Hey, everybody, Don Georgevich here with Job Interview Tools. Today, I want to talk to you about one of the most important interview questions, and that is “Why did you leave your last job?” So, I had a client write in and she says, “Hey, Don, I left my last job because I got burned out.”
So, if you want to hear what I told her, go ahead and “Like” this video, subscribe to my channel and ring the bell and we’ll dive right in.
So, had a client write in. She says, “Don, I keep getting asked this question, every interview I go to, ‘Why did you leave your last job?’” Now, she left it because she got burned out.
That means the job was just demanding too much from her. She was working 60 hours a week and she wasn’t happy. And she wasn’t happy in her work life, she wasn’t happy in her personal life. She just got totally fried. And enough was enough. It was affecting her health. So, she quit.
But now, employers keep asking her, “So, why did you leave your last job? They’re like, “Most people just don’t up and quit their job. They usually try to find another job before they leave the first job.” But sometimes people are like, “You know what? Enough is enough. I’m getting out of here; can’t handle it.” But that just raises all kinds of red flags with employers.
Because if you go into an interview and let’s say you’re not working. And “Why did you leave your last job?” “Well, I just got stressed out. It was too much for me.”
So, they’re going to start thinking, “Well, why would you leave without finding another job first?” That’s what’s going to be going through the mind, which means they’re not really going to want to believe you. Because we know that there’s a lot of people who interview for jobs who don’t exactly tell the truth in situations like this. So, employers are going to be concerned. That’s a big red flag for them.
They’re probably going to be thinking that you got fired, not that you left of your own free will. Because most people don’t. If you’re going to leave of your own free will, you’re usually leaving to another job.
If you leave your job and without a job, it’s usually because you got fired or laid off. But in this case, it was too much.
So, what do you tell them? How do you handle a situation like that in a way that’s going to satisfy the interviewer? Because you’ve got to think about it. What are their biggest — Let’s say they believe you. Let’s say that they believe they believe you that you got burned out and it was too much. Put yourself in that interviewer’s position. If you’re interviewing for someone else for a job and they’re like, “Oh, my last job was too much; I got burned out.” What’s going to be going through your mind?
You’re going to want to know what burned them out. What were they doing that burned them out? Because you don’t want to recreate the same work environment that they had before. Because, I mean, if they come to work for you and it’s the same type of an environment that they came from, they’re going to get burned out again. And you don’t want them quitting after six months of working for you and getting burned out, right? Of course not.
So, you’re going to do a little bit of digging to find out why they got burned out; what were they doing? And they’re going to ask specific questions about that.
And one of my first questions would be, “How many hours a week were you working? What kind of work were you doing? What kind of work didn’t you like doing?”
And that is probably one of the most key questions; “What kind of work were you doing that you didn’t like?” Because that’s exactly how people get burned out. They’re doing work that doesn’t fulfill them inside and that stresses them beyond all belief. And so, it takes a toll on them, takes a toll on their mind, their body, their personal life. That’s how people get burned out; doing things they don’t love doing.
So, that’s really going to be the angle of the interviewer; doing things you didn’t like doing. That’s what they want to know. Because, like I said, they don’t want to create the same environment for you.
So, what do you tell them? How do you give them an answer that’s going to satisfy them? Well, this is going to depend on what kind of job that you’re applying for. What are the duties? What are the responsibilities? What are you going to be doing there?
And if it’s the same kind of work, just in a new place, that’s probably too similar and the employers are just going to have concerns. So, like, “It’s the same environment you had before. Why would we want to bring you over here, just to have you get all stressed out again?”
And I mean, let’s just say, “I was working 60 hours a week and the work was just too much.” and they say, “Well, if you were to come over here, we typically work 50 to 60 hours a week too. Come here is just going to be the same thing” So, they’re not going to be interested.
So, you have to find out (This is where you have to do your homework). You have to find out what this job entails. What are you going to be doing specifically? And is it different than what you were doing in your previous job?
And here’s the key; you want to make that distinction. You want to be laser focused on exactly what it was at your last job that burned you out. I mean, chances are, there was probably something you had to do 20, 30 percent of the time that you didn’t like to do.
That’s the one thing you’re going to want to zero in on; pick whatever that is, the thing that you weren’t good at doing, the thing that you dislike doing and just call all the attention to that.
I mean, maybe it was customer service. I mean, let’s just say you’re a programmer. And you’re a web developer and you’re doing development work all the time. And your company made you handle customer service calls, too. And it just drove you crazy because we all know customers are crazy. They drive us nuts with all of their questions and the concerns and, “How do I do this?” and “How do I do that?”
And when you’re a web developer and you’re trying to develop code and then you’ve got to pick up the phone and you’ve got to answer customer service questions, that just kind of tugs on you at both ends.
So, let’s say you quit, because it’s too much for you. You go to a new company and you’re like, “Hey, I’m interested in your web development position” and “We’ll, why did you leave your last job?” “I left my last job because I got burned out.” “Well, why don’t you get burned out?” Bingo, and you can say, “You know what? My last company, they wouldn’t let me just be a developer; they also made me handle — 30 percent of my duties, had to go towards answering customer service calls. And I like talking to people just as much as anybody else, but when you’re coding and then you have to switch gears and you have to go and you have to answer customer service questions, it’s a huge distraction. It disrupts my creativity and it makes me less of a developer. So, I’m looking for a position where I can be a developer 100 percent of the time, and I’m really not as well suited for customer service.”
Bing; you zeroed in on it; you nailed it. And now, when you call attention to what your weakness was, which was handling customer service calls, they’re not going to ask you any follow up questions, because you’ve already called attention to what was stressing you out in your last job. And now they’re going to believe you.
That’s the key. They’re going to believe now; they’re not going to doubt you and say, “Well, we think maybe you got fired or something.” No, because it’s totally believable. It makes sense. You told them a story that just simply makes sense. It makes good, common sense. “I left my last job because they made me do customer service calls and it just stressed me out.” And you’re not looking for a job in customer service. You’re looking for a programming job or whatever it is that you’re looking for.
I mean, that’s just one example. And you have to do your homework to find out what this new company is looking for that you are great at doing. And make sure that what you’d be doing there isn’t the things that you were doing in your last job that stretch out. Does that make sense? It’s not so hard, is it, once you break it down like that.
All right. That is all I have for you today. But before you go, before that next interview, because obviously, if you’re watching this video and you’re looking for a job, you’re probably not working. So, you’re going to need to know how to answer some of the most common interview questions that are going to come your way.
And to help you out with that, my friend, will give you The Top 10 Interview Questions for free. You can go to jobinterviewtools.com/top10. This book here has questions like, “Tell me about yourself.” “What are your greatest strengths?” “What are your greatest weaknesses?” which should be customer service for you or whatever. “Why do you want to work here?” “What are your greatest accomplishments?”
This little guide here is going to teach you how to answer those so that you sound like you know what you’re doing in the interview.
Read this guide over. It’s probably about, I don’t know, the 20-30 pages here. It’s got multiple answers for each of those questions. And you can download it for free, get it to your inbox in a couple of minutes. Just tell me where to send it. Put your email address in the box and I’ll get it right out to you.
Use it to prepare for your next interview. I can guarantee you’re going to do a lot better.
All right, my friend. That’s all I got for you today. Make sure you “Like” this video. Hit the “Like” button. Subscribe to my channel. I’ll see you in the next video. Bye now.
