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Job Interview Question - Why Did You Leave?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:46:00 -0400

What are the right ways and wrongs ways to tell a perspective employer why you left your old job?

Robert Wilson

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:06:24 -0400

At my last job I was told that I would be handling claims that involved auto bodily injuries and not Auto property damage. As it turns out, more than 75% of my time was spent on handling auto property damage claims. This was not what I signed on for. These were the type claims I handled when I first started in the insurance claims industry and I felt as if I had regressed.

When interviewing, What is the best response to the question, Why did you leave your last job.

admin

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:07:42 -0400

I think your could explain by saying that the job portrayed to you was not the job you were told it would be. And that you have learned to ask more specifically what a job would encompass before accepting. So along those lines, can you tell me a little more about what this position will include?

z

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:37:05 -0500

I have a question. What if you were terminated from your last position. I was terminated for attendance. I was having issues at the time with my vehicle and could not afford to buy another one at the time. I was eventually able to get the car repaired but not in enough time to save my job. Now i am on the hunt again and don't know how to explain this

AVP

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:29:27 -0400

I left due to a reorganization that eliminated my position. I received a great review (again) and was asked to post for another management position I did not want. The company was going in a different direction and being run by non insurance people. My staff was miserable, I was working 12-16 hours a day, and meetings became repetition without clear directions, with my staff looking to me to help..but sadly, it was beyond my control. I declined to take another management position and asked to be "packaged out" because the new management was going in a direction that - after many years in the business- I knew would not work. I hear from my previous staff, always frustrated and some have quit. I do not want to be negative in my next interview, I am very experienced managing P&C staff, and I believe the best management engages and grows employee talent; does NOT beat them down with insults. I could not be a party to that with my staff, they were good, hard working people. Obviously - I need to summarize in any interview that I requested to leave as the company was going in a different direction...agree?

Tiffany

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:25:14 -0400

I'm looking to move to a new city because I'm ready for a change of scenery and have been applying in various cities. I've been on my current job a year. What should I say is the reason I want to leave in interviews.