Left the job without serving notice period and now I'm in an interview with an MNC. Should I be worried ? Will they find out?

Question

This is going to be long, so please bear with me. After my graduation, I immediately joined a company. I worked there for about 5 months and I resigned from my job there to go to a better company. Please note that I left this company by serving the notice period and on good terms. I do have the relieving letter from this company.

My second company asked me to sign an employment contract (Bond) with them, I agreed to it. They gave me the legal documents to sign it, but they forgot to get it back from me. Due to the hectic schedule, I forgot to sign it and it was left in my cupboard, unattended. Eventually, I forgot about it. My new job was hell. I was asked to work for 14 hours daily and even on Sundays (which was the only work off day in a week). The work environment was hostile and superiors were borderline verbally abusive. After 2 months, I had enough of them and decided to quit the job. I told my manager and the general manager about this in person and left the job. I got no call or email from my employer regarding my absence, however, my last month salary was withheld.

Then I joined a small scale industry (my third company) and worked there for 2 months and I left them on good terms. I do have a relieving letter from them.

Now I'm in the final round of an interview with a big MNC. I did not mention anything about my stint with the second company in my resume. I have the relieving letter from both the companies that I have mentioned in my resume. But I'm afraid that they will find out about the second company anyway through EPF (Employee Provident Fund) or UAN (Universal Account Number used to map provident fund accounts to a user) account or through the background verification. How can I handle this situation?

Answer 1

You are free to organize your curriculum vitae as you see fit, and this means mentioning the jobs that are relevant to the position you are applying. However, you should keep in mind that you have nothing to hide. You should include your second job on your curriculum.

I see from your answer that you feel like not signing the Bond is your responsability, but it is yours as much as it's the company's fault. They should have requested it back after a couple of days. Legally speaking, the company can't come after you because you didn't sign anything and if they accuse you of breaking the bond (which you didn't), they have absolutely no proof of this. For anyone reading your curriculum, your second job will be seen as some sort of "experience period" that didn't go ahead and the worst it can happen is the interviewer ask you "why you quit". The best part of it is that you already have an honest answer for this and it doesn't concern your skills.

As you stated on the question, the environment was verbally abusive. I think this is a pretty easy thing to explain without giving the impression that you are a difficult person.

Answer 2

Quite the sticky wicket you've got, isn't it. Short answer: If there is a strong likelihood that a future employer will confirm that you agreed to work for the company that you basically blew off, then you should disclose it immediately. Provide the disclaimer but don't go into a long, drawn out explanation. You're not asking for forgiveness, you are simply stating facts so it doesn't come back to bite you, later.

Answer 3

Quite the dilemma! And congrats on your exciting interview!

I think you're in just fine shape here and you have little need to worry. It's perfectly ok to not volunteer information during interviews, so long as you're not misleading anyone and you're honest when potential employers ask questions.

I recently left a very hostile environment and had a hard time answering the "why are you leaving" question during interviews because I didn't want my interviewers to think I was a difficult person. When they asked questions like that, I said, "I'm a little hesitant to explain, but there is a serious hostile problem at blank company. I'm hesitant because I really can get along with just about anyone."

I suggest you explain something similar - highlighting how great you are to work with but not coming across as arrogant or fake. Remember that people are pretty darn good at spotting non-authentic statements.

Also - it's ok to completely erase bad company experiences from your profile and resume.