Why Did You Leave Your Last Job: 7 Top Reasons

The most obvious question you can expect in any interview is why did you leave your last job or why you are looking for a change. The motive of the interviewer is to know what actually has transpired between you and your previous employer that is making you look for a new opportunity. Additionally it is an assessment tool that helps them to gauge the behavior, nature, and many other related factors that gives a peep into the real you. Afterall everyone wants to be sure about their decisions lest it go against them.

The thing which you should never do is to bad mouth your previous employer. Almost all of us have problems with job and infact this is the reason we look out for a change. But talking bad about the previous employers reveals nothing but shallowness and narrow-mindedness. It indirectly reflects on your nature and many inferences can be made out of it. The common ones are your complaining attitude, bad behavior, indecision, rudeness etc. etc. It may also happen that what you speak may totally go against you and that just blow off your interview.

Keeping aside above, there are many other reasons which normally people give that do reflect very well on their personality. Below are 6 reasons that are very common and the ones that you can use by converting them into your current position. Here they go

1) Profile- The first and the most prevalent is the profile. Talk about the new opportunity and how it looks good to you. Tell them you were pretty much comfortable in your job but when you saw this opportunity it seemed really interesting. Rather than counting gaps in present opportunity, count on what you would get in new job.

2) Position- You can use this reason when you are being offered a new position along with role. You can talk about the past position and how it has got stagnant over time. Bring the growth aspect and also how new position with added responsibilities pose quite an interesting challenge to you.

3) Compensation- Normally the profile is given much weightage over compensation but if you are being underpaid or have not got increment for long time you can bring compensation into picture too. This should also be used when your main purpose is money and job part is pretty much ok either ways. All you need to talk about is your financial situation vis-à-vis the increased expenses and how it has forced you to look out for change after constant denial by past employer.

4) Company Reorganization- It is common for companies to go through re-organization, set up, changes etc. This reason can be used to highlight the changes in profile or your department and how it has taken away challenges and growth opportunities from you. Relate this with your need to get back into your core area in order to streamline your career.

5) Lay Off- This trend has been common in recent years. No matter how capable an employee is, the companies just lay off the complete division without any consideration to capabilities of people. This can be the reason too for why did you leave your last job. Make sure to explain the whole part especially your capabilities, achievement, and contributions before the lay-offs has happened.

6) Miscellaneous- The common ones under miscellaneous are travel, education, location etc. These reasons can relate to your health, current stay or even the changes in your professional qualification. These reason forces you to seek break or lookout for the change and you need to put them in front of the interviewer in the same manner.

The reasons can be much more and so is the way you would like to answer them. The main point you should always focus on is the interest in the new opportunity without downplaying your past employment. The question- Why did you leave your last job is not the question that should scare you but it should be an opportunity to show your interest in prospective employer. Good Luck and get going, just crack your interview.

Picture- Celeste