“Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?”: Implications for Recruitment in Businesses and Higher Education

“Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?”: Implications for Recruitment in Businesses and Higher Education Institutions

Published on January 6, 2019

Ali Mansouri Status is online

Ali Mansouri Page 1 of 5

Writer, Researcher, Consultant

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” ― George Orwell* Leaving one’s job does not need to be a chaotic, disorderly, and miserable process like the UK’s exit from the EU. Changing jobs and moving from one company to another or from one organization to another or even from one country to another has always been a natural process for human beings throughout history. It is true that this process has become a little more complicated in modern times, but it does not need to be a disastrous event for employees who always leave for a good reason. The reasons why people leave their jobs are too many to be enumerated in any one article and there is a vast literature on this area. However, we may mention here some of these reasons for the sake of argument:                      

Looking for a new opportunity Looking for a promotion Looking for a new job that fits one’s skills and abilities Looking for a new attractive location Trying to forget a bitter experience: personal, academic or professional Looking for a higher salary or a better employment package Getting rid of a toxic work environment Getting rid of a corrupt boss or a corrupt senior management Getting rid of undemocratic superior-subordinate relationship Getting rid of a nasty, stingy VC who is a big liar, a cheat, and a dishonest person Getting rid of too many working hours that amount to slavery rather than an ordinary type of employment End of work contract Communication breakdowns with the line managers or senior managers VC and Assistant VC are impolite, arrogant, incompetent and corrupt people.

There is widespread forgery of students’ grades in the Registration Department. This makes the teachers feel cheated and frustrated.

Financial instability of the company or institution, which leads to job insecurity.

Disrespect and lack of appreciation of employees’ work and achievements Bad image or bad reputation of the company or institution Overtiredness and overwork VC and Assistant VC use arrogant, uncivilized, and vulgar language with their employees.

Renewals of work contracts are subject to personal considerations and giving bribes to the HR Director, the Managing Director, the VC and Assistant VC. There is no reward system for the appreciation of employees’ achievements and excellent performance.

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There are thousands and thousands of other reasons. Some of these reasons are traditional related to the employer-employee relationships; others are related to modern life and realities of today’s working world. So why should there be any problem for anyone leaving their job for a new one?

People are free to move from one job to another and this is one of their basic human rights.

Some time ago, I was working at A’Sharqiyah University which was a start-up organization. In addition to my official job as an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL, I was assigned other tasks, or really other jobs: Director of the Language Center and Foundation Program, HR Recruiter, Consultant of Program Development, and other jobs that are not related to my basic job in the original work contract. These additional jobs were very demanding and tiring and were not mentioned in any document I had signed. I had to work for more than twelve hours a day. The University was, in every sense and aspect, a workplace for slavery and bribery, a toxic work environment full of corruption and hypocrisy. There was a widespread culture of fear and widespread forgery of students’ grades. Medical insurance was almost non-existent for the University teachers and members of staff. The VC and Assistant VC were unqualified, incompetent, stingy senior managers determined, in a very bizarre way, to destroying every academic aspect in the University. They canceled the use of books and references for teaching and gave awkward instructions to the teachers to use “handouts” instead of books and references.

They were both very impolite and arrogant using vulgar and uncivilized language. Both of them were “practicing” thieves, cheats, and corrupt officials. They would demand “commissions” (bribes) in return for any contract they would sign in the name of the University, even from the bus drivers who were given contracts to transport students between the University and the dormitories. They had nothing to do with the academic world and were running the University through the Police and Public Prosecution, something I have never seen or heard of anywhere else in the world. I took a stand against them and had to take them to court and had to leave. The Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees were fast asleep in their “ivory towers” or were just spectators, to say the least.

So I left these disgusting employers, or rather monsters, for good reasons. So why should I offer justifications or explanations to my new employer about why I left my last job. What should I say? Should I tell them everything or should I hide some information?

When we are asked this stupid question in an application form or in a job interview: “Why did you leave your last job?”, the implications are clear and they imply something negative or improper done by the employee. It implies the employee has left the last job because he was not a good employee and his performance was not satisfactory. The answer to this stupid question may decide the fate of any new application for a new job with the new employers. The new employers may go even further and ask the last employer to provide them with an explanation or even a reference why the employee has left them. Here many employers act in a spiteful manner and give a negative reference in order to discourage other employees from leaving them or to get their revenge if the employee was brave enough to stand up to their corruption or thievery. Are the new employers really stupid to ask this silly question or are they all engaged in a sort of conspiracy against employees who leave them?!

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Employees, of course, are human beings and would like to get a new job when they leave the last one. So they may not tell the truth when they are asked by their new employer about the real reason why they left their last job. They try to offer a reason that would not be taken against them or imply a negative performance in their last job. What is the more surprising is the fact that the new employers know that the applicants are not telling the truth in most cases. But they still keep asking the question. Are they really as stupid as that?

When you consult the Internet search engines or employment websites on this topic and you try to find plausible explanations why the new employers, or recruiters, refer to the former employers about applicants, you do not find any. Instead, you find some advice about how to get around the truth and the real reason. They offer you suggestions how to answer this question in an “intelligent” way, or rather in a “cunning way”, in order to satisfy, or rather deceive, the new employer and get the job. I wonder if the employers are ignorant of this practice!

It is a familiar story that when a loyal employee to the company or organization speaks the truth and exposes some senior managers who are big thieves and corrupt officials, this loyal employee, regrettably, suffers too many negative consequences. He does not only lose his job but the corrupt employers start to label him “a trouble maker” passing on false information and references to the new employers as revenge against him. Almost all employees in businesses and higher education institutions are fully aware of this disgusting practice in the recruitment process. This is why present employees are timid and too frightened to disagree with their senior managers or offer any opinion or suggestion or stand up to corruption even if it is in the genuine interest of the company or the institution. This culture of extreme fear makes employees prefer to act like robots or slaves. They are prepared to sacrifice their human dignity and self-esteem rather than sacrifice their jobs. This is one of the reasons why corruption, poverty, and stagnant economic growth persist in many countries.

Some new employers are intelligent enough to do away with consulting the previous employers about their job applicants, having reached the natural conclusion that the employee has left his job because he was unhappy there for some reason; otherwise he would have stayed. They do recognize there is a trial period or a probationary period during which they themselves can evaluate the performance of the new recruits. There is no need for fabricated references and recommendations from wicked, incompetent, and corrupt former employers.

It is a common practice in businesses and higher education institutions that recruitment is assigned to the HR departments or to recruitment agencies. In both cases, there are many irregular, undisciplined, and rogue dealings done by the HR director or some HR or recruitment officers. They do a lot of things without the knowledge of the owners of the companies, the senior managers, the Boards of Directors, or the Boards of Trustees who are mostly too busy to get involved with some process they regard as too small for them. This is why recruitment is normally left to the managing director of the company, a VC, an Assistant VC or even an HR director who is unbelievably incompetent and corrupt. This has made recruitment an “underground” lucrative business for some dishonest individuals in many companies and institutions. This is also one of the reasons why bribery and corruption persist in the business and academic world.

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It is time employers and recruiters stopped this nonsense!

* “Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic whose work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism and outspoken support of democratic socialism.” (Wikipedia)

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