Redundancy
  

If you were a part of a small company that did not survive its early stages of growth and development, or part of a more established company that could not survive, the broad strategies for presenting your situation to an interviewer remain largely the same. But there are a few additional pitfalls to watch out for. For instance, I find that many employees who are coming from this situation tend to second-guess the decisions they made about their former company's strategies and financial decisions. If the company was relatively small, and these former employees exercised a strong voice in the company's direction, they often berate themselves before interviewers without recognizing it. To explain the downfall of their former company, they say things such as, "I was a key part of the company. Unfortunately, we did not formulate a coherent strategy, so when we tried to implement it, the company failed," or, "It was a small company. We did not know how to market ourselves. We were a bunch of novices who should have done more homework before launching our business."

Comments like these, while reflecting your true sentiment, will likely prove very troublesome in the interview process. How poorly an inter-viewer perceives such comments will depend on the situation. For instance, suppose Jill is applying for a job that requires excellent mar­keting skills. Obviously, if she says, "We did not know how to market ourselves. We were a bunch of novices who should have done more homework before launching our business," this explanation of the downfall of her prior company is likely to be extremely damaging. In essence, she is saying, "I don't know how to market at all, and my decisions ended in disaster." The comments will certainly have a devastat­ing effect on the interview outcome because Jill is applying for a job in marketing.

It is much better to present any shortcoming in a more positive light, emphasizing the challenges you faced and the decisions that went right. Similarly, it is important to point out lessons you learned from the poor outcomes. To many companies, your firsthand experience of what not to do in a company can be as important as knowledge about what to do in order to succeed. Here is an alternative answer that Jill could have presented about why her company failed:

Our company was a very dynamic one, and I felt honored to be chosen as one of ten employees of this start-up. So many things went right: We developed a novel idea, we constructed an outstanding business plan, and we brainstormed effectively as a team to determine how best to implement our strategy. Everything was going relatively smoothly, but then we hit the rough waters of the recession.

Funding everywhere seemed to dry up as investors became much more cautious. We miscalculated how much money we would have available for our marketing campaigns, and this proved to be a notable mistake. Our otherwise sound marketing plan simply could not be implemented successfully on 40 percent of the funds we had expected to draw on. Without our planned marketing campaigns, our company did not grow our client base adequately, and soon we could not meet our financial obligations. It was a difficult and disappointing experience to close down the company, but I have learned a great deal about putting together a great business plan and developing contingency plans for what to do if funding evaporates. Unfortunately, in my former com­pany, we did not have a contingency plan in place. But I have those valuable experiences now to draw on in my next job.

Excellent! This presentation is much more attractive to the employer. The information conveyed to the employer paints the candidate as a successful professional who took the risk and initiative to participate in a dynamic start-up. Even though the start-up failed, the candidate maintains a positive attitude and relates that she has learned valuable lessons she can draw on in the future. This turns her experience into a positive and continues to paint her as a success in spite of this one busi­ness shortcoming.