Interview"Why are you leaving your current job?" How to answer
A question asked in almost every interview. Why it is asked, how to build your answer, model answers, and what to avoid.
Why interviewers ask it
The interviewer wants to know whether the reason you are leaving will follow you into their company, and how you speak about people you have worked with. A candidate who complains about the present employer will, they assume, complain about the next one.
How to build your answer
- Speak about what you are moving towards, not what you are running from.
- Be truthful: growth, a larger role, a different kind of work, relocation, the unit closing.
- Say one good thing about the present job.
- Keep it short, two or three sentences, and stop.
- If you were laid off or the contract ended, say so plainly. It is a fact, not a fault.
Model answers
I have had three good years there and learned field sales from the ground up. The company is small, and the next role above mine is not likely to open for some time. I am ready for a bigger territory and some team responsibility, and this position offers both.
My family is moving to Pune because of my father's health, and I want to be with them. I have enjoyed my present job and am leaving on good terms; my manager knows and has offered a reference.
The company closed its Jaipur office in March and about forty of us were let go. Since then I have completed an advanced Excel course and done some freelance bookkeeping. I am looking for a stable full-time accounts role.
My present role is almost entirely data entry. I am good at it, but over the last year I have taught myself reporting and built two dashboards that the team now uses. I would like a role where analysis is the main work, which is what you have advertised.
These are examples about invented people. Keep the structure, and put in your own facts and numbers.
What to avoid
- Criticising your boss, colleagues or company.
- "For a better salary" as the only reason.
- A long story of grievances.
- An untrue reason that a reference check would contradict.
- Sounding as if you leave every job after a few months.
Likely follow-up questions
- What would make you stay there? Answer honestly; usually "a role like this one".
- Does your employer know you are looking? Tell the truth, and say when references may be contacted.
Other common questions
Questions by job
Model answers are examples. They show the shape of a good answer, reviewed in November 2026. Use your own facts: an answer copied word for word will not survive a follow-up question. Employers differ, and nothing here promises selection. Names in the examples are invented.