There are questions in job interviews whose answers we need to weigh very carefully, because we know the truth, but that truth may be believed or misinterpreted by the HR interviewer.
(See also: How to answer the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”)
We should keep a positive attitude at all times, but the question “Why do you want to leave your current job, or the company you work for now?” already carries an implicit truth: there is something we don’t like about the company, or something we are not happy with.
Although I almost always advise being completely sincere, the truth is that, unfortunately, we can’t always be completely sincere in a job interview. Let me explain.
Suppose you are an excellent professional and your boss is incompetent: he doesn’t value your work, and he even promotes a friend within the company even though that person can’t hold a candle to you. Obviously, we can’t say this to the interviewer, because we would already be speaking badly of our boss and our company. Clearly, the recruiter might think that perhaps you are the problem, not the company.
In the same way, if the reason is that they don’t value you or don’t pay you enough, the recruiter might think that it is really because you are not worth what you think you are worth.
So we need to find a way of answering that is honest and at the same time shows motivation, plans for the future and benefit for the company we want to move to.
Sometimes it is as simple as saying:
“I’m passionate about sales, but I’ve spent years working with small clients, and at this company I can’t work with the big clients because someone else handles that.”
The same goes for any skill you have that, for whatever reason (other than criticising the company), you are not allowed to develop at the company where you currently work, which is why you are looking for an opportunity for professional growth elsewhere.
Basically, you have to explain why your current job is not giving you the chance to develop your full potential or your main skills, while always avoiding, as far as possible, criticising the company or your boss.
(See: 40 work skills you should put on your CV)
There can be exceptions, though (but be careful with exceptions). Once a young man came to my office very angry, saying he wanted to work with us and that he wanted to sink his former company, because they didn’t value their salespeople, didn’t pay him the commissions he had been promised and didn’t look after the customers the sales reps brought in.
Something told me that I was going to come out of this young man’s personal crusade, and his drive to show his company that he was the best, very much the winner in that sales war. I hired him. And sure enough, he was the best salesman I ever had under me.
But the reality is that, with the speech he gave me, I don’t think any HR manager would have hired him.
See also: What is your greatest weakness? How to answer this question in a job interview
Featured image: Kullatan Kin, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
