Started with a small family owned company in 2021 as a GM and took over a high performing store. Did well in that store over the course of 3 years; improved operations, increased sales, improved team member morale and developed & promoted multiple team members into leadership positions. Leadership was okay. Definitely supported some stores better than others and showed favortism towards certain GMs but I had dealt with worse and they left me alone for the most part so I just kept going. Early 2024, I was then asked to take over a small, lower performing store that had recently lost it's GM and had some HR and employee issues that were supposedly resolved. After agreeing to the transfer, I discovered that the employee issues were not resolved and I was thrown into the middle of an HR storm that ended with losing 2 seasoned employees very early on (through no fault of mine). From that point on, I was left largely under staffed (the area has a very hard time with a good employee pool) and extremely unsupported, having the finger pointed at me for what happened even though I was put in the middle of it with no real knowledge of what happened prior to my arrival. Communication from leadership went from bad to worse (other GMs complained of this as well) and it became very "do as I say, not as I do" from their side. I felt underappreciated, overworked and very alone. I will never say I was perfect and I know that this effected my work. Never an issue with customers or quality or anything that would directly effect the guest or employee experience but some behind the scenes things that they were keeping tabs on. Some of these things were items I had asked for help with and was put off. Eventually, they let me go for it. They had been keeping tabs on these little things and though I was never formally written up, there were vague conversations that they kept documenting and used them against me. I had never been let go from a job before.

Started with a small family owned company in 2021 as a GM and took over a high performing store. Did well in that store over the course of 3 years; improved operations, increased sales, improved team member morale and developed & promoted multiple team members into leadership positions. Leadership was okay. Definitely supported some stores better than others and showed favortism towards certain GMs but I had dealt with worse and they left me alone for the most part so I just kept going. Early 2024, I was then asked to take over a small, lower performing store that had recently lost it's GM and had some HR and employee issues that were supposedly resolved. After agreeing to the transfer, I discovered that the employee issues were not resolved and I was thrown into the middle of an HR storm that ended with losing 2 seasoned employees very early on (through no fault of mine). From that point on, I was left largely under staffed (the area has a very hard time with a good employee pool) and extremely unsupported, having the finger pointed at me for what happened even though I was put in the middle of it with no real knowledge of what happened prior to my arrival. Communication from leadership went from bad to worse (other GMs complained of this as well) and it became very "do as I say, not as I do" from their side. I felt underappreciated, overworked and very alone. I will never say I was perfect and I know that this effected my work. Never an issue with customers or quality or anything that would directly effect the guest or employee experience but some behind the scenes things that they were keeping tabs on. Some of these things were items I had asked for help with and was put off. Eventually, they let me go for it. They had been keeping tabs on these little things and though I was never formally written up, there were vague conversations that they kept documenting and used them against me. I had never been let go from a job before.

I am now searching for employment and am very scared of the "why did you leave your last job?" question. Any help or guidance is appreciated.