A job interview is a perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate your suitability for the job. It’s therefore important that you prepare for commonly asked job interview questions. If the interviewer asks you "What do you hate the most about your job?", then it's appropriate to be direct in answering the question and offer attributes that drove you to the current position you're interviewing for.
What do you hate the most about your job?
The question may be asked in several ways, The best way to answer this question is to understand what the interviewer really wants to know when asked.
Some other formulas
There are many versions of the question “What do you hate the most about your job?”, including:
- What did you hate in your previous job?
- What did you dislike about your job?
- Why are you looking for a new opportunity?
- What do you hate about your job?
- Why are you leaving your current job?
Why does the interviewer ask you this question?
This question presents an opportunity for the hiring manager to see what kind of work you would like to do as well as your suitability if you work for the company.
It can also be a way for them to gauge your level of experience with specific workplace scenarios and rank your interpersonal skills.
Thus, companies want to make sure that they employ the right talent culture, which is why they pay close attention to answering this question.
How to prepare for the answer
The last thing you want to do is allow your answer to turn into a rant about how terrible your current company is or how much you hate your boss or co-worker.
The easiest way to approach this question with balance is to focus on the opportunity for the role you are interviewing to get offers that your current job does not offer.
You can keep the conversation positive and emphasize why you are so excited about the job.
Your response should focus on balancing your feelings for your previous employer and how this new position can help you get to where you want to be in your career.
Here are three steps to help you answer the question “What do you hate the most about your job?”:
- Write a list of inconsistencies with your previous job.
- Identify solutions to those incompatibilities.
- Compare your solutions to what the job offers.
- Practice your answer.
Examples of answering the question
Consider these sample answers to help inspire you to prepare your own:
While I loved working at my previous company, there were instances when assignments did not give me the opportunity to expand my skill set and experience. I realized that my full potential had not been reached and that I needed to focus on personal and professional growth. I am interested in this role because your company offers professional development seminars, and I am very keen to participate in the Effective Communication course being introduced in the next quarter.
I worked with the Director of Communications in my previous position in order to implement the company's PR strategy for the client. There were circumstances in which I felt that the work and effort devoted to the tasks performed to finish the strategy were not being accomplished. While there was benefit from having more independence in the client's campaign and workload, it was time for me to apply for a manager position where I thought I was ready to take my next career opportunity.
During my last job, there was not much room to develop my career in addition to my skills. After spending two years with the organization, there were several occasions where I wanted to work on different tasks and have more ownership when it came to the company's performance. However, it doesn't seem possible based on the size of the department I'm working in. I am excited to be interviewing for an opportunity where the possibility of facing new professional challenges is higher.
I love the work that has been assigned to me and the trust my employer has given me with these tasks. Despite the lack of flexibility in my schedule, I still enjoy the experiences I had in this job. Given that you offer the opportunity to work remotely and additional working hours as needed, this fits in with the company culture I'm following at this time.