He was rejected for leaving a job in 6 months. Then this Delhi entrepreneur asked him one question

Job switches can often become a difficult part of the hiring process, especially when a candidate has spent only a few months at their previous organisation. A short tenure may raise questions about stability, commitment and long-term plans. But a Delhi-based entrepreneur’s recent hiring experience offered a different perspective. Kanika Jain took to social media to share the story of a candidate who had resigned within six months of joining his previous company and was repeatedly rejected by other interviewers. His answer to one question changed her view of his short tenure.

Candidate asks interviewer a question about his future

Kanika Jain said she interviewed a candidate who was serving his notice period after resigning within six months of joining his current company. During the interview, she asked him why he was switching jobs so soon. Instead of answering directly, the candidate asked her a counter-question: “Mam, what is the future for someone like me in your organisation?”

Jain asked him what he meant by the question.


The candidate explained that his current company had hired him with promises of growth, opportunity and a role that would help build his career. However, just a month earlier, the company had informed employees that it was facing losses and needed to let people go.

His 6-month tenure became a problem

According to Jain, the candidate said that every interviewer he subsequently met focused on his six-month tenure and rejected his application. This left him caught in what Jain described as a “vicious loop”. He had left his previous organisation because of circumstances beyond his control, but the short stint was now making it difficult for him to secure another opportunity.

Jain then asked him what he would do if her organisation faced a similar situation six months after hiring him. The candidate gave Jain a blunt answer. He told her that he would not leave and would do everything he could to help the organisation get through the difficult period. But he also wanted the organisation to have “equal faith” in him. Jain said she was “speechless” after hearing his response and agreed with his underlying point.

She observed that the candidate was being repeatedly asked to prove his loyalty to every new company he approached, while none of those organisations were being asked to prove their loyalty to him.

‘Trust is a two-way street’

For Jain, the conversation highlighted an important aspect of the employer-employee relationship. “Trust is a two-way street,” she wrote while sharing the experience on social media. Rather than treating the candidate’s six-month tenure as an automatic red flag, Jain decided to give him an opportunity. “I hired him,” she said.

What happened after he was hired

The candidate’s performance soon gave Jain a reason to reconsider the assumption that a short tenure necessarily indicates a lack of commitment. Within six months of joining, he was handling five client accounts, with 100% retention, according to Jain. The result, she said, proved that a short tenure is “not always a red flag”.

In her view, there are situations where a short stint may simply mean that an employee gave their best to an organisation that ultimately failed to live up to its promises.

Jain summed up her takeaway by saying that sometimes a short tenure “just means that a person gave his best to an organisation that was not worthy of it.”