- Whether to mention a pregnancy in a job interview
- A possible meeting protocol
- What are an end-user's responsibilities?
- Another take on opening PCs, or not
- Getting some process going
- Selling a more open environment to management
- Running an effective meeting
- Licensing rules for virtual machines
- The ROI of metrics
- Legal challenges to virtual machines
November 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Handling another interview question
Dear Bob ...
Since we're on the topic of interview questions ...
What's a good way to answer why you're leaving your current position? In my case, it's new upper management starting down a path that IMO leads to outsourcing the department. But in general, you're always leaving because of something you don't like about it. How do you answer this without looking like you're going to leave the new position as soon as you disagree with the current management?
- Ready to leave
Dear Ready ...
"Why are you leaving your current position?" is another example of a disqualifying question - one where even the most brilliant answer won't help you, but where an inept one will hurt. Answer it quickly and inoffensively and move things along to a more productive subject.
So:
"I'm ready to take on a new opportunity - one that will offer more responsibility. Right now my employer appears to be pursuing an outsourcing strategy. It's probably the right direction for the company. I don't see it taking me where I want to go, which is to ..."
Or:
"I've been doing the same work for a number of years and I'm ready to take the next step. Luckily for my employer, the whole management team is stable, very competent, and works very well together. It makes it a great place to work - but the result is that there really isn't anywhere to go there."
So long as you provide a short response that doesn't say something negative about your employer and doesn't open the door for a longer conversation, your answer will have done its job.
- Bob
Posted by Bob Lewis on November 28, 2006 05:07 AM
RATE THIS ARTICLE:
-
- COMMENTS
|
Three books. Three ways to change the world, your life, or at least Bob Lewis' bank account. Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World distills the world of IT leadership into eight learnable skills and gives you concrete, practical techniques for each one of them. Bare Bones Project Management: What you can't not do makes project management manageable, even for first-time project managers with no formal training in the discipline. ManagementSpeak: What managers say/What they mean … well, it won't help your career, and won't make you a better manager. Mostly, it will make you chuckle, guffaw, and maybe even chortle. Make friends - it's the perfect gift for anyone who has ever suffered through one of those meetings. Order your copies today! |
TOP STORIES
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Virtualization: A Step by Step Approach to Success
- Dialing up Agility with Business Transformation
- 5 Things You Need to Know About Storage Virtualization
- Is your smaller organization ready for High Availability?
- Is system maintenance doing more harm than good?
- Virtual Test Lab Automation: Manage development infrastructure
