How does one dress up the reason for quitting/intending to quit a job?

I'm finally getting some bites on my resume and some interviews, which means that I now get to figure out how to answer the question "why are you looking to leave your current job?".

This place was a great place to work at - small company with highly competent people, only about as much bureaucracy as needed for day to day operations and we were genuinely having fun at work.

We've since been bought out by a big company and while I've climbed the corporate ladder again (on paper or electrons at least, not so much in the bank account) into a job that needed to be done and that I'm one of the very few people qualified for, but not one I'm stoked about. But I've always worked on the premise that you don't ask other people to do work you don't want to do yourself and it was the best at that point for the company, if not necessarily for me.

We're now subject to BigCo frustrating bureaucracy, the software development budget has been cut by a substantial amount (which means that I lose a considerable number of people currently working for me) and the whole plan looks like we've gone from trying to expand the business to life support mode. There's also a substantial corporate culture clash (surprise) and a lot of the more senior people who I respected and loved working with have left months ago.

I've basically given it a year to see how things would work, the year is over now and decided that I need a change of scenery.

So far I've mainly citing the changed direction, staff cuts and corporate culture clash as the reason why I'm looking for another job, but I'm concerned that this is "too negative" or I'm not "flexible enough". I'm getting the impression that common wisdom is that you're never supposed to say anything negative about a prior employer and it always has to be the best job ever that you had.

Any input? I'm pretty "Germanically blunt" but I'm not sure I want to apply said bluntness to answering this question...

"I've been with my current position for (a long time)I feel that it is time in my career to move onto another position that offers new challenges and different more opportunities."

Honestly, I think I'd just put paragraphs 2 through 5 from your original post on a card and read them out loud to the interviewer. How can your explanation to us be a bad thing in an interview? You're basically saying, "I'm very good at what I do, and I work hard & well when I can take pride in being part of an exciting and dynamic team. If y'all are trying to hire a robot, drone, or nameless cog, I wouldn't be a good fit."

Couch things in positives, not negatives. you are looking to move into the opposite of what you are trying to get away from.

Do not tell them you want out of this -> Tell them you want into this

Away from monolithic bureaucracy -> into a smaller, more dynamic company
Out of life support mode -> into a business that is expanding software development (or whatever your line of expertise is)
Don't feel your skills are that needed -> Someone is in greater need of your skills than your current employer

You say. " I'm always looking for a challenge/growth/advancement and this (new) opportunity provides exactly what I am lookin for. "

Always keep it positive and about your desire to grow or do more and different things. Do not concentrate on anything negative.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: You say. " I'm always looking for a challenge/growth/advancement and this (new) opportunity provides exactly what I am lookin for. " Always keep it positive and about your desire to grow or do more and different things. Do not concentrate on anything negative.

this - nobody can argue or fault anybody who is looking for a bigger/better opportunity. you're looking to GROW yourself....

Beer Baron wrote: Do not tell them you want out of this -> Tell them you want into this

Good approach.

Depending on where my girlfriend gets a job, I might be looking at this question very soon. It will be much easier for me, because the honest answer is that "while I do not love or even particularly like the position I'm in, I do like the company and my career prospects there. Unfortunately, for family reasons, I need to move."

You don't dress it up. You've got bigger plans and those plans aren't going to happen where you are at now. You found a better opportunity with greater possibility for advancement. Your decisions to leave doesn't need an explanation, or even an exit interview. "I hereby tender my resignation effective on day X." That's it.

Be prepared for your boss to have you removed from the building immediately. Have all your personal crap in the car first, then put in your notice.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: You say. " I'm always looking for a challenge/growth/advancement...

No. Never tell a potential employer that you are "always looking". That puts you right into my round file.

You feel that you have achieved all that you can achieve at this position, and the new corporate management has limited your opportunities for growth, so you were forced to look for another opportunity. You want somewhere that you can take on new challenges and new responsibilities, and grow with the company for the long term.

Whenever Im prepping for an interview, I always go look at the companies website, and see if I cant mine a little gem out of the "About Us" or "Our Mission Statement" link. Take a bit of their culture that you can spin into a feature thats attracted you there. example:

NewCo's Mission statement "To deliver the highest level of customer service by providing cutting edge technology on time and under budget."

NewCO Interviewer said: So, Mr Boxhead, what made you decide to leave your current position?

Mr Boxhead said: Currentjob inc used to be a place where we focused on producing leading edge [widgets], and I really took pride in that. A recent culture shift though has created an environment that inhibits a focus on advancing our [widgets], and Im looking to find a position that allows me to really get back to creating top quality [widgets].

Datsun310Guy wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: You say. " I'm always looking for a challenge/growth/advancement and this (new) opportunity provides exactly what I am lookin for. " Always keep it positive and about your desire to grow or do more and different things. Do not concentrate on anything negative.

this - nobody can argue or fault anybody who is looking for a bigger/better opportunity. you're looking to GROW yourself....

That's a slightly dangerous line to trot out, because I'm actually looking at jobs half a step down (or two steps if you believe in my corporate title) the corporate ladder. Basically I like building software more than I like managing people who build software, at least in the current environment.

I'm actually not always looking, when I took a job at my current employer I specifically took it because I could see myself working there for at least 5-10 years. Heck, we would never have bought a house out here where there are hardly any other jobs for people like me if I hadn't believed in the long term viability of the job. Unfortunately, two months after we closed on the house, the sale of the company was announced .

slefain wrote: You don't dress it up. You've got bigger plans and those plans aren't going to happen where you are at now. You found a better opportunity with greater possibility for advancement. Your decisions to leave doesn't need an explanation, or even an exit interview. "I hereby tender my resignation effective on day X." That's it.

I don't think that my current place will need much of an explanation. The people I feel I would owe an explanation to are my colleagues and those are probably the people who need it least, because they are in the same boat.

slefain wrote: Be prepared for your boss to have you removed from the building immediately. Have all your personal crap in the car first, then put in your notice.

Actually there's a 95% likelihood that I'll be working to the last minute of said notice period, judging by how the other resignations of senior people have gone. The two weeks notice period we have are barely enough for a clean handover anyway.

Datsun1500 wrote: If you are getting hits at small companies just tell them your current company was bought out by a larger company that is too corporate for you. Tell them you enjoy working for smaller places with less bureaucracy.

Some of them are at smaller companies so the above suggestion works well (I've mentioned it to one or two of them). Some of the hits I'm getting are for large places though, so that clearly wouldn't go down to well.

The larger company work is pretty much all consulting/contracting, which I have done a lot of before. What's the opinion on just saying "well, I like running my own consulting company so I've decided to go back to that"?

I dressed up in adult sized footie pajamas when I quit my last job. My coworkers were amused, buty former supervisor wasnt.

I work for an environmental/engineering consulting firm that got bought out by Westinghouse years ~25 ago. They wanted to go after the big Superfund work. It didn't work out and two years later we were less than two weeks away from closing the doors. A small group of employees (same ones that made out like bandits on the sale) approached the big wheels and negotiated the re-purchase of the company for dimes on the dollar.

Something to think about.

In cases like this, it's always best to look up to our role models in fashion and taste, because these people are true professionals, and we should try to emulate them in all things.

Apart from the bling and the rips in the jeans, that's pretty much our dress code .

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: You say. " I'm always looking for a challenge/growth/advancement and this (new) opportunity provides exactly what I am lookin for. " Always keep it positive and about your desire to grow or do more and different things. Do not concentrate on anything negative.

THIS

HR folks talk. Do not ever say anything negative on your way out. \

Also: My last job paid me north of 15K years after I left to do work for them. The HR guy tried to stop them, if he had negative comments on my exit interview, I am sure that would not have happened

Beer Baron wrote: Couch things in positives, not negatives. you are looking to move into the opposite of what you are trying to get away from. Do not tell them you want out of this -> Tell them you want into this Away from monolithic bureaucracy -> into a smaller, more dynamic company Out of life support mode -> into a business that is expanding software development (or whatever your line of expertise is) Don't feel your skills are that needed -> Someone is in greater need of your skills than your current employer

Exactly.

never running from something. always running to something. NewCo mission / philosophy / product / process / whatever is a better fit for you.

watching w/ interest

taking notes

It sounds like you're going from a relatively big corp to smaller startups. Given that:

"All of my internal growth opportunities at would have me relocating outside of . I really love and feel that would provide a great platform to give back to the local economy/community."

If you are looking to go from what sounds like a management position to a technical position then just be honest. I've had to interview people for principal engineer positions that had previously been Director or VP level and decided they wanted to do more technical work, and less management of people.

Tell them while you like your current position and are comfortable managing other, you want to be more involved in the day to day technical development, and your current position does not offer the opportunity to do that.

In this economy it isn't unusual for titles to be higher than the positions actual responsibilities. If that is the case, be sure to explain how your work at your current employer is relevant to the one you are interviewing for to correct any preconceptions.

You said it yourself: "Basically I like building software more than I like managing people who build software, at least in the current environment."

Anyone who's moved from a technical to managerial position should respect that answer