Q. I've been at my first job, a 70K-circulation daily, for eight months and it has been a bit of a bad situation.

We've lost 17 people -- mostly reporters -- since I arrived. Morale is rock bottom. My editors give little, if any, guidance or attempt to build a sense of teamwork. If it weren't for a few great co-workers who try to keep each other motivated, or at least out of the line of fire, I would be out of my mind.

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I'm looking to move on and want to make sure the next place I land is someplace I can grow as a reporter and writer and where I will want to be for at least three to five years both professionally and personally.

But how do I go about answering questions on interviews about why on earth I want to leave my current job after such a short time? Saying anything negative comes off as unprofessional, and I feel a bit like a politician steering the question away from why I want to leave to why I want to join such and such an organization -- particularly if it's simply one whose posting I saw online and not a newspaper I've been dying to write for my whole life.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Cautious

A. I'm sorry things are deteriorating there for you.

You have a keen understanding of one of the pitfalls to avoid in your interviews.

I would do it by framing everything in a positive way and in the future tense.

Joe Grimm

Rather than telling prospective employers that you you are bothered by turnover, disunity and lack of feedback, tell them what you are looking for. Tell them you want to find a place with greater stability and mentoring, teamwork and editing or on-the-job training.

If someone presses you to describe your dislikes about the place, tackle them head on: "I am happy to talk about my own work and the possibilities here, but I don't want to dwell on what might not be working where I am."

Most editors, though curious about your current newspaper, will respect that kind of professionalism. And they most certainly will think that if you go on a long, negative rant, you'll soon be doing the same thing about them.

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Coming Tuesday: A new reporter is dismayed when he sees he has made errors in his stories. He wonders whether he can ask the copy desk to watch his work more closely.

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