Many of us have been in the situation where, quite frankly, we have had enough.
Enough of the constant berating, the overflowing work that only you seem to do, and the derogatory remarks that come your way whenever someone close to your workstation drops so much as a pen.
There comes a point where you just can’t hack it anymore, and you quit.
Most people can see the signs and resign quietly and respectfully, despite the fact that they never received any of that respect back.
Others do not.
Now, there are a lot of jobs out there where people are resigning for completely different reasons.
Some may love their job, but they have another baby on the way and the job just doesn’t pay as much as one they have been offered.
However, those people don’t have to worry about the question at their next job interview.
The dreaded: ‘Why are you leaving your current job?’ question.
Well, you can’t exactly say: ‘Because it was terrible.’
That doesn’t make you look good or employable.
So, what do you say?
Well, we have a few answers written out for you.
Common Reasons For Leaving Your Job
There are many, many reasons for leaving a job.
Oftentimes, these reasons are dictated by real-life problems or challenges that someone is facing, and less of the time it is for petty reasons.
However, in this list we are about to give are the most common reasons for leaving a place of work:
You found a better position.
This is the best reason to leave a job, especially if the position you are leaving is better than the one you are entering.
No one can find fault with you taking a better position that helps you, and if they do, you should be glad not to be working there anymore.
You are getting a better opportunity in your specific field. It could be a better job title, a promotion, more responsibility, or more pay.
It could also be an opportunity to work in a different field, but one you have wanted to get into for a long time.
Any of these reasons would be good enough to leave your job.
Your health is deteriorating.
You may have a chronic illness that is affecting your work.
You may have a family member who is sick.
There are just some jobs that are too much for you to handle, due to illness.
You may be susceptible to stress-related illnesses.
A lot of modern day jobs are incredibly stressful and remain that way from morning until night.
Some people are able to function easily in these positions, but most of us burn out after a time.
Once you feel that happening, it is time to move on.
1. You have a bad boss
This reason could have a lot of validity to it.
You may have an incompetent boss that is also a jerk.
2. You have a bad work culture
This can also be valid.
You may have a team of people that just don’t mesh well together.
They may be noisy.
They may have negative influences on each other, and they may be unproductive.
Who knows.
These things happen, and the job is best left if they are happening to you.
3. You may have too much pressure put on you at your current job
The people may be lovely, and the work may be something you enjoy, but if you are struggling from the sheer
workload, then it may be time to switch careers.
Also, maybe you haven’t noticed, but all the work has been shifted onto you.
This may seem innocuous, but when there is a workplace culture demanding it, then you could well become everyone’s scapegoat.
As you can see, there are a mixture of good and bad reasons for leaving a job.
The problem with these reasons is that they are too honest, with too much information left out.
Job recruiters love to speculate, and they will often make speculation based on their own negative views.
For example, if you say your boss was incompetent and a bad person, they may not take that at face value.
Instead, they may just think: ‘Well, this person doesn’t like authority, because they didn’t get along with their boss.’
As such, you need to present this information to recruiters in the right way.
How Should I Tell Them Why I Am Leaving My Job?
There is no right or wrong way to explain to your employer why you are leaving your job.
It’s completely up to you and your situation.
If you like your job and your boss and find it rewarding, then your boss is probably a decent supervisor, and you should be able to tell them with no negative consequences.
Explain to your boss that you are happy with the work you have done with them and that you want to continue doing it, and then add a ‘but’ and explain your motivation for leaving, while being polite.
It’s perfectly fine to say that you are happy with the work you do and that you don’t want to move on to a different field, but needs must and your boss should be able to accept that.
However, if your boss is a micromanager, mean, cruel, callous, working on unreasonable targets, or just a jerk, or the work environment is toxic, you might have to bite the bullet and explain to them that you are leaving on better terms.
It won’t be easy, but it might make you feel better.
With that said, make sure you are polite and don’t directly blame anyone for your leaving.
You want to come out from this with your head held high and not stoop to others levels.
How To Frame Reasons For Leaving?
So, when you finally get to the interview for your new job, inevitably this question will arise and when it is asked, you have to be prepared to the best of your ability.
When you get to this question, there are a few things to remember before giving your answer.
First, be extremely clear in your answers.
They need to be real, tangible concepts that everyone in a business can understand and that recruiters can not pick apart or fill in the gaps with their own negative information.
Saying ‘I don’t like my current job’ will get picked apart immediately, but changing it to ‘I have learned everything I can from my current position and there is limited progression for me there’ will make it look like a reasonable and calculated decision, rather than one that would make companies not consider you.
Second, keep your reasoning short.
The less of an answer you give, the less the recruiter can pick apart and use it to discredit you.
The third and final reason is to keep it positive or neutral at best.
‘If you are negative about your prior company, what’s to stop you being negative about this one’ is how the recruiter will think, so make sure you answer in either a positive or neutral way (even if you don’t want to).
Now that we’ve given you ways to frame your answer, it is time to give you examples, so you can see it in action:
‘I’d like to have been paid more.’ – ‘I’m motivated by many factors when I am working at a job.
Client satisfaction and manager approval are at the top of the list, but compensation and confidence in my skill are also great motivators for me.
Although my current job fulfills some of these motivators, not all of them were considered when I was working there.’
‘I’m bored of my job’ or ‘I dislike my job’ – ‘I’ve learned many things from my current role, however there is nothing more I can learn from it.
Now, I am looking for an opportunity to challenge my current knowledge and help me learn more in this field.’
‘The hours at my current position are not sustainable’ – ‘I do my best work when my work life and home life are balanced. I commit myself wholeheartedly to a job and my colleagues, as well as my home life.
I commit to both these things well and work flexibly for each.
As such, it is important to me that a company values me enough to allow a say in my scheduling and a certain degree of flexibility when it is appropriate.’
Wrapping Up
Telling a new employer why you left your old job is a tightrope walk, but you won’t know any peace until you have told them.
Therefore, make sure you put it as delicately as possible and use appropriate language when discussing it, so nothing bad happens.
