Should I Be Honest About Why I Left My Job Due to a CEO's Affair? Seeking Career Advice

I have joined one of the leading healthcare firms. I was working as a Manager HR (MBA, M.phil-HR). Sometime back, I recruited a lady assistant for HR. Gradually, my CEO started to interact more with her, and she began to receive more importance. After some time, I discovered that they were having an affair. I also came across emails forwarded to the lady by the CEO, confirming their relationship.

Subsequently, the lady was promoted to Senior Manager HR within six months of joining, despite being a fresher. Despite receiving much advice, I brought this situation to the attention of my seniors. However, all they did was issue a warning to the CEO. I had numerous disagreements with the CEO, yet I was still compelled to report to her. Reporting to her made me compromise my self-respect. Eventually, I found another job and moved there.

If someone asks me why I left my previous job, should I tell the truth or use different words? Your guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated for my future career.

Dear Parijat,

What happened at your company is really unfortunate. However, if you tell the true reason in the interview for quitting the job, no interviewer will ever accept the real reason at face value. There are plenty of reasons such as too much conflict at the top level, the company's financial situation not being strong, inability to recover from the recession, lack of growth opportunities, and so on. This is what I can say.

DVD

Dear Parijat,

To add to what DVD has said, it will not be in your interest to tell the truth even if you could produce evidence. Rubbishing an ex-boss is not the right thing to do. If I were the new employer, I would think that you may criticize me too when you leave my firm and, hence, not employ you.

Tell them that you wanted to broaden your experience and have a more challenging job.

Have a nice day.

Simhan A retired academic in the UK