Job Interview Question: Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?
20 September 2006This is a common question that can be asked of pretty much anyone interviewing, unless you’re going into a job straight out of school. It’s asked fairly frequently, and you’ll need to know how you’re going to approach the question, because the answer you give can make or break the interview.
First off, why are they asking you this question? Usually, the interviewer wants to find out a couple of things. It can tell them if there are any major problems with the way you interact with people or the way you would fit with their company. If you start into a rant about something about the old company that applies to the job you’re looking for, too, you’re going to get knocked off their list. It’s a pretty open-ended question, and it can give them hints about what kind of person you are depending on how you answer. It can also let them know things like why you want the job you’re applying for and what you’ll be like as an employee. Interviewers like questions that make you talk - not just because it gives them less work, but because prompting you for your thoughts can show them all kinds of things about your personality they won’t be able to find out from a resume.
So what kind of answer should you give?
1) Don’t say anything negative about your old company. This is just too risky. There are only a few situations where this is a good idea, and that’s if it’s obvious to everyone in the world why you’re leaving. If you were an Enron employee who was interviewing for a new job right after the collapse, then you pretty much have to say something negative. But it shouldn’t be a 15 minute rant on how bad things were. It should be a short “My old company just collapsed - I was happy in my job, but that’s how things worked out.” Otherwise, you need to stay away from the criticism. Don’t say:
“My boss kept micromanaging me, and he didn’t know what the heck he was doing. I could have done his job. My coworkers were gutless morons who you just couldn’t count on to do anything. I had to redo all their work. And then they wouldn’t fix the elevators, so I had to walk up the stairs with my hip. Oh, and don’t get me started on casual Friday…”
Ranting is bad for a couple of reasons. People don’t like negative people. You’re also likely to start in on something that the new company looking to hire you might do themselves. Offices tend to have the same problems everywhere. The guy interviewing you might be a micromanager, too. He might think he is, even if he’s nowhere near as bad as your old boss. Finally, it can just make you look like a nut.
2) Talk about positive things about why you want a new job. This question is not an opening to show them how bad your old company was - it’s a chance to show you want to grow and change as an employee. Talk up the good things about the position you’re applying for. Something like:
“I liked my old job editing business articles for Major Newspaper, but my goal coming out of college was always to be a writer. I think I got a lot out of learning to edit, and it’s improved my writing quite a bit. But now I would like to go on to doing what my original goal was as a business reporter for your newspaper, where I would be writing articles on a day-to-day basis. I’d use the skills from my old job as well as meeting my own career objectives.”
This doesn’t make you sound like a crazy, disgruntled employee. You want to come off as the employee who is changing places in their career or who sees something different about the new job they would enjoy a lot more - not as the office problem.
3) If you’ve got a legitimate, neutral reason for changing jobs, then just say that. I’m talking about a normal excuse we would all see as OK that doesn’t speak negatively about anyone involved. Did you just get married, and you and your wife decided to move to a new city to be closer to family? No one is going to get mad about that or think it looks bad. Is your older mother ill, and you moved to be closer to her? You got injured and can’t do your old job, so you want one less physically active? These things are all stuff that the interviewer will only have a problem with if they’ve got some kind of problem. Just say the reason briefly, and then say something positive about your old company - you liked working there and enjoyed your job, but sometimes these things happen.
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2 Responses to “Job Interview Question: Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?”
March 21st, 2007 at 7:19 am
[...] Kevin Kneupper presents Job Interview Question: Why Did You Leave Your Last Job? posted at Free the Drones, saying, “A post on dealing with job interviews that get into the question of why you left your last job.” [...]
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I left my last job partly because my professor was looney….