Reasons for Leaving a Job and How to Talk About Them in an Interview

Many potential employers ask candidates, "What are the reasons for leaving your current job?” to engage what motivated you to take this next step. Answering this question lets you share more about your career goals and values. It’s also an excellent opportunity for interviewers to gain more insight into what job satisfaction looks like to you, helping them understand more about what you want from a new position.

Explore some good reasons people leave their jobs and how you can explain your reasons for leaving a job clearly and positively.

Good reasons for leaving a job

Naming the aspects of your current position that you'd like to change can help you see a good reason for leaving a job and what you may want to look for in a future role. Reflecting deeply and specifically can help you recognize red flags and identify green flags.

As you reflect on what's missing from your current employer, it may help to consider some common reasons people leave jobs:

• Career advancement

• Career change (new industry)

• Higher compensation

• Better value alignment

• Culture change

• Company restructuring, acquisition, or merger

• Company downturn

• Personal or health reasons

These reasons each fit into one of the four broad categories: seeking growth, company culture, organizational changes, or personal reasons.

Learn more: When Is It Time to Quit Your Job?

How to respond to "Why are you leaving your current job?"

However you choose to respond,  focus on the positive and keep your answer brief and direct, demonstrating your preparedness for the question. After reflecting on your reason for leaving a job, it’s helpful to identify the reasons you will give in an interview to answer the question. You are never obligated to share anything you are uncomfortable sharing, and you get to decide how you present your career journey.

However, being forthcoming in whatever way feels right for you can help you land in a position that better aligns with your needs and goals. On a job application, you can keep your reason for leaving short. In an interview, you have more space to connect your reason for leaving your previous job to why this next role feels like a better fit for you.

Four reasons to consider as you write or talk about why you want to leave your job include:

1. You want to pursue growth opportunities

2. You want to experience a new company culture

3. You are leaving due to organizational changes

4. You had outstanding personal reasons that required your attention

1. You want to pursue growth opportunities

You may choose to leave a job to pursue a professional growth opportunity, such as career advancement, career change, or better compensation. You may feel ready to do this when you’re no longer feeling challenged or excited by your day-to-day responsibilities and aren’t finding opportunities to expand your expertise in your current role or when you feel like you’re already exceeding expectations in your role and want to formalize your responsibilities with a title and salary to match. Simply put, you know you can do something more and want to explore that urge.

What to say on a job application: Left the role to explore new growth opportunities.

What to say in a job interview: I left this role to explore new growth opportunities. In my previous position, I learned ABC skills and enjoyed doing DEF tasks, and I feel excited about expanding those skills to higher-level work doing XYZ.

2. You want to experience a new company culture

Every company has a unique internal culture that influences how employees interact with each other and how the company interacts with the world. As you move through your career, you may notice different cultural aspects that push you toward success and those that move you away from it. It could relate to the type of space where you feel welcomed or the organization’s mission and how they pursue it. If any of these areas feel off, you may decide to leave a job to seek a company culture that better aligns with your values and helps you grow professionally. 

What to say on a job application: Left the role to explore new growth opportunities.

What to say in a job interview: I left this role because I couldn’t grow in this company culture. I am more effective when I am able to use my ABC skills in an XYZ manner, and I found that I wasn’t able to do that in that environment. It looks like your company’s values align with the type of culture I am looking for.

Issues with company culture can extend into personal reasons that influence your ability to feel safe and empowered in your work environment, such as those relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. If you are comfortable sharing, being honest about those needs is okay. Ultimately, doing so can help you find a workplace that better fits your needs. Here’s one way you can delicately express seeking a job with better diversity practices:

What reasons can you give for leaving a job: Company culture

My previous company seemed to prioritize a specific cultural viewpoint that didn’t align with my experiences as a woman. I feel empowered when I see my identity reflected in leadership. I’m excited to find a company with a strong DEI initiative to support a broader range of human experiences.

3. You are leaving due to organizational changes

When a company undergoes organizational changes, such as restructuring, a reduction in force, an acquisition, or a merger, your job may change entirely. You may seek a new role if your position or the company's direction changes. If the business eliminates your position, typically resulting in a layoff, you may have no choice but to seek a new one. Either way, these changes may provide a natural turning point where you can reassess your career goals and continue building your path toward them.

What to say on a job application: Laid off due to organizational changes during a company merger

What to say in a job interview: I was laid off from my previous position with Company A when my department dissolved following a merger with Company B. I’m proud of the work I was able to accomplish during my time there and excited to continue that track with a position where I can apply my XYZ skills toward new projects.

Were you “laid off,” “fired,” or “let go”?

Laid off, let go, and fired all imply that you didn’t actively choose to leave your job, but the three words have different implications. In general, when “laid off” refers to position elimination, while “fired” refers to termination for performance issues. Saying you were let go can indicate either a lay-off or firing.

4. You had outstanding personal reasons that required your attention

Leaving a job for personal reasons can encompass any non-work rationale that takes you away from your workplace, such as caring for a family member, coping with an illness, or moving. You are never obligated to share your personal reasons for leaving a job. However, if you are comfortable doing so, you can use it as an opportunity to show something about your values and skill set that may not otherwise be apparent on your resume.

What to say on a job application: Left due to personal reasons

What to say in a job interview: I left my previous position for personal reasons. I enjoyed my work but needed to prioritize caretaking for my grandmother. Some unexpected benefits I’m excited to bring into my career are the communication and organization skills I practiced while navigating the health care system on her behalf.

Tips for talking about why you left a job

Ultimately, leaving jobs is a natural part of career progression—you can't grow if everything stays the same. Check out these quick tips to frame your exits as growth opportunities:

1. Be truthful: It’s essential to be honest as you share details about your career path. Some potential employers will conduct background checks or reach out to previous employers to verify past roles, and bending the truth may not be the best way to enter a relationship with a future employer.

2. Stay positive: Even if your reason for leaving a job skews negative, try to stay positive when discussing it. One way to turn a negative into a positive is to focus on what you learned about yourself and your needs while in this role and how you hope to implement those learnings in your next role. When in doubt, return to the career growth opportunities you seek rather than the negative experiences you're trying to leave behind.

3. Be concise: You don’t need to go into great detail about everything that went wrong in your previous workplace. Offering a high-level overview can satisfy your prospective employer’s curiosity and give you more time during your interview to focus on your hopes for the future.

What to say when you are fired or laid off

Remaining as honest and positive as possible is the key to explaining why you left a position involuntarily before you were ready to. After your company fires you or lays you off, try to discern where you and your manager were misaligned. It may have been a skills mismatch, communication style differences, conflicting goals, or another reason.

Once you determine your perspective of the situation, center your explanation for why you left the job around that misalignment while remaining truthful about the circumstances. Even though it may not feel good to share when the circumstances are less than positive, this framing can help to demonstrate strong self-awareness.

Some ways you might phrase termination include:

• My manager let me go when we noticed a skills mismatch for the company’s needs.

• My job ended upon recognizing that my goals and the team’s goals didn’t align.

• My manager and I came to a mutual separation agreement after realizing my personal commitments prevented me from meeting the expectations of that work environment.

You may also add how you’ve reconciled those hurdles since your job ended to show growth out of a challenging experience.

Explore your reasons for leaving a job, then begin your next chapter with Coursera.

In your professional career, reasons for leaving a job will come up, and it’s important to frame them in a positive light in an interview so that your potential future employer understands your perspective. Once you know how you will answer interviewers about why you left (or are leaving) a job, continue building your skills and advancing your career journey. 

For example, try the Interviewing and Resume Writing in English Specialization from the University of Maryland to sharpen your job preparation abilities. Stay future-focused by building skills for various in-demand careers with a Professional Certificate from top companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and more. Upon completion, gain access to job search resources, including interview preparation.

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