How do you know that is why they are rejecting you? It is perfectly possible that they are asking you a question about why you left and you are assuming that is why you are not chosen. But the chances are you will be asked that question. It is the answer that is important not the question. There are also many other reasons why you might not be chosen and companies will virtually never tell you exactly why you were not chosen.

I would expect that most interviewers would want to know the reason why you left and would look to see if you have a pattern of leaving after a short time in muliptle jobs. Those things can be overcome but they depend on why you left and how legitimate that reason is to the interviewer. The number of jobs you have left without another job could be a factor as well.

Their concerns are that you are someone who can't work anywhere that is not perfect and no job is perfect. Why should they take the risk on you - you have to give them a reason to do so.

So first look at how you answer that question. If you are saying something negative about the previous employer that is not entirely understandable (and ina realtively neutrol tone) then you have failed the question and may not get the job.

If you quit for a flightly reason or because you got angry or when the timing was especially bad, then they will likely heavily discount you as a possible employee. Who wants someone who leaves the week before launch because he wasnts to go hike the mountains in the Himalayas. Who can predict when you might get it into your head to decide to take a 3 month trip to Antartica and quit. Who wants the guy who quits every time things don't go his way? Project managers are not thrilled about hiring someone they think won't be there for the long haul.

If you quit because they were planning a layoff and you knew you financialy could survive better than some of the others, that would be ok. If you quit becasue you had a sick spouse to take care of, that would be ok if you let them know the sickness problem is fixed. If you quit because you needed to start maternity leave early due to pregnancy related complications and they told you to quit or be fired, that would be acceptable unless they were also the kind of company who wouldn't work around an employee's personal problems. If working conditions were such that you could not continue to work there and these same working conditions sound horrific to the person interviewing you, then you might be ok as long as you talk about it terms of how these conditions were and why it wasn't a good fit for you and not bad mouth the company.

Quitting because you were working too many hours to look for another job is a case in point. If you are interviewing at another place where they think working 90 hour weeks is acceptable, they will reject you if you say that (and hey wouldn't you really rather that they did?). But if you tell some place that expects 40-50 hour weeks from you that you couldn't handle physically working 90 hours weeks every week, the person is likely to be more sympathetic. But if you say "Company X was a sweatshop and I hated every minute I working for those jerks", then, not so much.

How do you know that is why they are rejecting you? It is perfectly possible that they are asking you a question about why you left and you are assuming that is why you are not chosen. But the chances are you will be asked that question. It is the answer that is important not the question. There are also many other reasons why you might not be chosen and companies will virtually never tell you exactly why you were not chosen.

I would expect that most interviewers would want to know the reason why you left and would look to see if you have a pattern of leaving after a short time in muliptle jobs. Those things can be overcome but they depend on why you left and how legitimate that reason is to the interviewer. The number of jobs you have left without another job could be a factor as well.

Their concerns are that you are someone who can't work anywhere that is not perfect and no job is perfect. Why should they take the risk on you - you have to give them a reason to do so.

So first look at how you answer that question. If you are saying something negative about the previous employer that is not entirely understandable (and in a relatively neutral tone) then you have failed the question and may not get the job.

If you quit for a flightly reason or because you got angry or when the timing was especially bad, then they will likely heavily discount you as a possible employee. Who wants someone who leaves the week before launch because he wasnts to go hike the mountains in the Himalayas. Who can predict when you might get it into your head to decide to take a 3 month trip to Antartica and quit. Who wants the guy who quits every time things don't go his way? Project managers are not thrilled about hiring someone they think won't be there for the long haul.

If you quit because they were planning a layoff and you knew you financially could survive better than some of the others, that would be ok. If you quit because you had a sick spouse to take care of, that would be ok if you let them know the sickness problem is fixed. If you quit because you needed to start maternity leave early due to pregnancy related complications and they told you to quit or be fired, that would be acceptable unless they were also the kind of company who wouldn't work around an employee's personal problems. If working conditions were such that you could not continue to work there and these same working conditions sound horrific to the person interviewing you, then you might be ok as long as you talk about it terms of how these conditions were and why it wasn't a good fit for you and not bad mouth the company.

Quitting because you were working too many hours to look for another job is a case in point. If you are interviewing at another place where they think working 90 hour weeks is acceptable, they will reject you if you say that (and hey wouldn't you really rather that they did?). But if you tell some place that expects 40-50 hour weeks from you that you couldn't handle physically working 90 hours weeks every week, the person is likely to be more sympathetic. But if you say "Company X was a sweatshop and I hated every minute I working for those jerks", then, not so much.