Today we will consider the common question, “Why did you leave your last job?” On the face of it this seems like a reasonable question. But, is it? And, just what is the purpose of the question.
I am still mulling over this topic. I expect I’ll be polishing my thoughts for some time.
Let’s try running this question through three tests I recommend employers use in developing interview questions.
One – Carefully consider what you’re hoping to learn by asking the question. Once you’re clear on what you hope to learn ask yourself if you need that information to evaluate whether the candidate’s skills and experiences match the position. If not, you probably shouldn’t ask the question.
Irrelevant questions waste interview time and can be sources of bias in your evaluation of candidates. If you do need the information, then ask yourself if the question is likely to give it to you. Is there a better question? This leads naturally to the second test.
Two – Try answering the question yourself. It’s best if you can role play it. Have someone on your team sit across from you, stare at you, and ask the question. If you can’t figure out what the person wants to know and/or you find yourself uncomfortable answering the question, then you should probably drop the question.
Reflection – Sometimes the answer is easy, e.g., I moved to be nearer my family and could not do my prior job remotely.
Sometimes the answer is painful, e.g., you left in order to provide hospice care for a dying loved one or to tend to your own severe health condition or because you were being abused on the job daily, sought help, but didn’t receive any.
Most of the time the answer is quite complex. If a job was perfectly suited, your supervisors were great, your coworkers were great, the pay and benefits were great, your life had no hiccups, you likely wouldn’t have left the job.
If the interviewee told you the truth, simple and matter of fact, would you believe it? Suppose they say, “I was working somewhere where there was no room for growth and I was ready for a change.”
My guess is if you heard that answer, your first or second thought would be that there is more to the story. Of course there is, there always is. What if they gave more details and instead said, “After several years of putting in for promotions and watching younger, more recently hired and less experienced employees get promoted, I determined this wasn’t an organization where I would ever get the opportunities I deserved so I left. I had some savings, I had some immediate family matters to attend to, I’d completed a key project and there was a lull in the work, so I decided the timing was perfect for change.”
Now what are thinking? Again, you’re likely thinking, there is more to the story. You might also be wondering if they will be happy in the position you’re hiring for or if they’ll be expecting a quick promotion. You might be thinking they’re a complainer or quick to see discrimination.
Are you simply accepting that they respectfully considered the timing of their departure and that they made a healthy decision, one you might make yourself? Even if these thoughts enter your head you are also still likely thinking, hmmm, there is more than is being shared. Of course there is more than is being shared. There always is.
This question forces the interviewee into the role of a mind reader, trying to guess what and how much you want to hear. Can they even answer the question to your satisfaction? If any answer given is going to raise your eyebrow, then you’ve set the interviewee up for failure. That’s a question you don’t want to ask.
Often this question requires the interviewee to put a positive spin on what was likely a difficult situation, e.g., they were being mistreated at work, sought help, didn’t receive it, and their family member was dying of cancer so they left to provide hospice. This positive spin while true is so far from their actual experience, it’s a bit like asking them to gaslight themselves.
Unless you’re charmed or had very few jobs, you yourself have had a bad job you left. Did you enjoy putting a positive spin on it to prospective employers? Probably not.
Pro Tip 1 – Unless the position requires the skill set of putting a positive spin on painful, often harmful, circumstances there is no need to ask interviewees why they left a job.
Pro Tip 2 – The question, “Why did you leave your last job” is inherently negative. Such questions put people on the defense and their answers tend to be more guarded. Instead, try asking positive-focused questions. For example, “What are you looking for in your next job/workplace?”
This question has several advantages. Foremost, it will give you information that is actually relevant , i.e., whether your work environment and the job, itself, is a good match for the interviewee. Secondly, because it is a positive-focused question it puts the interviewee at ease making it much more likely you’ll get a fuller and more genuine response.
P.S. You are also likely to get insights into why the candidate left their past job, e.g., if they say they like a mix of routine work and challenging work, you can guess their prior job didn’t have that mix.
Job Seekers – If the prospective employer asks you a negative-focused question, you can first reframe it as a positive question, then answer it. The balance between negative-focused and positive-focused questions during the interview, may tell you something about the interviewer(s) and/or the culture of the organization.
Three – Take your question, turn it into an analogous question coming from the prospective employee, and imagine what would happen if it were to be asked. For example, “Think about the last five employees to leave your organization? Do you know why? Were they unhappy? Were the fired? Forced out?” or “How many people left in the last year and why?”
If you’re an employer, you might be feeling a little indignant at this question. If you’re a job seeker, I bet you’re laughing now. You might be thinking, What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You might be thinking, I’d love to know the answer. But they would never tell me the whole truth. You’re also probably laughing because you know asking that question is a sure way to lose a job offer.
If you don’t want to answer this question as a prospective employer then you shouldn’t be asking your prospective employees the analogous question.
This is especially true if you are an employer committed to equity, inclusion, and justice in the workplace.
Reflection – Why do prospective employers and employees immediately recognize that this question is off the table? Why would a prospective employer feel indignation at this question?
I think the answer to both questions is essentially the same. We laugh because we know that equal power is, at best, a legal fiction. Employer and prospective employee are not equals in the negotiations. But, our current practices ask prospective employees to do a difficult dance around this fact.
When in the role of the prospective employee you are acutely aware of the power imbalance. You must navigate the interview process so as to avoid asking any questions or acting in any way that suggests you consider yourself an equal. Yet, you are expected not to draw any attention to the power imbalance; expected to act, on a superficial level, as if you are equals. Yet, you are also expected to know just where you are supposed to genuflect. This dance belies the superficial equality.
It can be especially useful to reflect on the feeling of indignation you might, as a prospective employer, feel. I don’t mean the immediate reaction which might be something like, “Oh we can’t tell you why the last five employees left because that is confidential personnel information. Saying too much might open up a liability.” That’s the in-your-head reaction. I mean the gut feelings and emotions.
This is pure speculation but I have often wondered if indignation on the part of those on the upside of power, in this case the prospective employer, when asked a question that assumes power-equality, is tied to a deep discomfort with being in the position of power. For instance, we don’t like being reminded that someone’s ability to pay their bills might rely on our decision. Most of us don’t even want to have that kind of power over someone else. However, like it or not, that’s the kind of power prospective employers have over prospective employees given the scant, mean-spirited “safety nets” of the current usa.
Recognizing that the analogous question, “Why do employees leave your organization?” is off the table precisely because it exposes the inherent power-imbalance affords us the opportunity for further reflection.
In some sense, it’s actually much more important for the prospective employee to have an answer to the question they can’t directly ask. If things don’t work out, you, the employer, have a long list of candidates to choose from whereas the prospective candidate will still have bills to pay and will find themselves right back in the situation of answering, “Why did you leave your prior job?”
Finally, if you’re an employer committed to increasing equity, inclusion, and justice in the workplace, you ought to find yourself welcoming this question from prospective employees, even as you choose not to ask, “Why did you leave your last job?” and instead ask, “What work environments do you thrive in?”
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