“I see you were with company XYZ for only a year… Can you explain to me why you were there for such a short time?” We’ve all been there. Sitting in an interview face-to-face with that dreaded question. How can you respond in a way that won’t be a red flag?

Whether you are just beginning your career, have been working for a few years and aren’t sure what’s next, or are ready to transition to a new career path, these tips will help you design a master plan for your career.

A few weeks ago, my friend Kevin turned me on to a Twitter conversation where a hiring manager tweeted about being annoyed because a candidate they were interviewing didn’t bring a copy of their resume. (Insert me checking the calendar… oh yeah, it’s 2021. Just making sure.)

One night back in 2015, I went out to dinner with a group of male coworkers. We had a good dinner and even better conversations. As we left for the evening, two of us split off from the group and headed for our cars on one end of the parking lot while everyone else went the other way. And that is when someone stole our joy.

After 10+ years in the professional world, I never thought a 45-minute breakout session could make me question everything that HR represents.