what do interviewers hope to learn from asking why you’re leaving your job?

A reader writes:

There have a been a few questions recently that are along the lines of “How do I explain that (insert reason here) is why I want to leave my job?”

I am curious what interviewers are getting out of asking this question. People leave for a multitude of reasons or no reason at all, and are going to put the best spin possible on the answer if they are asked. How does what someone states as their reason for leaving translate to helpful information for hiring?

Because sometimes the answer gives really helpful information. Not always, but enough of the time to make it worth inquiring.

For example, if a candidate says they’re leaving their job because it involves too much X when they want to focus on Y and the job they’re interviewing for has a huge X component or very little Y, that’s relevant info.

If a candidate says they’ve disliked an aspect of the culture at their current job that happens to be something they’re going to encounter a lot at the new job too, that’s relevant too.

It can also be a way of simply understanding where the person is in their professional journey and what’s important to them. The answer can provide helpful context for how the person sees their career progressing — like if they say they’re interviewing for this role because they want more responsibility, or because they’re excited about how much X this job entails because they’ve always been energized by that in past roles. Or as an interviewer, it might not be clear why someone would be looking to move on very soon after starting their job, and an answer can put that in context (like that their team is having rolling layoffs, or they thought they were coming on board to do X but it tuned out the team really needs Y).

Also, not everyone does put the best spin on why they’re leaving! Some people are extremely candid, far more than it’s in their interests to be, and so as an interviewer you’ll sometimes hear all about how much they hate their boss or their clients or that they got fired for letting their friends steal, or all sorts of other useful info to consider. In those cases, not only do you learn whatever is said, but you also learn something interesting about the person’s judgment in choosing to say it. And enough people do answer this way that it makes sense to create an opening for it, because who knows what you might learn.

That’s not to say the question is intended as a “gotcha”; it’s not. There are just lots of ways it can elicit useful information.

The post what do interviewers hope to learn from asking why you’re leaving your job? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

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