Reasons for Leaving your Job

Some times as a recruiter when asking a potential candidate what is their reason for leaving their current job they cry back to you and say “but I haven’t left yet”. This naturally is a concern for the recruiter as they want the potential candidate to be clear about why they are thinking of leaving and this reason or reasons should be well thought out. No one wants a candidate who is unsure. Indeed if you are not sure why you are leaving then why are you leaving? Worse case scenario is you could find yourself in a similar position and unhappier.

There are many different reasons why people choose to leave their current employer and even though you might think that the obvious reason is money this is actually far down the list of reasons. Location is by far the biggest reason as most of us want to avoid the congestion of traffic and the long travel home. Other reasons will involve the “glass ceiling” situation where there is no more room to develop further; recently qualified and want to make that career advancement at that point in time; starting to take further studies and want the experience to complement them. When studying for professional accountancy examinations again be clear about which course and why you are taking it. A client recently commented that he wanted a candidate who studied CIMA because he believed that the CIMA candidate knew exactly why he was studying CIMA and what career path he intended to follow.

If the reason for leaving is genuinely negative the candidate should rethink the situation here and how he should explain it without making it a big issue. Make sure good references are available to the next employer as no one wants to take on “baggage”. It's important to leave on a good note regardless.

If the reason for leaving is the next step then make sure you as the candidate have thought through all the reasons why you have the capability and skill set to this promotion. You may also need to explain why your current company is not in a position to offer this promotion to you.

Finally never walk out on a job just because you have had enough. It doesn’t bode well for your next opportunity.