Why do you want this new job

No matter which side of the table you’ve sat during interviews, you’ve probably heard this question: ‘Why do you want this new job?’

In the recent past, I’ve interviewed a few candidates and heard the following answers so far:

I’m not learning much on the current job after it’s been 2-4 years.
I’m looking for something that offers better work-life balance.
I’m not really looking for a job. The recruiters got in touch and I thought I’d discuss.
I’m looking for more challenging work.

All of the above are valid answers. I think there’s another perfectly valid answer that candidates seldom mention probably due to the gravity of the interview room situation. I’ve interviewed over a hundred candidates across different companies and am yet to find anyone that mentions: I am not happy with my current salary and benefits compared to my skills

Back to topic of answers. So, when someone answers that they are not learning new things on the job, obviously, you’d be curios to know why and how they have tried to change things. Unfortunately, most candidates simply mention that they are doing repeat work and there’s not much to learn doing the same thing over and over again. This is where I start feeling a little uneasy. However, I understand that it’s a true statement. If you’re in a similar situation, here’s some suggestion: read books, and write code based on what you’ve read. Then, you can tell a much convincing story that, I’ve forced myself to learn new things and here’s some proof, but I really want to apply the newly learned skills outside the scope of the “hello world” skills.

About work-life balance, I totally hear you. And if your current job doesn’t suit what you need out of your life, it’s a perfectly valid reason to look for new opportunities. However, make sure you’re able to clearly set the expectation with your potential employer about what work-life balance means for you. For example, if you can’t work over 40 hours a week, or must work from home one-two days a week, it’s best to discuss this even before an interview starts to ensure you’re a good match with the employer.

If you showed up at in interview just because a recruiter got in touch, I’d say introspect first. It’s possible that on our subconcious mind you have expectations that the potential of the new job offers you something that you don’t get at the current job. So, instead of a passive asnwer that the you simply acted based on the recruiter’s invite, it’s much convincing to see if you can lay down one or two things that you expect from the new job that you don’t get at the current job.

About looking for more challenge, it sounds like a cliche unless you can share examples of work that is of challenging to you. May be you like the challenge of using more complicated algorithms, may be you like dealing with a lot of data, may be you like supporting production emergencies, but there’s gotta be something that you can explicitly mention as challenging. It helps employers to understand if they’re able to provide you with enough challenge on the job.

Finally, if you’re looking for a new job because the current job isn’t paying upto the level of your skills and contributions, make sure to communicate it clearly as well. With salaries and benefits, I find it much easier to work with people that know the actual $ figure that’ll make them happy instead of beating around the bush to create confusions all around. Just be confident and tell what makes you happy. If the employer can afford it, most likely they’ll want to get you onboard as a happy employee. If they can’t afford it, they’ll do their best. The key here is to be explicit about what you want and be sure and confident about it.

In a nutshell, when you walk into an interview it’s yours to lose. The potential employer is investing their time and resources and would rather have you hired than having to interview other candidates. As long as you are able to justify why you want the new job, they’ll be quite accommodating.

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