Tell me about your prior work experience and reasons for leaving.
"I worked for ABC International Corp. for five years. During that position, I moved to Canada for 3 years. It was a pretty rural location and there was some initial culture shock involved which I overcame and immersed myself in the community, building lasting relations. Now I've gotten to a place where I am interested in taking my career in a direction that goes beyond the opportunities my current company presents. They are aware and would like me to continue to advance within their company, and it presents an excellent opportunity, but not the direction I'd intended to take my career. So now I am exploring other possibilities while keeping all my options on the table."
They want to know your backstory. This question offers you an opportunity to delve deeper into your work history, so avoid coming across as redundant by listing off items on your resume. Add a human touch to your experience. Discuss your working relationships, and how you contributed in other ways to your team, going into the relationships you built at work. This is your chance to expand upon your encapsulated bio and share the bigger picture of the soft interpersonal skills you learn throughout your continued development.
How you answer could also speak to your planning and loyalty, or raise potential red flags which could lower your professional worth.Your answer could offer insights into your circumstances and motives for leaving your job. If you are testing the field, while considering leaving your current employer, they'll be curious about how committed you are to your current employer, and gauging how serious you are about joining another team elsewhere. If you quit your job before lining up another, or quit because you thought you were going to be fired, laid off, or let go, this will suggest poor planning.
So, focus your answer on your career planning, growth, advancement, development, and how you are pursuing opportunities more aligned with your values.
This question assesses your integrity by evaluating how honestly you present your answers, so answer as sincerely as you can. Some non-verbal cues the assessment vendor will use to evaluate your honesty are stroking your chin, and covering your mouth or your eyes, gaze avoidance, the direction of your eyes, excessive fidgeting such as restless foot and leg movements, frequent body posture changes, and grooming behaviors such as playing with hair or pressing your fingers to lips.
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