Goals:

• Craft a narrative that highlights your strengths
• Explain your next career move in a positive sense

Please note, you don’t need to “pick” one of these. You can borrow what you like and leave out what you don’t to thread together a narrative you can confidently stand behind.

My personal take is that it’s more compelling to others when you believe in what you’re saying, than when you sacrifice authenticity to try to frame this in the way you think they want to hear it.

Hiring Managers are human beings too. They recognize and understand the challenges of chaotic, unstructured environments—and anyone worth working for is going to acknowledge that.

Potential Narratives

Honing Your Craft + Right Environment

• Key sentiment: I want to be somewhere I can do great work again.
• You’ve learned a great deal in your current role and have had opportunity to take on significant responsibilities
• You’ve realized you thrive best in more structured, collaborative environments with clear processes and a strong support system
• You’re eager to find a company where you can continue to grow and make a lasting impact (while maintaining a healthy work-life balance
• Your current company has undergone “some rapid changes” and you feel it’s time to move on to a role that aligns better with your values and long-term career goals
• Areas we want to avoid:
  • Blaming / talking shit about the CEO
    • A negative tone can get “stuck” toyou as a candidate, and leave hiring managers wondering if you’ll talk shit about them one day too
  • Talking about following other people out the door
    • You’ve seen many talented, valuable people have legitimately burned out in this specific environment; but this might also be a risk for focusing on the negative.

Finding the Right Fit