How should I address my leadership experience in an interview?

Question

In my last role, I did have a leadership role managing a team - for about a week. I couldn't handle the pressure of managing my own job - which was my first administrative office role, and an extremely huge undertaking in itself - with the leadership component, which was completely separate and another person's job in itself. My supervisor realised I was near the point of breakdown and accepted that it was too much, so hired someone else to pick up the leadership position.

In a job application, I wrote that I have leadership experience, which I recognise is true to an extent, but also it's a lie of omission. I have an interview coming up for this job, and I'm not sure how to talk about this experience if asked, or even if not asked. I can talk about what I did in the role, but it's pretty limited. Is it ethical to talk about this experience without mentioning the short duration? Should I talk around the experience? Or is there any scenario where being fully honest about my experience might not hurt my chances?

Answer 1

I think we all can agree on one point, a management experience worth "about a week" is not a viable experience in this context. Moreover, you could not handle the responsibilities and you had to let go of them to continue your existing work - all more signs of the fact that you're not yet prepared to handle those responsibilities.

I'd say, refrain from mentioning any leadership experience on your own in the discussion, as in current context it's not going to add any value to your resume.

If they notice the mention and ask explicitly, mention it was a short stint (without getting into too many details of the timeline) and also mention someone else was hired to take over the management aspect, while you moved on to focus on your individual work.

In addition to that, if you have any career goal to transition to a management / leadership position, you need to identify the shortcomings in you and seek proper training / mentoring before you try to venture into that role. All the best.