How to Describe the Reason for Leaving a Job During an Interview?

Published:

Job During an Interview – Most job interviews include a question on why you want to leave your current job or why you left your old job. The current manager will only get interested in understanding why you resigned from your position, but the future boss is interested in knowing why you left your prior job and may use it to judge your suitability for the future job.

So, that’s why one of the most popular job interview questions is “why did you quit your previous job?”

If you quit your last job without a good cause, chances are you’ll do the same in the position you’re looking for.

As replacing employees involve time, effort, and money, it’s only natural for the recruiter to want to ensure that you won’t abandon them.

So, you may be thinking, what is a good enough reason to resign from a job?

This article discusses different reasons why you would leave a job to answer this awkward topic of job change, as well as some ideas and examples to help you grasp an interviewer’s perspective on a job change.

Reasons to Answer the Interviewer: Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Job?

There are tons of reasons to leave a job and here are some good ones:

Opportunities for Professional Growth

One of the most powerful motivators for quitting a job is the possibility to develop one’s career. Employees want their jobs to progress in a positive direction. People want to improve, both personally and professionally, whether or not they aim to climb the classic “corporate ladder”. 

They want to expand their skill set, take on more difficult positions and responsibilities, and position themselves for long-term success – whether that means professional opportunities, financial benefits, influence, or prestige and recognition.

Better Compensation

According to a PayScale survey, pay incentives are the most common reason employees hunt for work outside their business, which is hardly an unexpected statistic. One of the most popular reasons for quitting a job is and will always be compensation. This might be a higher income or a mix of compensation and other sorts of employee rewards and employee perks such as retirement and stock options.

Career Change

Career changes can happen. In a study, it was addressed that around  29 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44 have changed jobs since graduating from college.

Such situations occur when people find their chosen occupation does not meet their expectations. Other times, people learn that their ideal job is something different altogether and decide to leave their employment to follow their passion.

Layoffs or Termination

Two of the most common reasons for leaving a job are not entirely voluntary. Being laid off or fired for incompetence can occur for a variety of reasons. For example, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in the layoff of about 7 million individuals. 

Aside from pandemics, individuals get laid off when firms get purchased, reorganized, or cut off from expenses. Employees are sometimes fired for a variety of reasons, such as poor work performance. It’s not unusual to come across applicants who have had their job security jeopardized.

Management Failure

Employees quit managers, not organizations, as the old adage goes. Toxic leaders have an inability to manage critique and an arrogant attitude. Abuse of authority by leaders has a detrimental impact on staff morale, productivity, and performance. Toxic management eventually pulls people away from their positions.

Lack of Fit With Workplace Culture

A “cultural fit” is how well an employee connects with the values, beliefs, attitudes, and goals of the firm. Many individuals leave their jobs because they do not fit in with the company culture, even if they enjoy their work. 

According to a survey of 1,000 workers, 79 percent of American employees believe business culture has a significant impact on job happiness.

Conclusion 

Prepare ahead of time so that it allows you to provide a clear and succinct response while also assisting your employer in understanding your future goals. It is common to leave a job. Even before the pandemic, the average employee worked for their company for four years and held 12 jobs over their lifetime.

So, now whenever you hear such a question How to Describe the Reason for Leaving a Job During an Interview?, you need not worry! Prepare your reasons beforehand so that you do not stutter, and know that people quit jobs for a variety of reasons all around the world!