Why Are You Looking For A New Job?

Purpose - This question is asked to get some insights into your personality and your relationship with your last job, colleagues and employer. So you should be careful while answering this question.

1. Never bad-mouth your former employers.
Why? It is very simple as the interviewer will envision that you will bad-mouth them when you decide to leave, and nobody wants bad rumors about themselves or their company.

2. Never bad-mouth your previous co-workers.
Why? This world is too small, your co-workers could be a friend, relative of the interviewer.

3. Never bad-mouth about the responsibilities and tasks you performed at your previous job.
Why? Thinking that the new employer would give you great responsibilities and tasks and if you give a hate speech on the previous job responsibilities and activities and to your surprise if your interviewer is thinking about similar tasks for this position, you have already given a reason to quit the new job which you have not yet got. So guess, the chances of you getting the job is Nil.

Keep the answer short and try not to disclose too much. A straight answer is best and as stated above avoid negative statements about yourself, your work, or your ability to get along with others.

E.g.
My organization was forced to downsize.

Our department was eliminated due to corporate restructuring.

I am looking for a bigger challenge and to grow my career.

I am relocating to this area due to family ( Marriage, Kids Education etc...)

I received degree and want to utilize my new skills in this new position.

I am interested in a job with more responsibility and challenges.

I am seeking a position with a stable company with room for growth and opportunity for advancement.

Tell us about a time when you missed a deadline.

(or)

Let's discuss a time when you missed a significant deadline.

If you answer something like "You never missed a deadline". Most interviewers will immediately conclude you are not experienced and may also feel you are lying. 

Approach - It is absolutely necessary to accept that you have missed a deadline and give reasons how you resolved and what you learned from it. This will demonstrate your experience.

You could say in one of the first projects earlier in your career you missed an important deadline and made the boss very upset. It was a great learning experience and after doing some introspection, you realized, you could have done better planning, prioritization and communication. Now, you use special tools, processes and methods to address these issues. Now your team, colleagues and management are always up to date so no surprises arise on meeting deadlines. 

Below are few things you may emphasize on in your response...

Effective planning

Procedural Improvements

Better Prioritization

Open communication

Better Status reporting