Being clear on why you want to leave your current job and what you want from your next role helps paint a clear picture of where your future lies.

It’s a starting point for many recruiters on learning the reason for leaving. It helps us get under the surface to find the true reason why. Being open from the very start helps everyone.

Russell Drinkwater, Director, shares that the early conversations become fact finding moments, “You have to be honest and know why you want to leave. If someone says they are feeling unhappy or unfulfilled in their current role, there has to be a clear reason why? For instance, is it money, is it progression, is it a change of structure within the current business? A recruiter has to know the exact reason. For instance, if a person is offered a new role, only to be given a pay rise at their current job and a decides to stay, then the overall driver was the salary.”

It’s the clarity that helps with peace of mind for candidates according to Jack Bond, Director, “It can be frustrating for any recruiter when not recognising the motivator for leaving. You can’t progress as a recruiter if you don’t know what a person is after. Whether location or wanting to be there for your family and around for bedtime for the kids, it doesn’t have to be career-driven responses, it has to be from the heart and a true depiction of what you want.”

Let’s share with you some of the main reasons that we are familiar with when it comes to the reasons for wanting to leave a current role.

Jason Drinkwater, Director, shares from a trades and labour marketplace, “A person’s motivation for a new role, isn’t around career progression, but favourable hours, a place to work at that is safe and a location that feels right for them. There are many occasions when a person wants to leave as the job they originally committed to was not clear from the outset, such a non-skilled labourer asked to do skilled work. It all comes down to clarity of the role a person is committed to.”

Jack states that location plays a significant role in a leaving decision, “People want to be near to home. When I was first in recruitment, it wasn’t so much a factor, but today, there is more value in where people work as opposed to how much they earn. The non-salary motivators are apparent. We know of managers who aren’t prepared to drive more than 30 minutes to work.”

According to Michael Page Talent Trend Series some of the most important non-salary benefits (5,000 people) includes the amount of annual leave, healthcare and parental leave.

When it comes to making those early steps to leaving your current job think about:

• What do you want to gain from your next job?
• What do you enjoy and dislike about what you currently do?
• Would an open conversation help with your current employer?
• How do you want to be managed, going forwards?
• What does ‘time for a change’ mean to you?

Everything starts with being clear on what you want and knowing that the next opportunity is going to be suited to you. 

Time to think and be honest with yourself is going to help with every following conversation.