What to do

I am in a bit of a strange position.

I applied to a company when I was working for my current company and gave few rounds of interviews.

Subsequently I was made redundant and now I have final rounds with the company I applied for when I was still working.

Do you think I must let the new company (where I am interviewing) know that I am no longer with my current employer and the reasons or should I just say that I am still with them to maintain the consistency since for all the earlier rounds I was still with them and had good reasons to move?

My telling the reality might also scuttle the chances since I am in the last round ?

My first thought is: "How long is this recruitment process taking that you manage to go from oblivious of redundancy, to "at risk", to confirmed redundancy, and all the way past your last day at work?"

My second thought is: "If this person's getting booted out of the door so quickly, is this really redundancy or is it dismissal?"

At the end of the day, if the circumstances of termination from your previous employment were such that they would threaten your chances of another job, then this is going to come out when your references are checked. Best thing is to tell the company you're interviewing with sooner rather than later, so they don't jump to conclusions when they see your dates of employment.

Thanks. This is for a Big4 and the process has well taken over 3 months so I guess you can understand. Well I have been through those stages that you have described all througout.

But during my first interview I was still an employee and niether at risk.

I wouldn't be concerned about how it reflects. Play on the positive and use to your advantage some angles would be:

* vs competition for role you have an advantage - you are available immediately they are most probably 1-3 months away - if indeed they accept which you as you have no obstacles would

• previous company were offering redundancy - you volunteered and as they are aware you were looking to leave already so you took a package and had a holiday

• the process once you indicated you wanted to go was swift you were working on key bids for them which meant they wanted you out this suited you

• unless you did something really illegal all your previous company can do is confirm dates etc - if they slag you off you can sue

• get reference from manager / pm or other from previous company you know will be good - if they did slag you off this would at least call it into doubt