Why are you looking for a new job?
Why interviewers ask this
Interviewers want to understand your motivation. Are you running away from something, or moving toward something? They are also checking for red flags: conflict with a manager, poor performance, or a habit of leaving jobs quickly.
Finally, they want to know whether this role will actually give you what you are looking for. If you leave your current job because of a lack of growth, and their role offers the same, you may not stay long either.
How to answer
- Focus on what you are moving toward — growth, new challenges, a different kind of work — rather than what you dislike.
- Be honest but brief about the reason; one or two sentences is enough.
- Connect your reason to something specific this role offers.
- If you were laid off or your contract ended, say so plainly and calmly; it is common and not a judgment on you.
- Speak respectfully about your current employer, even if things are not ideal.
Example answers
I’ve been at my current firm for four years and I’m grateful for what I’ve learned there, especially on the audit side. Over the last year, though, my work has become quite routine — I’m mostly doing the same set of year-end audits for the same clients. I want to move into management accounting, where I’d be closer to business decisions rather than reviewing them after the fact. I’ve been preparing for that by taking on budgeting work for two of our clients, and I really enjoyed it. This role is exactly that step: you’re looking for someone with audit discipline who wants to work on forecasting and reporting for the leadership team.
My previous company restructured its regional operations earlier this year, and my role as an area operations coordinator was one of several that were cut. It was a business decision rather than a performance one — in fact, my region had the lowest stock loss in the last two quarters I was there. I’ve used the time since to finish a supply chain certificate I’d started. Looking ahead, I want to stay in operations but in a company that’s growing, and your plan to open new stores over the next couple of years is exciting. I’d like to bring what I learned about running stores efficiently to a team that’s scaling.
Mistakes to avoid
- Criticizing your boss, colleagues or company, which makes the interviewer wonder what you will say about them later.
- Making salary the only reason, which suggests you will leave as soon as someone offers more.
- Giving a long, emotional explanation of what went wrong.
- Being so vague (“I just want a change”) that it sounds like you have no real plan.