When interviewing someone, should you ask why they're looking for another job?

Question

When you interview someone for a job, or are helping to interview someone for a job, is it rude to ask why they're interviewing in the first place?

Sometimes the answer is easy like "well my company is laying off a thousand people this year and so I've decided to move on" or "they've decided to get out of software development and instead make candles"

Sometimes it's the safe middle road like "well I feel I've taken my career as far as it can go in my current job..."

But sometimes the answer could be something that throws up a red flag like "well I can't stand my boss" (could this person be a problem employee?) or "I didn't like Technology X" (well we use lots of Technology X here...) or "I don't like staying in a job for more than six months..." (well, we were planning on hiring long term...)

On the one hand, setting off a red flag can keep you from hiring the wrong person - on the other hand it could also be a false positive. You might wind up not hiring the best employee ever just because he had a total slimeball of a boss and couldn't contain himself, for example.

Is it appropriate to ask why this person is looking for another job? Or should you just not worry with such a thing?

Answer 1

Sure ask.

Just make the question feel as if it was asked to keep up the conversation, not as if it was something you're specifically interested in (some practice required.)

Answer 2

I find this question perfectly acceptable. I think it's the same as asking someone who's leaving the apartment why they are leaving. Might hint to some issues that you want to know before moving in.

However, just don't expect to get an honest answer on either one of these questions, so you may just as well skip it, unless you can rely on your ability to read body-language.

Answer 3

It's the type of question where you're giving the interviewee a chance to disqualify themselves.

A downside is that if they're clever and/or dishonest, they can tell you the answer you want to hear and it's hard for you to verify what they're saying. One school of thought says you should only ask questions for which you can verify the answer.

Answer 4

Ask what you want to know if law allows. It's all about culture, here in Finland I would see no problem asking why you're leaving/applying here.

Answer 5

I think every prospective candidate should be able to answer this and do so in a positive way. I wouldn't necessarily view a positive answer as a reason to hire on its own, but a poor answer to this question can provide you with the opportunity to explore other issues that may make it difficult to work with the person.

Answer 6

I always have two problems with these questions: 1) Everybody knows that they have to lie, and everybody interprets any answer as a lie. 2) It's a question that everyone gets asked, so in many ways we are "sharing the joy" by making others suffer.

People usually move for money, interest, relocation, etc. We are all constantly on the lookout for something better or we would be mediocre at what we do.

If you hire an excellent programmer and don't pay him enough or make it worthwhile for him to stay, he'll leave. Trying to find out if he's prone to doing that isn't helpful, since he's here for an interview so you know the answer.

Answer 7

Yes.

One day they will leave again for another job and you should be interested in what he/she might say about your company.

Answer 8

Not rude and often asked here. But do not expect an honest answer.

I always had several reasons to change jobs and have chosen the most neutral one like:

• they have trouble finding money to pay the salary.
• the company is moving.

Answer 9

Sure. Sometimes the answer is interesting or insightful. Sometimes it makes you wonder. Either way, you might find out something interesting, which is kind of the point.

Answer 10

Yes, though I think the, "Why did you apply for this particular position here?" is likely a better question that allows the job seeker to answer in a somewhat hypothetical manner unless he has friends or acquaintances there to give some inside stuff. Perhaps another way to ask this question is, "What are you looking for in your next position that you don't currently have?" which is somewhat more verbose.

Another part to this is to beware of a boilerplate answer like, "I would like to make more money than I currently do," or "I would like to work more with technology X" which may just be pandering or trying to give a simplistic answer.

Answer 11

"well I can't stand my boss" (could this person be a problem employee?)

You would be crazy to say this in a job interview. For some reason people who interview candidates forget that there are really bad jobs, and especially really bad bosses.

If an employee says that they are leaving because they can't get on with their boss, or their boss is incompetent, I don't see anything to suggest that the employee is at fault. If you are a good boss you shouldn't have a problem with them.

Please remember that there are WTF jobs and WTF bosses and that leaving and finding another job is sometimes the only thing to do in that situation.

For the candidate the code for "my current job is a giant WTF" is "I'm an looking to pursue new challenges".

Answer 12

From the clients perspective--you need to be as broad as possible in response.

Answer 13

Actively making changes like finding a new job is not a casual choice. Understanding the motif behind a change is very good to know.

I prefer to ask "What are your expectations in your new job?"

I think it's a positively formulated and open question. The answer would carry the same message as asking "Why are you looking for a new job?".

Like any other answer to a question: If the answer is honest or not is something you will have to judge by yourself. But: A positively formulated and open question helps to get some honest answer.

Answer 14

When you interview someone for a job, or are helping to interview someone for a job, is it rude to ask why they're interviewing in the first place?

I start my interviews with two steps:

1. I show them their resume on my desk with important points highlit and say "I have read your resume and I have some things that I would like to talk about."
2. I ask them "So, why are you here?"

That's kind of a funny open-ended question to ask if you take it out of context but it gives the guy on the other side of the desk a chance to tell me a variety of stories. What they start telling me and how they say it is very telling to me:

• Did they like the job description?
• Are they interested in working for us?
• Are they thinking more in terms of "why they left their last job?"
• Are they completely clueless?
• Are they brilliant but ignorant about why my group is awesome?
• Most importantly, can they think on their feet and form human sentences?