How to Answer The Question Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Job

It has now become a major and common feature for interview questions to always come with nervy as well tough questions; however this should not poise any big challenge for you in your quest to acing your interviews as we have prepared top interview questions for you to come out smiling in any interview you might find yourself.

Moving forward, recruiters are just humans, and like every other humans, they are naturally curious. This implies that they want to make sure that they get as many information they can during the course of an interview session with any prospective candidate. That means at some point during the interview process, you’re going to get the question, “So, why are you leaving your current job?”

As a result of the aforementioned, it is quite important for you to understand why you are leaving your current job or why you left your previous job. It is important that you do this before you start searching for another job. This is important because it will help your answers to be consistent with your job application when asked why you are leaving your current job or why you left your current job.

Obviously, you want to be honest in an interview. You’re leaving your job for a reason. But you should really try your best to refrain from being negative. Focus on what you have to look forward to, not what you’re leaving behind.

Your potential employer wants to clearly understand why you are moving on, a legitimate reason will set their minds at rest. Every employer is looking for loyal and responsible employees. It is critical that your explanation for leaving reflects the right work values.

There are various reasons which are understandable and would not paint you in any bad light while interviewing for a new job in Nigeria

To effectively answer this question, you need to frame your response in a way that shows hiring managers that you know what’s important to you and how to handle less than ideal situations. But you also don’t want to sound ungrateful for the opportunities you had in your previous role, or come off like you’re still bitter about how you left things with your last employer.

It can be challenging to explain why you decided to leave your last position without throwing your old company under the bus. But if answered thoughtfully, this question can help you highlight your flexibility and self-awareness.

1. Professional Growth Opportunity

Spend some time thinking about why you want to leave your job and list your reasons in order of importance. This will enable you to present an insightful and sound explanation to any prospective employer.

This is a common and valid reason for making a move and usually includes:

• You don’t feel challenged or fulfilled at your current job
• You feel undervalued at your current job
• You want to make a career change.

You can point out how you have mastered your current position and now seek fresh challenges which your current company is not able to provide. It is important to be specific about what this new job opportunity offers you in terms of new challenges and growth

1. You don’t feel challenged or fulfilled at your current job.

No job is perfect, but if you don’t feel any satisfaction at work, it’s definitely time for a change. Work becomes a chore if you don’t feel mentally stimulated or emotionally fulfilled. And hiring managers will completely understand why you’re leaving your current role, if this is the case. They’ll also be impressed with your internal need to be passionate about your job.

1. You feel undervalued at your current job.

When your current manager underestimates your potential or doesn’t know how to leverage your skill set to its full potential, work can become frustrating and dull. So why work for a company that doesn’t challenge you or allow you to make a impact?

If you can genuinely convey these frustrations and aspirations during your interview, hiring managers will perceive you as someone who truly wants to make a difference at their company — and that’ll only boost your chances of landing the job.

1. You want to make a career change.

In a world where most industries never stop changing, it’s common to leave a job to pursue a new career path. But even if you think your lack of experience in an industry is vulnerability, you shouldn’t fret. Most hiring managers actually like hiring candidates from other industries because they can bring a fresh perspective to their team and company.

2. Inability of Previous Job/Current Job to offer more pay

It might get a bit tensed here as your recruiters or interviewers might misinterpret which is why you have to think carefully before you answer this question. If you decide it needs to be addressed, try framing it in a way that focuses on the larger topic of incentives and your motivation to take on challenging work that comes with big rewards

“I’m motivated by a lot of factors, and client satisfaction, as well as peer and manager approval, is at the top of the list. But compensation is also a motivator for me and I’m excited about the opportunity to sell a product I’m passionate about, exceed my targets and celebrate when I’ve surpassed my goals.”

3. Layoff

This might be hard to explain to your potential boss, however being laid off is often circumstantial, nevertheless when faced with this type of question and the reason for it is, “laid off” you have to be professional with this; do not attach any emotions or sentiment. Make it short but precise. Being Laid-of is a normal part of business or jobs.  while answering this, do not paint your previous job bad, instead lay emphasis on what you have learned from your past and how you can successfully apply it for the growth of your next job. Say something along these lines as a jumping-off point for your conversation:

“There was a restructure within the organization and unfortunately, my role was impacted.”

“The business was going through changes, and there was no longer enough work to sustain my position.”

Layoffs are an unfortunate reality beyond our control, and most hiring managers will understand of that.

4. How to Explain Being Fired

What if you’re leaving because you got fired? If this is the case, first, you must know exactly what you can and can’t say per your arrangement with your former employer. Check with your HR department to see how the company will represent the situation and what policies it may have in place for disclosing any information; you can’t violate those policies at all, or else you risk financial penalty.

Then, be honest — but not to a fault. For example, instead of saying “I was fired,” you can use a softer phrase such as “I was let go” or “the company and I decided to part ways.” Then, make sure you have a brief explanation of what happened.

Consider saying something like the following in an interview:

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t live and breathe the product line, and it made it difficult for me to translate the value to new customers. I now understand that wasn’t the right fit for me, and what I’m really interested in is XYZ.”

“I did not have the right skill set to succeed in that kind of role, so now I’m considering opportunities that would play better to my strengths — such as XYZ.”

Whatever the issue, you must be able to explain the problem, highlight what you’ve learned and assure the hiring manager that it won’t happen again. In any situation, it doesn’t benefit you at all to speak ill of your past employer. You still need to come off as grateful for your opportunities and show that you left with strong relationships and a good attitude. Be careful with your language, as words can be a delicate yet powerful tool!

5. Family Circumstances/Health Reasons

This should poise you no big challenge in answering the question, as most recruiters or interviewers will do understand this reason, especially if you have the document to back it up. Job, business requires our absolute dedication and commitment to make it work or to achieve the desired stated goals of the organization or firm. So when fced with this question articulate your point out, brief but well-detailed, explain to your interviewer that family circumstances or medical complications made you leave your previous job in order to concentrate on solving the issue, which you have successfully dealt with and you are ready for a new challenge. You can use the following reasons stated below

• Family illness required that I give up my job in order to take care of my family
• I had to leave my employer because of family reasons.
• My previous job didn’t allow the flexible schedule I needed to care for my children.
• I’m getting married and will be moving out of state.
• I had to leave for temporary health reasons which are now resolved.
• I left my previous job because I was pregnant.
• I won’t be returning to work after maternity leave because I’ve decided parenting is a full-time job.
• I need to leave because of personal circumstances/problems

By Marcus Amudipe