This is a trap question designed to see whether you’re going to go overboard with your answer. If you do, you can kiss this job goodbye. Here are simple ways to answer without falling into the trap.
What's one thing you disliked about your previous employer, your current job? That's the way the question will be framed. Now, this is, of course, a trap question to see if you're stupid enough to go overboard. And, as such, you have to be careful with how you answer the question and keep it very, very simple because they're going to leap all over your answer to go deeper. So here's a couple of examples that you might use. For example, you work for a behemoths organization; you're interviewing with a smaller firm. It's so easy to be invisible. "My current job, I know, they're 25,000 people who work for the firm 7000, in the building. My boss is two floors up, and we have very little time with one another. I understand she has her role; I have mine. And the issue is with the size of the organization, and the fact that I really don't have a lot of contact with people. You know, I know it sounds weird to say this, but in a big company, you've limited relationship with your boss, no one above them really gets to see you and your work. And working for a smaller firm like yours . . . That looks great to me." Conversely, if you work for a small firm, you can reverse that answer and talk about it. "I work for a tiny firm, and there's just no one for me to spend time with, no contact. You know, what I'm looking for is an organization where I can have some substantial impact. And it's gonna, you know, I have upward mobility at that firm down the road. So if I do a good job, there's promotional opportunities, which I just don't have here." Never, ever criticize your boss. Never speak ill of the organization. Keep it on these tangential kinds of issues. After going to large firm to large firm, just trying to keep it as "I'm not getting the work that's different. It's the same job for the last year and a half, two years. I have a hunch they like what I do, because I keep being told that, but they're happy to have me do this same thing for the next 10 years of my life. And I don't want to do that. Small, firm to small firm, you can talk about financial problems that the firm is having. You don't want to tell stories out of turn, but you're picking up some signals that there's some hardship going on, and you want to stay in small organizations, etc. Hope you found this helpful. I'm Jeff Altman. My website is TheBigGameHunter.us. Come to the site and go exploring. There's just a lot there that can help you. In addition, I do one on one coaching. At the site, you can schedule time for a free discovery call or schedule time for coaching. I'd love to help you. Also want to mention I've got a great class on Udemy called "The Ultimate Job Interview Framework." You can get to the class directly at TheBigGameHunter.us/interviews. It'll take you to the class. It's a video class that will teach you how to interview very effectively, so that you outperform your competition. It's also available as a paperback and Kindle book on Amazon. So, again, The Ultimate Job Interview Framework." Hope you have a terrific day. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, go to linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Hope you have a terrific day. Be great. Take care