In the interview, the reason for leaving is asked, and the true full-point answer is that the interviewer and myself are satisfied

Xiaohong (pseudonym), who has just changed jobs recently, has changed 4 jobs in 8 years, on average once every two years. Compared with the post-95 generation who changed jobs every 7 months, she is actually relatively stable. So, there are not many interview opportunities.

However, on the question of "reasons for leaving" that the interviewer must ask every time, he always fails to perform well. It is definitely not appropriate to say that the original company is not good, the leadership is not good, and the colleagues are not good; Hello colleague, then I have nothing to do when I have nothing to do. To say that for development and growth, this feels too false and unbelievable.

This "reason for leaving" question seems to be trying to force people into a "difficult" situation. Therefore, every interview is a temporary reason, and every time the reason is different, I am drunk when I think about it myself. And once the reason for leaving was not answered well, the interviewer would hold on to it. Xiaohong said: Twice the interviewer asked me about the reasons for leaving my past 4 jobs one by one. The point is, Xiaohong hasn't written anything after all her recent interviews, which is really worrying.

Every employee who changes jobs will face this problem. Moreover, it belongs to an interview question type that the interviewer attaches great importance to and is relatively difficult to answer. Many people "fall" on this question.

Next, I share two common reasons why it is easy to "see the light and die" after answering. If you come across this question in an interview, don't answer it this way - just name one of them and the interview is over.

The first, attributed elsewhere: "I'm past the age for this kind of work"

Xiaohong, who has been working on UI for 6 years, hopes to switch to UE and product design direction. So, she started to change jobs, famous schools + solid experience, so she quickly got interview invitations from first-tier Internet companies, but failed 5 interviews.

In retrospect, it feels like I'm stuck on a problem - why don't you keep doing UI, but UE? Her answer was: UI is a very detailed work. I think I can still do it when I am 25 years old. After so many years, I am 30. I don’t want to do such detailed and basic work.

To be honest, I understand that Xiaohong is telling the truth, and she also hopes to impress the interviewer through her sincerity. Is sincerity wrong? There’s nothing wrong with being sincere, but think about it carefully: you think you’ve reached your age, so you don’t do the detailed work. What’s the reason? In addition to the "picky" attitude, the interviewer may also worry: after you come to us, can you arrange hard and detailed work for you?

The second is to deny the work itself: "This work has no training/prospect".

Xiao Lan, who has worked as a cashier for 10 months, is about to quit her job and change jobs because she can't learn anything as a cashier.

Fortunately, she told me in advance, and I analyzed it with her: If you give this reason, the interview will not pass. Because any position can train people, if you say that you can’t learn anything, others will not deny the position of teller, but deny your learning ability.

Since the above two reasons for resignation are both "death to the light" and cannot be said, is it necessary to make up a temporary reason? However, as we have said at the beginning, it is difficult to make up reasons; and, when we make up reasons, don’t we have a voice in our hearts to say that this is the real reason?

Therefore, I do not recommend making up reasons at all. If the above mentioned are your real reasons for leaving and your feelings, that is, the truth. Then, the truth itself has value, and it must be more logical and self-consistent, and find an expression that is acceptable to both yourself and the interviewer.

How to find it? I recommend using a very useful way of thinking to solve this problem. It is "First principle thinking". Translated into Chinese, it is first principle thinking. It is a philosophy proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. term, he believes that there is a fundamental proposition in every system, which cannot be violated or deleted.

It sounds very powerful, but how to understand this kind of thinking? In order to facilitate the introduction of my method behind, I will give an example first, so that you can feel what this theory is talking about.

For example, two captains, see an iceberg on the sea.

An experienced captain A thought: The iceberg that the Titanic encountered sank, so there must be a big iceberg under this iceberg, it seems that I have to go around carefully.

A Captain B thinking in first principles thought: This iceberg is moving, which means that it is floating in the water. According to the principle of buoyancy, F float = G row (that is, the buoyancy of the object is equal to the gravity of the liquid when the object sinks), so there must be an iceberg with a large enough volume hidden under the water surface, it seems that I have to go around it carefully.

See the difference? Although the result is the same, Captain B is closer to the essence of the matter, and here is the thinking of first principles - seeing the most basic propositions.

So, how do you apply this mindset to interviews, especially answering reasons for leaving? It is to clarify the basic propositions in the interview, and the basic proposition in the interview is to examine the degree of job match, that is, your attitude, skills and recruitment positions are compatible, that is, to show your attitude and ability.

Next, after we have this basic proposition that cannot be violated or deleted, let's look at the previous few words that have seen the light of death, and find out the point of attitude and ability.

For example, Xiaohong said, "I can't do UI at the age of 30." I used the first principle to ask the following questions:

Why do you want to be UE instead of UI when you are 30 years old? Because the UI is a lot of details and execution.

Why don't you want to do the details and execution? Because I want to do design and management.

Why do you want to do design and management? Because I long for more voice.

At this point, I found Xiaohong's basic attitude in changing jobs - she has been working on UI for 6 years, she hopes to have more voice in the product, and hopes that her thinking can be presented in the product, so she asked for UE.

In this way, it is not only clear but also able to see Xiaohong's inner attitude and skills, who both yearn for product design and have proficient UI skills. Then, Xiaohong can show his attitude and skills in the interview, so that the interviewer can see why Xiaohong is so eager for the UE position. This is not a death, but reasonable and correct.

For another example, Xiao Lan, who felt that the cashier did not exercise, I used the first principle to ask the following questions:

What jobs do cashiers do without exercise? The cashier is all about sorting out bills and making tables, no exercise.

Why is there no exercise in sorting out the coordinates of the ticket? Because there is no sense of achievement, just can't see what has been created.

What do you think is creation? Such as sales, such as dealing with people, you can feel the results of the work.

So far, Xiaohong's real reason is not that "there is no future for making payments", but that he does not like to deal with form bills, likes to communicate with people, and hopes to do a position with obvious and measurable performance. Then, if Xiaohong analyzes her personality preferences in the interview, and shows that she likes to deal with people and is not afraid of challenges, then this job-hopping is also reasonable and correct.

The above is the analysis of "reasons for leaving". In fact, you can also apply this first-principles thinking in other aspects of the interview to find out what the core key points of the problem you are facing are. To sum up, it can be divided into two steps:

The first step is to start from yourself and confirm your feelings. For example, the above Xiaohong and Xiaolan all started from their own first-hand feelings before they switched jobs. However, your intuitive feeling, such as "this is boring", is not the basic proposition of the interview according to first principles, because it is not your attitude and skills. Therefore, you cannot use your first feelings as a reason to persuade the interviewer.

The second step is to start from the first feeling, question yourself layer by layer, and ask about the attitude and skills that fit the position. The basic proposition of the workplace is exchange, so the basic proposition of the interview is to examine your attitude skills, that is, check the goods before deciding whether to make a deal. Therefore, what you show should not be the first feeling, but your own attitude and skills towards the profession.