Thank you to everyone who writes with questions and column ideas. I've got space for only one letter, so I chose one that reflects a problem about which many readers have asked.

A reader who calls himself "Need Help" writes that he was told to resign or he would be fired after lasting a year with a boss who "did not speak to me much, except when I was being yelled at during our weekly management meeting." This came after 18 years of good performance reviews with previous employers.

He asks: "How do I answer the question 'Why did you leave your previous employer?' in interviews and on applications? On my last application, I stated that I left 'to pursue other opportunities,' and the interviewer said that the statement was vague because I was looking in the same field. I think he wanted to call me a liar. How can I respond without giving off negativity about my experiences at my previous job?"

Need Help is experiencing a classic job-search dilemma. If you tell the truth, the interviewer might reject you. But if you don't tell the truth, you might be caught. Or you could tell a half-truth badly, leaving the interviewer to assume the worst.

Several tips come to mind. One is to remember that, if you've gotten to the interview, you've already passed major hurdles. At this stage, the interviewer wants and hopes to hire you. An inconvenient truth, to borrow a phrase, won't matter nearly as much as the suspicion that someone is lying. In other words, the interview is the time to put the story out there.

To do this, the job-seeker needs to remember that harmful information is best delivered without extra detail. The more detail you give, the longer the story gets and the more time the interviewer spends thinking about how you left the last job — instead of how he or she wants to hire you for this job.

One possible answer to the interviewer above would be: " 'Pursuing other opportunities' was just a way to say that I left my job voluntarily. The full story is that my boss and I didn't get along very well. He has a very hands-off management style, which is not a bad fit for me, but I was in over my head and needed more direction than he was willing to give. We finally decided that I should move on, and I'm glad I did. I had had 18 years of successful work before I took that job, and I'm looking forward to building that kind of success with a new employer."

That may sound like a long answer, but it actually takes only 20 seconds or so to deliver. Notice that there's no apology and nothing that would reflect badly on the previous boss.

Never speak poorly of an earlier employer. While you discuss his or her negative qualities, words such as "whiner" and "troublemaker" spring to the interviewer's mind.

The final tip? Whenever possible, Need Help should avoid the application process. Although the application led to an interview in this case, it often doesn't. The odds grow slimmer when the application features gaps in employment or a long period since the last job.

To avoid the application process, follow a two-pronged strategy. First, never seek one out. Because your real goal is to get an interview, not to fill out an application, ask for the interview instead.

Second, use your résumé in every possible interaction with potential employers. Craft this document so that it highlights your skills and accomplishments and downplays your soft spots. If this is difficult for you to do, hire a service or have someone you trust help you. It's worth the investment of time and money to get this step right, as the résumé offers you a chance to "spin" your story.

- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecaree rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.