A question about answering, “Why are you leaving?”

I recently got an email from an associate professor who thinks he won’t be getting tenure in his current position because the fit isn’t good. He asks, with respect to his next job interview,

“How do I handle the question ‘Why are you leaving and can we contact your present supervisor?’”

So, readers, how would you handle this question? Here’s the answer I sent back:

First, I think these are two different questions that you’d be met with in your next job interview. The interviewer may not actually ask “Why are you leaving academia?” but rather, “Why do you want to work at organization X?” Either way, though, I think the smartest way to answer this is to say exactly what you’ve said to me–the fit between you and academia (or your department) is just not a good one.

There’s no need to then elaborate by saying, you know, “My colleagues were assholes and the pay sucked.” You can follow up the “it’s not a good fit” line by emphasizing what kind of work you DO want to do–”I found the fit between me and Hell University didn’t work as well as I wanted because I’m really interested in doing more hands-on work,” or “I want to cultivate my X skills, and my old job just didn’t afford that,” or “I’ve always been interested in working with X, which was my favourite part of my old job, even though the other parts of the job just didn’t mesh well with me.”

The question of contacting your present supervisor falls under that whole tricky matter of references that worries a lot of people. References aren’t an insurmountable problem, but it does require a bit of finessing. There are a few different approaches. One would be to ask a colleague with whom you have a good relationship to serve as a reference. It doesn’t actually need to be a department chair or grad program director or dean or any kind of a senior position (though, obviously, if you can think of someone suitable, that would be great). But if you’ve worked closely with any of your colleagues on a project or journal or research or anything, that person can serve as a reference for you because they can testify to the things that matter when it comes to references (is the person professional? Prompt? Meet the minimum standards or give a little bit extra?).

And for the record, here’s what Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk says about references. But what do you think, readers? What’s the best way of addressing these questions?

(As an aside, I’m forming a list of questions from scholars that actually would be best posed to employers, and this question is on that list. I’d love to know what fields and sectors you’re interested in hearing from, i.e. what types of employers would you like me to interview? And what other questions might you have for what industry?)

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1. The résumé: To hide your academic credentials or not?
2. Looking for a flexible work schedule? You can find it–or create it.
3. WRK4US PSA
4. My career trajectory: Defying Gravity + She Works Hard For the Money
5. Does leaving academia mean leaving your research behind?

Tagged as: job interview, leaving, references