How to gracefully leave a new job

Question

I have a unique situation I want to bounce off you. I've had to change companies recently because of some downsizing in my department. So I interviewed for months and then finally got a really excellent, well paying job at a very big company. This is company 'A'.

However I've always dreamed of a career at Verizon (not company 'A'). I've just started at company 'A' this week. I started last Monday.

Before company 'A' finalized their background check (which took two weeks and included a delayed start date) I did a phone interview at Verizon. That interview went well. And I'm supposed to interview in person at Verizon tomorrow.

One big reason I'm still going on the interview tomorrow with Verizon (besides the fact that I've always wanted to work there) is that I've had lunch with different employees every day this week. And they all badmouth the company I just joined (company 'A').

They all talk bad about the managers and the work. I've never had an experience like this, where everyone I talk to has such negative things to say about the company I was working at. Company 'A' was described as a 'sweat shop' and worse and the managers were portrayed in a negative light.

So my question is, when I interview with Verizon and they ask if I'm still at the company previous to company 'A' (we can call that company 'C') how to explain why I resigned?

Do I forcefully and honestly explain the situation to them? That I left company 'C' to join company 'A'. And everyone I speak to at company 'A' has terrible things to say about it. And I'm very excited by the possibility of working at Verizon? Or do I just leave company 'A' out and say that I resigned for other reasons?

Also what reasons could I give? Because I resigned because I got the job at company 'A' and company 'C' was downsizing.

Because they are going to find out I resigned before I interviewed with them when they do their employment history check.

Answer 1

You may want to delay your interview with Verizon by six months or a year. It's not a particularly good look to leave a company after a few days because something better came along. Verizon could rightly assume that you may do the same thing to them when another company comes along next week with a better offer.

If you stick it out at 'A' for a while then you can achieve two things. You won't look flaky, and you will be able to form your own opinion about 'A' independent of what your current colleagues think. There are plenty of companies that have poor reputations for various reasons, but those reputations may or may not turn out to reflect the true culture of the company.

My advice to you is to politely tell Verizon that you have just accepted another position and will not be proceeding with the interview at this time. Ask them to stay in touch with you. Their recruiters will be more than happy to keep you on their books - no recruiter wants to lose a promising candidate and waiting six months is better than losing you altogether.

Stay with 'A' and form your own opinion of them. If you find that it is a sweatshop with horrible managers then leave and go to Verizon. When they ask why you left after six months you now have a totally reasonable explanation.

If you do decide to interview with Verizon immediately then the best thing you can do is to be honest. If they ask then explain the situation and why you made the decisions you did. Attempting to hide your short time at company 'A' will make you look untrustworthy and that will guarantee that you never work for Verizon.