Job interview “Tell me why you left the last company?”?

Dreamlander: Job interview “Tell me why you left the last company?”?
I resigned from my last job because of sexual harassment. I do not want to tell the interviewer this. Is there anything better I can tell them that when they call my last employer; it will check out? Is it illegal for the last employer to give this info out? Thanks in advance!

Answers and Views:

Answer by alakit013
The best thing is to say the true.

Answer by c_mcgrae
I really don’t know if it is legal for a company to say why a person left. In my experience I believe they can only give information that relates to the type of employee you were and I do believe they can say if you left or if you were asked to leave but no details regarding either. Not honestly sure though.

Answer by chris.john
It is illegal for the previous employer to say anything bad about you. Chances are they will not even call the previous employer, it is just a formality that they ask. And don’t lie. Maybe just say that you felt that other employees “made you uncomfortable”. And to top this off with a cherry, you resigned, you were not fired. They will not hold it against you.

Answer by ms. teacher ft
your employer can not legally say why you were fired, whether you were fired, and why you left the last job. a good answer would be that you were loking for more challenging work and that you felt that there wasn’t room for growth at your last company. say that the opportunities there were limited and that you are looking for something more challenging with an opportunity to grow in your career.

Answer by kirstinlilloth
Most companies won’t call a previous employer. But, if you don’t want to give them the truth…I would probably say something like, “I felt it was time for me to broaden my experiences and job skills. I’ve been doing —- for —- years and I would like to expand my knowledge and experience.”

Answer by dreamcatcher8993
Find any little thing that’s different about this job, because it’s closer to home, or needed different hours, or wanted a new challenge.

Answer by Kylie_H
yes my father in law does hiring for a large company and he says the only thing they can ask is if you were fired and if they would recommend you (not sure about the second part, but it is something equally vague) although he did admit some employers of course do spill more, particularly if it was a big ordeal or if they particularly like/dislike someone…either way I dont think you should lie in case it does come out, but you can tell him something vague, as in “I felt it was time to move on” or ” I was ready to move on to something better (or more suiting to me)” which kindda compliments his company in the process and he may leave it at that. Pretty much they want to make sure you were not fired and did not walkl out. They like loyal employees in general.

Ps If the sexual harrassment thing does by chance come up, do NOT appologize. Stand firm and say it is not something you like/feel comfortable discussing but that it was in fact serious and you did what you had to to make sure you were safe. It is okay to use your rights and demand respect for yourself and or your body and any employer who doesn’t hire you because of that might know that their company has a big problem with it or something…Good Luck!! 🙂

Answer by niteowlpet
You could just say you left for personal reasons that you would rather not talk about. IF I am correct in my thinking, the former employer can only tell the prospective employer that you worked from this date to that date. Otherwise they are not suppose to say anything else. They are not suppose to give out derogatory details like she/he stole from us or she/he was lazy and did not do the job she/he was hired for. But they can tell the prospective employer that you were a pleasure to work with or an asset to the company and they were sorry to see you go.

Answer by tonnodesign
i build my own business now