Wondering Wether to tell the Truth to another PhD program that I have resigned from the first one As you may know, I have resigned from a PhD program after spending year although working hard and I have discussed that before here in the platform. Now, all the positions I had applied for was rejected once they know I Have resigned from another group which is fairly known in our field. Now, I am now in short contract in isolated country in Europe and having contract month by month and today I get a very low salary, they take exploited my situation I had which they already know, and they try to make benefit of me to do all the work they want.

Now, I have another opportunity and I am afraid, to tell the truth, that I was a PhD student, I can tell them that I was a research graduate student, is that ethical. Really I do think that telling the truth no one will believe me and I think it leaves a bad impression or a suspicion although I am trying to be positive and mentioning we didn't have the same research interest, this doesn't work in all interviews although they are interested, but afraid from my previous experience. My question: How I should answer about my experience at ex-group and how I can call it in a way that didn't leave a bad impression?.
How I should answer about my experience at ex-group and how I can call it in a way that didn't leave a bad impression?.


In these situations the more neutral you are the better. However, you should never lie on these matters. As you said, the group is well known, and the world can be very little sometime. On top of that, it is not very ethical.

I do not know what happened with your previous group, but try not to blame them too much. Again try to be neutral without going too much into details. I would put something like "My team and I did not make a perfect match" or "The topic I choose was not a good match for me". Keep in mind that they may contact your previous group to ask their opinion on you. Moreover, every person is different, maybe for some people it is ok that PhD students do not always end up with the perfect mentor for them, for other people this is not acceptable. For this reason, there is no perfect way to answer them, but for sure, I would avoid omitting important information.