Poll of the Day > Job interview tomorrow, what should I say when the tough question

(+) Yeah! (+)

"Why are you leaving your current job?" comes up
I've been working at a restaurant for 6 months now, while the hours are great, there's a really bad cockroach infestation that has never gone away in my entire time there and I see 1-3 of them every single day at work.
I obviously can't tell the interviewer this. I do know they pay 2 dollars more than my current job. Can I say that I'm getting a better financial opportunity without sounding greedy?

I havent had a formal interview in years. If youre getting one, I would dip on that company.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


xD

zebatov posted...

I havent had a formal interview in years. If youre getting one, I would dip on that company.

Why?

If its zebatov saying it, then you can just ignore whatever he has to say.

Why can't you say that. Places standards are beneath what I expect of a restaurant and I couldn't work for them any longer.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Pretty much the standard answer to the point that interviewers almost expect you to say this. You could add some color language about what you are expecting out of your new job as well, but if you said this verbatim it wouldn't work against you in any conceivable way.

Yeah, I really don't think there's anything wrong with saying that there are cockroaches and that you can't be associated with a place that lets that occur. If you try to avoid outright saying that you might come across as disgruntled without a cause, which...

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Or as I would phrase it they might fear that you are 'chronically unhappy'.

say something like as a customer I've always enjoyed your restaurant more and think it will be a better match for me as an employee

Whenever they ask why I want to work for them, I've always wanted to reply:

"Money can be exchanged for goods and services"

Just saying I want to give myself a new challenge and learn new things works for me. Good luck!

The why are you leaving is a dumb question these days.
The answer is always that you're looking for new experiences and opportunities.

What the interview is trying to get you to do is to bad mouth your previous employer. Don't fall for this trap. They'll try a few times.

Like every other applicant you inexplicably had a perfect experience at your previous job and have absolutely no reason to want to leave except that you want another job.

captpackrat posted...

Whenever they ask why I want to work for them, I've always wanted to reply:

"Money can be exchanged for goods and services"

It's like the "Objective" section on resumes. It's mostly fallen out of fashion these days, but I really have no idea how it held on for so long. I don't think anyone genuinely believed the pretense that there was more to it than "I like being able to buy things."

They hired me on the spot lol

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Thanks man.
Yeah they pay a dollar more than my other place and also looks way cleaner.

You could say that this job fits your interests more, or that you want to try something different.

So, I know I'm late, but...

Ferarri619 posted...

I obviously can't tell the interviewer this.

Why not? I mean, obviously you're not going to phrase it as, "My current restaurant is full of cockroaches and I would like a more cockroach-free workspace", but you could have easily dressed it up as something like, "To be perfectly honest, I've seen health and sanitation standards slip at my current job place to the point I no longer feel comfortable working there." That is a 100% valid reason to leave a job (and it shows the interviewer that you actually give a shit about such things, which is a plus).

adjl posted...

It's like the "Objective" section on resumes. It's mostly fallen out of fashion these days, but I really have no idea how it held on for so long. I don't think anyone genuinely believed the pretense that there was more to it than "I like being able to buy things."

I've never even heard of an "objective" section on a resume.

That being said, I think it depends on your field of work. Like, I'm in engineering, and people will legitimately switch jobs or seek one out based not just on pay but also on what type of experience/learning opportunities the job offers. I've seen people switch to lower-paying jobs because they're going to be working on something that's more cutting-edge that they feel they might be able to leverage further down the road. I've seen people leave jobs because they wound up doing engineering work that they didn't like and they weren't getting the learning opportunities they wanted.

Like yeah, the main reason why anyone is looking for a job is, "I enjoy having money and the things that I can exchange it for," but there are sometimes other considerations that factor into it.

darkknight109 posted...

Why not? I mean, obviously you're not going to phrase it as, "My current restaurant is full of cockroaches and I would like a more cockroach-free workspace", but you could have easily dressed it up as something like, "To be perfectly honest, I've seen health and sanitation standards slip at my current job place to the point I no longer feel comfortable working there." That is a 100% valid reason to leave a job (and it shows the interviewer that you actually give a shit about such things, which is a plus)

That's what I was getting at you just put a lot more thought into it.

I always hated the question of why you wanted to work for that specific company. It's like...cause yall hiring and the pay looks about right?
I've usually bulkshitted my way through that question by actually learning some of the company history so it makes it seem like I am actually a fan of the company or some shit.

I point blank told bojangles they where my favorite chicken place so I'd be proud to work there helping make the quality chicken they make. Lol.

Another place I was able to spout off where their original store was and what year it opened. Also helped I had the same name as the owners son who he had named the place after. Ya know cause they just thought that was cool.

In case ya'll missed it yeah they hired me.
If anyone's curious, when he asked me the question I said "This restaurant is bigger and busier than my current employer and I feel I'm up for the challenge."

congrats what position?

Dishwasher. I never wanna actually work in kitchen tbh.
It'll pay $14 per hour with added $2 tip pool, so it'll be $16 an hour in total.

Ferarri619 posted...

Dishwasher. I never wanna actually work in kitchen tbh.
It'll pay $14 per hour with added $2 tip pool, so it'll be $16 an hour in total.

At bk my boss always got mad at me for doing the dishes cause I was the team leader and senior employee in the kitchen. What she never realized is I'd rather do the dishes where as everyone else hated it. So what I'd do as the start of a shift I'd ask the others what they wanted to do and I'd take whatever was left. Dishes almost every time. Made me a popular leader.

Ask what the severance pay is

Just me and one other guy are showing up for the orientation Tuesday of next week, lol
There will be free food which is cool I guess.

I think they just want a generic corporate answer

Ferarri619 posted...

In case ya'll missed it yeah they hired me.
If anyone's curious, when he asked me the question I said "This restaurant is bigger and busier than my current employer and I feel I'm up for the challenge."

Yup, good lie

Manager gave me a $125 Playstation network gift card to say thanks for doing the overtime these past 2 weeks.
That was nice of him I said he didn't have to do that. :/

If you get asked a tough question blow the interviewer away by SINGING the answer back to them. Theyll be speechless it wont even matter what your answer was