HOW TO EXPLAIN YOUR REASONS FOR LEAVING A JOB

If you are applying for a new job position, the main stage is the interview. You should chat with hr-manager or another person in the human resources department. In addition to common questions about your character, goals, and motivation, you will be asked why you are leaving your current job. Although the answer may be obvious to you, it is important to work through several options.

The company that takes you to work wants to be sure to be responsible and hardworking. Therefore, in an interview, you must convince the manager of your qualifications. It is extremely important to be able to explain your reasons for leaving a job. There are several options for questions, and they depend on your resume:

• you left the job a little time before;
• you haven’t left the job yet, but you want to change it;
• you have gaps in your resume;
• you got fired or downsized.

Regardless of which option is right for you, you can persuade a manager to hire you. In this article, we will discuss which approach to choose to explain why you are leaving a job.

Common reasons for leaving or changing a job

You must first tell what caused the to leave a job. Let’s omit the emotions and prepare a quality response. Most common reasons that could push you to leave a job are:

• lack of development and growth;
• staff reduction;
• poor attitude from the top-brass;
• inappropriate wages;
• loss of interest and motivation to work.

If you are leaving a job, the reason lies in one or more of these factors. However, how to explain this in an interview? It is no secret that a careless phrase can ruin the whole impression of you. Let’s learn which answer will satisfy the hr-manager.

Nice reasons for leaving or changing a job

When you are asked why you left your previous job, this is important for the company. Your answer must be confident and accurate to satisfy the manager. First, you must turn disadvantages into advantages. It should not look like you are moving away from the bad. On the contrary, you should explain your motivation and plans for the future. Let’s see what the reasons for leaving a job you should mention are:

• You have reached your limit on the company. Your abilities are greater than your growth opportunities in your previous job. Therefore, you want to move to a larger company and continue to grow as a specialist. To put it another way, you are looking for a new opportunity.
• You have lost the motivation to work. For example, you are a master in business psychology. However, the previous company supplied you with customers with the same problems. Therefore, you were bored, and you lost motivation. This is reminiscent of the previous paragraph because it shows that you and the previous job do not fit together.
• You got downsized. Yes, this is also a normal reason for discussion. For example, company management has changed, and some employees had to change. However, emphasize that not only were you targeted.
• You want to change direction. For example, you work as a sales manager. However, your specialization is business or human resources. This is a logical reason to move to the position of a business consultant or hr-manager.

What not to mention on the interview

In no case, do not speak badly about a previous job or boss. Instead, tell us about your achievements in the company, discoveries, and useful contacts. Even if you did not like the work and colleagues, emphasize the role of the company in your development. Best if you keep in touch with the former manager.

For example, you worked as a psychologist in an IT company. Tell us what discoveries you made in your personality. Perhaps you found something in common among all programmers or determined what psychological problems they most often encounter. It’s great if you can apply the experience in the new position.

Why does the manager have to ask that?

Every company wants to hire the perfect employees. Since you are a potential employee, you must be punctual, polite, and responsible. Therefore, the manager needs to find out what you were guided by when leaving a job. If you want to grow in a large company or change direction, this will show you as an honest and measured co-worker. By referring well to the previous boss, you will establish yourself as a sociable and friendly person.

However, if you mumble or mention negative reasons, this will not help to get a new position. In the end, you can just quit this job yourself. Do not let this thought cross the interviewer’s mind.

What were your reasons to quit the job?

Choose the reason that best matches reality. Make it look deliberated and logical. Do not mention the negative factors that made you quit your job. For example, if you are not comfortable with the size of your salary, do not talk about it directly. Say that the company’s resources did not cover your skills, so you could not develop as a specialist.

Why are you looking for a new job in that company?

Tell us about your plans and motivation for working in a new company. Describe the following items:

• What do you expect from a new job?
• What abilities do you want to discover?
• How will you be useful to the company?
• What are your skills critical for that job?

Ways to answer “Why do you want to leave your current job?”

If you are a current employer in another company, you need to explain the motivation for changing jobs. It should not look like you are running away from problems and want to get something sweeter in return. Here are nice reasons for why do you want to leave your current job:

• You have reached your comfort zone and seek new challenges
• You see that your progress has stopped and you want to resume it
• Your abilities are more than the company needs

What if you were downsized?

Do not worry if you got downsized or reduced in responsibilities. You must explain what served your suspension. However, do not mention conflicts or misunderstandings with colleagues or the boss. Here are some good ways to answer this question:

• Say that you have your ideas different from the ideas of other workers. Give an example to demonstrate this. You may have suggested an innovative strategy to promote the brand, and the advertising department was not ready for this.
• Describe the external causes. For example, several large customers ceased to cooperate with the company, and jobs had to be reduced.
• Shares of the company fell in price. In this case, the reduction of workers is a necessary measure, and not up to you.

What if you were fired?

Do not focus on the reasons for dismissal. Instead, pay attention to job searching. Tell us how you did while you were looking for work. Mention things like these:

• volunteering;
• courses or internship you have taken;
• writing a scientific paper;
• blogging and advice you have given;
• current role of your resources.