Until a few months ago I was working as a graphic designer at a reputable advertising agency.
There were times where I felt like I was struggling, and after almost two years my CD (creative director) had a chat with me to say that we would need to monitor how I got on over the next few months and may need to part ways if I don't make significant improvements. He said we would have a review a few months down the line.
I never actually heard anything more off my boss about it, and I ended up handing my notice shortly before my next review as I didn't want to have a sacking on my CV. I decided to go freelance in between jobs.
There were also a number of other things at my job that made me want to leave, mainly that there was no kind of support off my boss in terms of the things that would bother me (e.g. useless / disorganised project managers) and the projects I was getting were doing little to progress my career or portfolio.
Unsurprisingly, the staff turnover was quite bad and I found that most of the people leaving were infact newer than I was.
After a few months of freelancing I'm now looking for a new job.
The reason I've been stating for leaving...
I've been telling people that the main reason I left my job was because I wanted to build my portfolio through freelancing before looking for a new role (which is still true, but not the main reason for me leaving).
I'm a little conscious that potential employers might think that I threw away an amazing opportunity to progress my career. As mentioned earlier the job I had was at quite a reputable agency that many would love to work for (although many who did work there seemed to hate it). The fact I left after 2 years might look quite bad.
Should I be more honest at future interviews and tell them that I (almost) lost my job? or should I just continue pretending that I left purely of my own accord?