Why Did You Leave Your Last Job? (explain a layoff)
About this video
Jeff Su presents a ‘Facts to Future’ framework for answering ‘Why did you leave your last job?’ when explaining a layoff. Spend about 20% of the answer on the facts, addressed head-on, and 80% pivoting to the future — the role you are applying for. Starting with complaints, defending your performance with old project details, or bad-mouthing a previous employer signals emotions clouding judgment and wastes the chance to sell yourself for the new job. His example facts section is deliberately short: the tech sector was affected by layoffs, leadership de-prioritized his product area, and high performers across functions from Finance to Business Development were impacted. He adds a brief human line about being hurt, then pivots in the two weeks that followed to reflecting on skills learned and listing tasks he enjoyed. The future portion reuses your ‘why do you want to work here’ answer, and he closes with a full sample answer for a product marketing role, mentioning desktop research, conversations with team members, and a company expanding in search ads. A Google Docs template for structuring your own answer is offered in the description.
Key takeaways
- Use the Facts to Future split: about 20% of the answer on the facts of leaving, 80% on the future role you want.
- Keep the facts section short and neutral — for example, sector-wide layoffs and a de-prioritized product area affecting high performers across functions — without bad-mouthing your previous employer.
- Pivot explicitly by describing reflection on skills learned and tasks you enjoyed in the previous role, laying the foundation for why this new role fits.
- In the future section, show skills from your previous role are immediately transferable so a hiring manager sees you can do the job well as soon as possible.
- Make the application look like a calculated decision backed by research, and subtly signal strong performance by offering to connect the interviewer with your previous manager.
Episode details: published February 28, 2023 · 4:19 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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