It’s an oft asked interview question – “Why are you looking to leave your current job and/or employer?”
How you answer this question tells your interviewer a lot about you. How you think. How you feel. How you plan to act.
Depending on your response, it might tell them how you handle frustration and disappointment. How proactive you are. How positive or negative you are. How you manage your emotions. What sort of employee you are (and in turn would be for them).
Interviews are not the time to share your innermost frustrations and disappointments. Consequently, this is not the time to go into detail about how they passed you over for that promotion. Or how they failed to give you a pay rise – even though you provided a convincing argument that you are paid well under market. Or how they didn’t pay you your performance bonus – despite achieving all your targets. Or how your current employer isn’t family friendly and expects you to work 70 hours a week. Or how your boss is an incompetent manager. You get the picture; the list is endless!
Interviews are the time to demonstrate your maturity, emotional intelligence, professionalism, ambition, pro-activity, competence and employer loyalty.
Good answers to this question involve talking about one or a couple of the following:
- Your need for a new challenge. Focus on providing an answer which demonstrates your self–understanding and emotional intelligence, your strong motivation and drive;
- Your interest in the responsibilities and tasks of the prospective role. Focus on demonstrating your desire to grow, learn, develop and contribute to a new employer;
- Your need to continue your own professional development. Focus on demonstrating you aren’t yet ‘at level’ within your own career progression and wish to step up to more complex and senior roles;
- Your need to experience another fantastic employer. Focus on demonstrating your recognition of the need for change so you don’t go stale and stagnate; and
- Your need to progress and drive your career. Focus on demonstrating your ambition and pro-activity to drive your own career in a productive and mature way.
This needs to be followed with some recognition that you work with fantastic people/employer/boss/team/company that, of course, demonstrates your loyalty, people connectedness, emotional maturity and political astuteness.
With all interview question answers, your authenticity is critical. Don’t speak an untruth. Be genuine. Don’t manufacture an answer that isn’t convincing. Find something in the above points that resonates as truth for you and your situation and work your answer around that.
Let’s Talk Career has over 30 executive and career coaches throughout Australia who can coach you through your interview preparation. Call us on 1800 284 255 to learn more!
We would be delighted for you to reproduce our articles, as long as they remain intact and contain the author’s details as follows: ‘Kris Reynolds is Managing Partner at Let’s Talk Career (www.letstalkcareer.com) in Australia. Kris can be contacted on 1800 284 255 or kris@letstalkcareer.com.
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