% of US employees have worked in a toxic workplace, and 53.7% have quit their jobs due to a negative work environment.
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Among those who experienced workplace toxicity, 78.7% said bad management was the reason. When asked why they believed the company’s leadership contributed to toxicity, a lack of accountability and favoritism were the main concerns.
If a company or hiring managers find fault with an applicant for leaving their last job because of a toxic work environment, it’s safe to say the environment they’re cultivating for their employees probably isn’t positive either. Now more than ever, employees are choosing to prioritize their own sanity over staying loyal to a job that isn’t even treating them right. It actually sounds like this applicant was lucky they rejected her application.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
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