By Dorcas Karuana,
A successful job interview takes careful planning and preparation by a candidate. Part of an interview preparation involves taking time to prepare answers for the most common job interview questions. The way that you answer the interview question “why are you leaving your current position” is crucial in the interview process. Therefore, prior to the interview, think about exactly how you are going to answer this question because it will come up very early in the interview process.
The real purpose of this question is to understand your motives for leaving a company. Research has shown that most people quit their bosses, not their jobs, but as human resource manager that is the last thing you actually want to hear. Make sure make sure the employer is not alarmed or concerned in any way as to what is causing you to be it the market.
When you are explaining why you are looking for another there are 2 extremely important basics that you must remember.
1. State how you are looking for a new challenge, more responsibility, experience and a change of environment. Keep the answer upbeat concentrating on the advantages of what the new job would offer.
2. Do not be negative in your reasons for leaving. Resist the temptation of giving a negative connotation and expectancy about ex-employer or ex-employee. Also, remember not to only focus on salary as your primary motivator. You could mention the increased salary but do not
Also, make sure you are brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself.
Here are sample answers to Why Are You Leaving (Did You Leave) Your Present (Last) Job? In various situations.
1. Answer assuming you are still working:
I am happy at my current firm and have learned a great deal. I just feel that at this point in my career I have reached a plateau where I am at, and based on discussions with mentors in our industry, I was encouraged to passively see what else is out in the market. I very much want to continue in the path I am on, but am looking to add to my duties and responsibilities, and feel that this role and company would provide me with this opportunity.
2. Answer assuming you were laid off:
Unfortunately, due to market conditions beyond anyone’s control, revenues were down a considerable amount for our company, and the firm was forced to let our entire department go. Although I had a feeling this would happen, I am a very loyal and dedicated individual. I did not interview until I was officially laid off. I wanted to make sure that all loose ends were resolved and that any pending projects or cases I was in handling were transferred over smoothly to the new team taking over.
3. Answer assuming you were fired:
Unfortunately, there was an error made, and this error was made by me. I took full responsibility for it, although between you and me, I think that the amount of workload and responsibility given to me at the time was just way beyond my skill set and expertise, which led to an error that caused my termination. But I am a team player, and never say no to additional work.
Unfortunately, this one project I handled backfired, I made an error, and due to this mistake, I was terminated. I completely understand if this changes your perspective on me, but I can assure you that I learned a great deal from this unfortunate situation, and will know, from now on, if I have too much on my plate, I will immediately go to my supervisor and state so. We are all humans after all, and no one is perfect. I have learned a big lesson from this.
4. Answer assuming you resigned:
This is good and bad. As mentioned above in the “termination” section, if you are able to resign before getting fired, you can then state as you interview some valid story that would make sense with what is going on in the market. E.g. If there are economy concerns, potential layoffs, rumors of layoffs, etc). Although it is not good to leave your job without securing a new one, especially since the market is so bad, a HR Manager would understand if you chose to resign to dedicate yourself to finding a new job.
Nevertheless, a good answer would flow like this: ‘There were rumors that the firm was not doing well, and with the market pull back, I just suspected that soon I would be let go. I felt the best thing to do was to resign and dedicate myself full time to finding a new position.’
Dorcas is a Human Resource Consultant at Corporate Staffing Service. Email: dorcas@corporatestaffing.co.ke. Website: www.corporatestaffing.co.ke
A successful job interview takes careful planning and preparation by a candidate. Part of an interview preparation involves taking time to prepare answers for the most common job interview questions. The way that you answer the interview question “why are you leaving your current position” is crucial in the interview process. Therefore, prior to the interview, think about exactly how you are going to answer this question because it will come up very early in the interview process.
The real purpose of this question is to understand your motives for leaving a company. Research has shown that most people quit their bosses, not their jobs, but as human resource manager that is the last thing you actually want to hear. Make sure make sure the employer is not alarmed or concerned in any way as to what is causing you to be it the market.
When you are explaining why you are looking for another there are 2 extremely important basics that you must remember.
1. State how you are looking for a new challenge, more responsibility, experience and a change of environment. Keep the answer upbeat concentrating on the advantages of what the new job would offer.
2. Do not be negative in your reasons for leaving. Resist the temptation of giving a negative connotation and expectancy about ex-employer or ex-employee. Also, remember not to only focus on salary as your primary motivator. You could mention the increased salary but do not
Also, make sure you are brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself.
Here are sample answers to Why Are You Leaving (Did You Leave) Your Present (Last) Job? In various situations.
1. Answer assuming you are still working:
I am happy at my current firm and have learned a great deal. I just feel that at this point in my career I have reached a plateau where I am at, and based on discussions with mentors in our industry, I was encouraged to passively see what else is out in the market. I very much want to continue in the path I am on, but am looking to add to my duties and responsibilities, and feel that this role and company would provide me with this opportunity.
2. Answer assuming you were laid off:
Unfortunately, due to market conditions beyond anyone’s control, revenues were down a considerable amount for our company, and the firm was forced to let our entire department go. Although I had a feeling this would happen, I am a very loyal and dedicated individual. I did not interview until I was officially laid off. I wanted to make sure that all loose ends were resolved and that any pending projects or cases I was in handling were transferred over smoothly to the new team taking over.
3. Answer assuming you were fired:
Unfortunately, there was an error made, and this error was made by me. I took full responsibility for it, although between you and me, I think that the amount of workload and responsibility given to me at the time was just way beyond my skill set and expertise, which led to an error that caused my termination. But I am a team player, and never say no to additional work.
Unfortunately, this one project I handled backfired, I made an error, and due to this mistake, I was terminated. I completely understand if this changes your perspective on me, but I can assure you that I learned a great deal from this unfortunate situation, and will know, from now on, if I have too much on my plate, I will immediately go to my supervisor and state so. We are all humans after all, and no one is perfect. I have learned a big lesson from this.
4. Answer assuming you resigned:
This is good and bad. As mentioned above in the “termination” section, if you are able to resign before getting fired, you can then state as you interview some valid story that would make sense with what is going on in the market. E.g. If there are economy concerns, potential layoffs, rumors of layoffs, etc). Although it is not good to leave your job without securing a new one, especially since the market is so bad, a HR Manager would understand if you chose to resign to dedicate yourself to finding a new job.
Nevertheless, a good answer would flow like this: ‘There were rumors that the firm was not doing well, and with the market pull back, I just suspected that soon I would be let go. I felt the best thing to do was to resign and dedicate myself full time to finding a new position.’
Dorcas is a Human Resource Consultant at Corporate Staffing Service. Email: dorcas@corporatestaffing.co.ke. Website: www.corporatestaffing.co.ke
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