Speaker 1: Welcome back to our Ask Me Anything segment where Gerald
Speaker 1: and I take on a work-related question that you have
Speaker 1: sent to us. Now today's question was sent in by
Speaker 1: a listener who I'll call Xavier. He says he's in
Speaker 1: his twenties and has just resigned from a job. Now,
Speaker 1: initially he thought he was not the right person for
Speaker 1: the job, but after stating his intention to leave,
Speaker 1: And he told his manager the interactions were a bit disappointing. Now,
Speaker 1: it sounded like Xavier was not sure whether he was
Speaker 1: set up for success in the first place. OK, let
Speaker 1: me give you an example of what he said. I
Speaker 1: knew that I was the first official hire for the position,
Speaker 1: but I was also saddened to hear from my manager
Speaker 1: that they knew from the start that having a less
Speaker 1: experienced individual like myself was not going to work out.
Speaker 1: And that the higher ups wanted someone like myself on
Speaker 1: board because I was much less experienced and therefore would
Speaker 1: not command as high a salary. Yeah, so Xavier is
Speaker 1: now searching for jobs, OK, and he wonders if he
Speaker 1: should disclose what he went through in his next job interview.
Speaker 1: If asked for his reasons for leaving, should he say
Speaker 1: what he went through? Will it hurt his chances of
Speaker 1: getting a job? Wow.
Speaker 2: So sounds like there's actually a few things happening here, right?
Speaker 2: The first one is, of course, Xavier and his feelings
Speaker 2: about how he has departed from the last job, and
Speaker 2: this has a lot to do with how he feels
Speaker 2: that
Speaker 2: He was set up for failure, right? I think it's
Speaker 2: probably quite confusing for Xavier because when you get into
Speaker 2: a job first and then you thought that you're the
Speaker 2: best person hired, and in Xavier's case, he probably thought
Speaker 2: there was a case and then when things didn't work
Speaker 2: out and he wanted to resign and the boss told him, uh,
Speaker 2: actually we kind of know that you're going to fail. Yeah,
Speaker 1: can
Speaker 1: you imagine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and
Speaker 2: and then we only got you in because you know
Speaker 2: you were cheaper. OK, OK, so I can imagine Xavier
Speaker 2: and we can imagine how it's very confusing for him, right?
Speaker 2: And this definitely would um dent his confidence for the
Speaker 2: future job interviews, especially if he has to ask, he
Speaker 2: has to tell people like why he he wanted to
Speaker 2: resign without a job. Yeah, yeah. So I think this
Speaker 2: being a very confusing time for Xavier. Xavier would probably
Speaker 2: need to
Speaker 2: Find some closure or some way of thinking or reframing
Speaker 2: this situation so that it doesn't get carried forward to
Speaker 2: the future. I think there can be a lot of resentment,
Speaker 2: a lot of disappointment, help with the previous job, and
Speaker 2: this can actually easily show in the next job. During
Speaker 2: the interview when employers, the HR, they are sniffing for
Speaker 2: anything that is not.
Speaker 2: Proper, they were probe a little bit more, a little
Speaker 2: bit more, and then it gets out. So Xavier has
Speaker 2: to really come to terms with this situation first. If
Speaker 2: you were in Xavier's suit, what
Speaker 2: would you do?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what, it's true, the psychological part is
Speaker 1: going to be very difficult, but also at the same time, OK,
Speaker 1: I'm a very half glass full kind of person.
Speaker 1: So I think the first thing I would do after
Speaker 1: I have licked my wounds and tell myself it's not me,
Speaker 1: it's them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's not me,
Speaker 1: it's them. I think it would be to also see
Speaker 1: that actually, even if I was the only person for
Speaker 1: that role, even though less experienced, cheap, but you know what,
Speaker 1: there must be something in me that the employer found
Speaker 1: that I was hireable. Otherwise they could have just kept
Speaker 1: the position open.
Speaker 1: So maybe I will need to reflect back on all
Speaker 1: the things that I've done and ask myself, what is
Speaker 1: it that I can bring to the next job role?
Speaker 1: Are there transferable skills? Are there things that I would
Speaker 1: consider my strengths.
Speaker 2: You
Speaker 2: brought up a really important point, right, that it's it's them,
Speaker 2: not you.
Speaker 2: And you were picked for the job as the best
Speaker 2: possible hire at that price at that point of time.
Speaker 2: So I think these are positives, the silver linings that
Speaker 2: Xavier can take along with him. I think Xavier has
Speaker 2: to remember that he was doing a job that was
Speaker 2: scoped to a higher level, more experienced. He was trusted
Speaker 2: with kind of responsibility.
Speaker 2: And this is something that Xaia can probably take forward
Speaker 2: to the next employer to share that, you know what,
Speaker 2: I was doing a job that was for someone that
Speaker 2: was a lot more experienced. I learned a lot from it.
Speaker 2: I realized that I needed to find something else.
Speaker 1: Yeah and I can take on more. I have proven
Speaker 1: that I can take on more, so that's why I'm
Speaker 1: applying for this job.
Speaker 2: I also like to think that from Xavier's perspective, why
Speaker 2: would the boss tell Xavier, you know, this,
Speaker 1: that is such a low.
Speaker 2: Whether it low move or is it, could it be
Speaker 2: because they actually have quite an open relationship, like good communication,
Speaker 2: they trust each other to say the
Speaker 1: boss trust him I don't know Xavier,
Speaker 2: could be that the supervisor really said that to maybe
Speaker 2: make Xavier feel that it's not you, it's actually us.
Speaker 2: We did a mistake, so I'm I'm trying to do
Speaker 2: something good by telling you that, but of course it
Speaker 2: has that the other unintended effect on Xavier, which is
Speaker 2: why why Xavier wrote in.
Speaker 2: So I do think that open communication could be something
Speaker 2: that's also of a silver lining to show that you
Speaker 2: know what those things didn't work out, you still could
Speaker 2: get along with the people in your company.
Speaker 1: Well, Xavier, I I hope that your situation becomes better
Speaker 1: and both of us are really sorry that you were
Speaker 1: put in this position, but like we have been talking
Speaker 1: about here, I think there are silver linings in this situation.
Speaker 1: You can use some of these as you approach your
Speaker 1: next job interview. Don't let this one setback affect you.
Speaker 1: So if like Xavier, you have a work-related question, do
Speaker 1: write into us. We are at CNA podcasts at Mediacorp.com.sg.
Speaker 1: We're also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, me, Listen, and YouTube
Speaker 1: where a video
Speaker 1: Version of this is at. The team behind the Work
Speaker 1: It podcast is Janaini Johari, Joanne Chan, Saya Win, Alison Jenner,
Speaker 1: Shahzad Dalilia and Christina Robert. Video by Hanida Amin. I'm
Speaker 1: Gerald and I'm Tiffany. Have a great work week ahead
Speaker 1: and don't let anybody tell you you are not good enough.