Career Insanity – Will you take the bait?

It is all but guaranteed that somewhere in the interview process you will be asked the following question:

Why do you want to leave your current position?

How are you going to answer this question?

When I left my last corporate position, I was pretty pissed. I was put in a highly unethical position, I watched management abuse employees both verbally and emotionally, and I was sick of the politics.  I was worn out both physically and emotionally.

It is over a year later and I am still somewhat pissed.  It did not help that I had people calling me monthly with stories of what was continuing to go on.  I was highly trusted by my former colleagues.  What I knew not to do is to talk publicly about my displeasure. Except, when I took the bait.

Earlier this year, I was at a networking event and someone asked me about my experience.  I was very politically correct in all of my answers.  This person kept on probing and probing and probing.  I finally bit. I spoke of my displeasure.

This was to someone I had no business connection, he was not in a prospective customer, and I was not looking for a job. It was rather a safe error.  On the other side, I felt miserable for the next day.  Bringing back all of the emotions to the surface was uncomfortable and I felt bad about having spilled the beans.  That is what I have my wife and therapist for!

In an interview, this would have been deadly.  Almost of all of us have these feelings and emotions when we are looking for a new gig. You need to recognize when the bait is being set.

Our goal is have a response that pivots the response from what you are leaving — to –  where you are going!

Pivot the answer from what you learned in Step 1 to what you learned in Step 2.  More on that in the next post!

Check out the Cure for Career Insanity webpage and sign up to get updates on this program.

——————————————————–

Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues using the social sharing buttons below.  You can subscribe to this blog and my monthly newsletter by filling out the form at the top of this page.  Please visit my Career Pivot FaceBook page daily for interesting articles. If you “like” my page you will be able to download the “Baby Boomer Fact Sheet” with 24 important facts about the challenges that face baby boomers today.

Marc Miller Career Design Specialist