This question is normal if you had left your last employer for career growth. However, this adds trauma to people who were laid off by the company or have been fired due to non-performance. Learn how to handle it.

  • Tell the reason genuinely (need not be the genuine reason.) For instance, when a person has to move from human resources to operations, the questions of why he would leave HR will come, as most of the first-level interviewers are HR personnel who are passionate about HR (or are looking for a reason to move to another field). Though the genuine reason would be that HR is a monotonous job and could not use the creativity, the more apt answer would be “to seek better work challenges”
  • Focus only on the positives. Examples are:
    • Career growth.
    • Better work challenges.
    • Better opportunities in the field.
    • Professional gap for pursuing studies.
    • Professional break: It is common to take a break for a month or two after working continuously for 5 or 10 years.
    • Company or department (in case of short-term projects) closed down: The candidate cannot do anything about this.

If the candidate is unfortunately laid off due to downsizing / recession / cost-cutting, then chances are the interviewer would already be aware of the reason. In such cases:

  • State the truth candidly.
  • Don’t blame yourself
  • Don’t blame the company or sound angry
  • End your statement on an upbeat note
    • Example: Due to serious financial crisis, my company was forced to downsize. Unfortunately, my position was affected. Now I’m looking forward to exploring some new opportunities.