MOST importantly - what do I tell prospective employers about what happened in my last job, the next time I am interviewed?
I was laid off after 11 months because my skill set wasn't the best fit for them. I didn't come up to speed quickly enough for them on how to do a website audit the way the company wanted me to do them. I excelled in blog topic ideation, and created a backlog of articles for them for the entire year, very quickly, efficiently and effectively. I also did very well with creating highly detailed, well researched, and in-depth content outlines for the freelance writers. And I wrote a couple of professional articles that are published on my employer's blog.
My last interview was a total bust regarding what happened in my last role. He hyper focused on it and didn't even want to hear why I am qualified for the position. He asked for my supervisor's name! The second time this has happened in a recent interview. People never have asked me for my supervisor's name, not in my history or past interviews. AND, I got flustered when he became overly focused on my last role, and didn't sell myself well after that point.
Also, I had told my interviewer that I had had to take a medical leave of absence, and that my doctor recommended I return to a modified position, and that's how my responsibilities changed. I felt I had to tell him this, because he asked directly: what were you hired to do?
The complete opposite scenario: two executive partners of a digital marketing agency firm did NOT focus on what happened in my last job at all. One of them had told me my resume was fantastic. I got rejected for the job in the end because I didn't have enough experience working on enterprise-level websites, or sites that are hundreds of thousands of pages. Or so they said. At the same time, this is when I was lying on my resume & had given my last role a made up job title - SEO Content Manager, which matches the job responsibilities that I ended up with. My original job title - SEO Manager - does not match the job responsibilities I ended up carrying.
I decided recently that I shouldn't lie on my resume. IF I change my job title and they find out it's not the right title when doing background checks, I could get fired for lying or rejected for the job.
I am soooo at a loss as to what to say to employers about what happened in my last job. If I say I was laid off, they may ask, what were the circumstances of the layoff? If I say that my skill set wasn't the best fit for them, I have to explain WHY. And that opens the door to explaining that my job completely changed, after having taken a medical leave of absence.
I am so afraid that I am royally screwed.
What do I tell employers?
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"Twenty-five years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope for a destination"
~4 Non Blondes
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