The Complete Coding Interview Guide in Java
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Why are you looking to change jobs?

Of course, if you are at your first job then you will not get such a question (or its sister,How and why did you leave your last job?). But if you had a previous role (or you plan the change your current role), then the interviewer will want to know why you took this decision. The key here is to detail clear and solid arguments without saying anything bad or offensive about your previous company, bosses, coworkers, and so on – follow the principle that if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all.

Here are some tips that will help you with this question (pay attention to how this question is interleaved with the previous one – if the working style of this company relates nicely to the style of your current or ex-company, then most likely, the same reasons for leaving that job will apply to avoiding this job as well):

  • Don't cite money as the first argument: Money is often a good reason to change jobs but citing it as the first argument is a dangerous route to take. The interviewer may think that all you care about is money. Or, they may think that your current employer didn't raise your salary because you were not valuable enough. Sooner or later, they might think, you will want more money and you'll proceed with the approach of looking elsewhere if they cannot offer you the desired raise.
  • Invoke a factor out of your control: Invoking a factor out of your control keeps you in the secure zone. For example, you could say, My team was assigned to a project that required relocation. Or, you could say, I was moved... to the night shift and I couldn't adapt my life to this schedule.
  • Invoke a major change in the environment: For example, you could say: My company does mass layoffs and I don't want this risk. Or, you could say, I worked for 5 years in a small company, and now I want to put my experience to use in a big company.
  • Invoke an aspect that you don't like and is known by the interviewer: You could say, I was hired as a Java backend programmer, but I spent a lot of time helping the frontend guys. As you saw in my resume, my experience is rooted in backend technologies.