How to explain looking for new position so quickly

[Sweetcheripie]

Hello All -

 

I am in my early 40's and am a Realtor - have been for the last five years. I LOVE real estate and love helping people but last year things really slowed down and then almost dropped off completely last March. I am a single mom with two teens and I panicked. I refinanced my house to get through last year and after several months with no sales I decided to go back to pharmaceutical sales. I got into that right out of college and was successful at it but never liked it. But it is a decent salary and I took the first job that was offered to me.

 

I am SO grateful - I got the job and I don't want to sound ungrateful but I am unhappy in this position. It is a very small private company and it is not like big pharma in that the base is very low, they don't pay for a company car or even health insurance and the marketing is so hokey and unprofessional.

 

I have had the job for about 4 months. My territory was created by splitting another because the rep didn't want to travel as much. Unfortunately, it has much less potential than what I was led to beleive in the interview process (my territory population is about 1/3 that of 95% of the territories in the country)

 

Soooo I'm interviewing with other companies. I have a second inteview coming up with a larger more stable company. In the first phone interview she never asked about how long I have been working with my current company. I'm sure it will come up in the next interview. How do I explain why I am looking so quickly without sounding like a flake? Would I sound ridiculous if I am completely honest and say I panicked and took the position instead of holding on and waiting for something better?

 

Thanks so much for any and all input!

[brainless twit]

I would say that the opportunity was not what you were led to believe it would be. This gives you an opportunity to mention your strengths and why your current job doesn't allow you to use those strengths. Just be careful not to badmouth your current employer! You might mention that your position was the result of splitting someone else's territory in half, and that it was difficult to predict what the position would be like until you actually got started. That makes it sound less like you're mad at your employer and more like it couldn't be helped.

 

I left a horrible job after 3 months, and I was asked in my interviews why I was leaving so quickly. There were a million reasons, but I stuck to the job-related things I didn't like - not enough face-to-face time with clients, professional isolation, etc. - that I already knew would be different with the new company. I got the job and no one ever seemed to think I wasn't doing a good thing by leaving the first one.

[Sweetcheripie]

Thanks BT - that is helpful!