I was working a manager position watching over a few guys. After being in the position for a couple of months, I kept hearing “that’s how it’s always been, it’s never changed” or “we have had a ton of turnover in your position”. Eventually I started to take charge or situations, wrote some people up for wage theft (caught on camera) and guys smoking weed during shift and being told to let it slide, I knew I was in trouble.
So after getting buttered up from my GM (who interviewed me before I took the job) and making the position look really attractive, it really wasn’t. I absolutely learned a ton of great stuff, but I only lasted 6 months. The gas lighting, and getting the “trust me it will get easier” after working 9 to 11 hours a day, or getting called 9 or 10 hours to the day and getting chewed out instead of waiting until the next day, enough was enough. I came home daily and just had no energy to enjoy personal time, I wrote a email saying I’d like to put in my two weeks and asked for 6 weeks of a grace period and said Sept 1 was my last day.
GM decided to change it to effectively immediately resignation and asked me to turn in my badge that day. Win for us both, honestly, but it very much accelerated my plans for doctor stuff, I only had a week until the end of the month.
So here I am now, of course chasing after the next thing. So with the next step coming, I’m looking for jobs. And with that I have to list references. The GM was a snake so I have references from my team that were other managers and don’t find any input from him to be valuable for the next job.
What are some ways that I can tactically/professedly answer questions why I left?
PSA: HR doesn’t give a F about your problems, they give a F about you becoming a problem.