Job Interview Question: why did you leave your last job

There’s a love hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new job with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview; its scary, horrific, terrifying

These job interview articles will teach you how to pass the job interview by explaining how to answer tricky job interview questions

How to Answer “why did you leave your last job?”

Do you feel awkward when you are asked the ‘why did you leave your last or current job?’ interview question?

Most of us have learnt that employers respect loyalty and that they want to employ someone who will be committed to their organisation. So, when we are asked the reason for quitting the current position, our toes curl up!

How to Answer the Interview Question

First thing first – this isn’t the year 1920! Company loyalty, as you are thinking, no longer exist; you don’t get a gold watch when you retire after 50 years of working for one organization, boy and man.

Most people will have 3 different careers in their life. Many of us will be working in a job in the next 20 years that currently doesn’t exist. It is common for employees to work for a company on average for just 5 years before moving onto the next, often better paid, position

So, what I am saying is …that it is OK for you to apply for another job

This job interview question is asked for 2 reasons

1) the employer has staff retention problems (and if they do I would ask questions to the interviewer about the reason why, before accepting a position with them)

2) they want to understand your character; are you ambitious, motivated by money, enjoy managing short-term projects or do you have values similar to the organisation?

In short, they are looking if your character matches who they perceive to be the best fit.

To answer this job interview question you simply need to be honest. You can fake it, yes, but you might not enjoy the organisational culture once you have accepted the job offer.

Step 1 – Start by explaining what you like about your previous/current position “I am currently in charge of…”

Step 2 – give the reason for you leaving “I specialize in X and want to work for an organization who mainly works in this area…”

Step 3 – make it relevant to the employer “that is why I applied here, as you are the world leader in…”

These 3 steps create a strong structure for the job interview answer, framing the reason for leaving the previous employer, as a positive, while highlighting your unique selling point.

Job Interview Advice