Why Are You Looking For A Job?
August 19, 2007 by Darlene McDaniel
Filed under Jobs
Why are you looking for a job? I think that is a valid interview question, but this is not an interview. It’s me, your interview coach asking you why you are looking for a job? What’s going on?
Some of the reasons people change jobs are:
1. They don’t like their boss
2. They don’t like what they are doing
3. They feel burned out
4. They want to do something different
5. They need more money
6. They got fired/Laid Off
These are just a few. I would like to know why YOU are looking for a job.
Here’s another question, did you accomplish everything you were suppose to accomplish in the job? I am not speaking about task. I am speaking about, what brought you to the organization in the first place. Sometimes people think the reason they are working has to do with them. They needed the job and it sounded good. But I want to share a thought. Maybe, just maybe the reason you are working where you are working has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with you. Just maybe it has to do with the people you work with. Maybe the person you find the most difficult to deal with, is the reason you are working where you work. What do you think? Could it be possible that your life’s journey, and the decisions you have made that led you to the place you are today, is more important than your top 5 or 6 reasons for leaving.
What’s my point? I am just wondering why you are looking for a job. Do you know? Have you stopped to think about it? I am just thinking out loud on my blog. Just thinking. But I dare you to stop moving for just a moment and answer the question. Are you running from something or to something? Before you leave your current sitution, make sure you have completed the purpose you went there to complete before you leave. Can you still make a difference. Can you still contribute to the organization? If so, Why Are You Looking For A Job?
Some of us like to actually accomplish something through our work. If we’re not accomplishing, then we aren’t satisfied and will look to a place where we can accomplish something, preferably something close to our goals.
The other reason I’ve looked for a job in the past was that the level of noise (I can’t say the other word on a blog!) got too high and overshadowed the work getting done. Like the accomplishment reason, but different in that you are accomplishing stuff, but it becomes to hard to get past the other stuff to do it.
In the first few times that I changed jobs, it was because I needed to find that next role that would ultimately help me get to the end goal. I had a vision of where I wanted to end up in 20 years, and in order to get there I could not sit in easy or slow positions.
This brought criticism but in it ensured I was always challenged. I was not a job hopper, and only changed when the time was right for me and the company I was leaving, but I was intent on making sure I was not sitting bored, complacent, or in a role that was a poor fit.
I can’t answer your other question because my roles were too junior, to the point were I was super-easily replaced.
Jason Alba
CEO – JibberJobber.com
:: managing multiple job changes ::
Scot – I appreciate your comment. Using your verbiage, “some of us like to accomplish through our work,” I don’t believe that is the norm. I feel the same way. I believe I can make a difference in any organization I have the opportunity to work. But I am not sure that “some of us” is the majority of us. I believe there are more people working for the paycheck and accomplishing something is not at the top of the list.
I also appreciate comment about the noise level in an organization. I call it “mess”. Unfortunately, there is a lot of mess in organizations, which makes the organizational climate difficult to live in. As a result people leave and find new jobs.
What can I do after being unjustly beeing let go from my job or around two years.
Hi Michael! Thank you for visiting interview Chatter this afternoon. I am going to refer you to another post I wrote that has a continual conversation on it from my readers. Here is the link: http://www.interviewchatter.com/so-youve-been-fired/
I want you to read it and go through the comments. I believe that you will find answers to your question.
Here is another post that may help as well: http://www.interviewchatter.com/how-to-explain-an-unjust-termination/
This is a two-part post. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help you with your specific situation. I will definitely need more information to speak into your specific situation. Many of my readers who I coach send me information by email. You are welcome to do tthe same.
How would i justify to the employer i’m applying with if my reason to look for another job would be to have higher salary ? I’m already 10mos in my current work but I want higher salary since i’m doing well in my job, contributing a lot to the company, and was surprised how big the system that I currently handling but I felt i’m not well compensated with what i’m doing or accomplishment so i’m looking for another job.
Appreciate your advise on this.. thanks
Hi Darlene,
Thanks a lot for your advise..but given my current situation, I think its hard for me to sell my value to the current company im working with. maybe i should have asked for that before i entered in my current job. I think I will have a hard time also if I will ask my employer for more money or better pay. Though, i’m doing my best like taking IT exams to further increase my expertise and qualification.
In my point of view, as IT/system administrator, I think it would be better to jump out to another company to get a higher pay rather than staying in company and walk in a ladderized salary increase per year. Correct me if i’m wrong.
It’s just that i’m having a hard time how will I tell to my next employer why i’m applying for a another job if my sole reason is better pay.
thanks..
Hi Raai! Thank you for stopping by bizzia Careers today! My first thought to your question is, you don’t need to justify to the potential employer why you are looking for a new job. If you are looking for more money and that is your sole reason for looking for new employment, I would recommend that you step back and look a little deeper.
There are not a lot of jobs out there right now. So having a job, whether they are paying you all that you want to receive is not necessarily the reason to jump ship. Step back and look at the current situation. Do you like the job? Can you approach your current employer and ask for more money? The way you do that is to research the job you are doing? What do others make, from a salary perspective in similar organizations? Create a case for your value. Sell your value to the organization. If they believe you are adding value and you are under the market value for the position, you don’t have to leave the organization.
If you determine that you still want to leave, than you want to do the same for the other organization. Rather than leaving for more money, look for more responsibility. Talk about the value you will be to their organization. Discuss who you are what you will bring to the organization. If you have a value discussion, that will translate in to a higher salary and you never said anything about money! Please come back and share your story. I would love to hear the outcome of your situation!
Thanks for stopping by!
Darlene
Hi Raal, No problem on jumping to the next organization if you believe that is the right thing for you to do. My recommendation in communicating to the potential organization is that you communicate that you are looking for more responsibility, even if your sole reason for making the move is more money. You can say that you are looking for more money, but that may not go over well with the other organization. If you are looking for more money in the next job, typically that translates into more responsibility unless you are significantly underpaid by the current organization. If the market value for the current job is significantly higher and you know that, than you are fine saying that in an interview. Please keep me posted on what happens. I like to hear success stories!