In an ideal world, you would protect a fabulous new job offer first, and then hand in your letter of resignation to your present employer. But the world isn’t perfect, and many individuals leave their existing jobs while they are yet searching for another role. In these examples, there is an employment gap of anywhere from three to twelve months or more that requires being explained. This post will let you know about the top eight acceptable explanations for leaving last job.

Your explanation for leaving will tell a potential interviewer a lot about you, so think about your reason and select your words carefully. Never ever refer to problems with your former employer or any staff members and don’t criticize your last place of employment.

 Top Eight Acceptable Explanations For Leaving Last Job

• Chance to Travel

This is really a very ’employer friendly’ reason for leaving last job and it is relatively convenient to explain. Many interviewers will really be glad you’ve had a good break as long as you reassure them you’re relaxed and ready to get back into the workforce again. Although, if they feel you yet have the travel bug, they’ll not take a chance on someone who will just stick around until their next holiday.

• Personal Health Problems

Interviewers can’t discriminate against you for any personal health problems you might have had that don’t impact your work. That said, your past health problems will surely have an impact on an employer’s perception of you – they merely won’t admit it. Your best bet in this perspective is to explain the gap as a ‘personal issue’ and concentrate on what you did during that time period to enhance your experience. If you must reveal the nature of the sickness, keep it brief and mention the fact that the problem was temporary and that you’ve dealt with it effectively and are ready to move on.

• Caring for Baby

Interviewers know women and sometimes men take time off to care for young kids. In this example, all you need to do is explain that it was the best choice for your family and then concentrate on the life skills and experiences you gained during your time away from paid work.

• Taking Care of Ill Parents

This is a normally acceptable reason for leaving last job. All you need to do is explain that the time period of caring is now over and you are all prepared to select your career back up where you left off. You can also concentrate on the desirable traits you indicated like responsibility, dependability etc… all of which are desirable in the workplace too.

• Location Too Far

Too much travel time can have a major affect on your work life balance so leaving a job because the travel time each day was excessive is perfectly valid. Once you describe the length of travel time you undertook every day, you also require adding that ‘sadly flexible work arrangements weren’t available’ to demonstrate that you tried everything you could to make it work.

• Deficiency of Growth/Advancement Opportunities

This is valid particularly in small to medium size work places where there aren’t several potential openings. You require ensuring that you’ve spent at least 18-24 months in your present role although before employers accept that you actually did need to move on. Leaving to soon indicates a deficiency of patience and a short term view of your career path.

• Poor Salary – One of the reasons for leaving last job

This one is a little less palatable to interviewers because it will make them consider you just care about money. You require linking this reason to another reason if you’re going to use it. For instance, a poor salary and a deficiency of advancement opportunities is a perfectly acceptable reason for leaving last job. You can describe you were happy to initiate there and learn but you had hoped for an improvement over time which didn’t occur.

• Searching For a Better Company

This reason is good as long as it is phrased rightly. It can conveniently be used in a company going through financial difficulties, potential takeover or huge scale staff turnover. All these reasons can be given to indicate that the workplace didn’t feel stable and viable in the long term and that you were searching for somewhere better where you could learn and grow. Be careful not to criticize any people within the company but concentrate on factors such as financial instability, deficiency of growth, uncertainty etc…