Why is this role open?

INTRO

We’ve talked about why asking questions is so important during the interview process many times.

It displays your interest level to the interviewing team, and you get to gather pertinent information to see if the role is the right fit for where you want to take your career.

In my humble opinion - asking “Why is this role open” is the absolute most important question you can ask them.

The answer to this question can tell you if this is a great team to join & you’re getting in at the right time or if it’s an absolute dumpster fire, or anywhere in between.

The key is to ask this question at every stage of the interviewing process. From the recruiting screen, and at each round of the process. From there, see if there is any consistencies with the responses from each person. If there are, you’re in the clear. If not, you’ll have some digging to do.

Let’s go into some common reasons “Why is this role open”

1: Backfill / Replacing someone who left

If they mention this, your ears should start to prop up. Now, it’s common for people to leave jobs every 18-24 months these days, but out of all the reasons this might be one of the most concerning.

You don’t need to get defensive, but you can politely ask why are you replacing the person who left. You’ll also want to inquire about how much attrition the team has had recently.

Knowing the answer to this can give you some insight if it’s just a one-off resignation or a sinking ship.

Now, there might be some legitimate reasons for a backfill. Someone left for a much higher paying opportunity; someone got promoted internally; someone retired, etc. Those are fin.

At the end of the day, listen carefully, probe questions carefully, and trust your gut.

2: Expansion / Growth

A positive sign is that the company, business unit, and/or team is experiencing tons of growth.

Maybe the company has decided this team won the opportunity for more investment and now needs the headcount to support it. Maybe they’ve continued to win new business and need more help because of it.

Out of all the reasons this is definitely one of the more positive signs as you know you’re not only joining a newly created role, but you’re joining a team that is delivering a strong ROI to the company.

3: Internal Movement & Mobility

This could mean a couple of different factors and you’ll want to politely ask “why this person moved”.

Maybe they were up for promotion, there was no room on this team, so they were moved into a higher role on another team. That’s definitely a positive sign that shows they’re willing to look out for their people even if it means it doesn’t directly benefit their current hiring manager.

It could also mean they transferred to a different team. This could mean a bump up in more meaningful work (good), all the way to this person couldn’t get along with the current team and needed to move to another one or they were going to quit (bad). Either way, try to find out.

4: Skill Gaps

Similar to point 2, sometimes roles open because as the business unit or team grows, they realize they’re lacking in certain areas.

As they expand & grow, they realize they need someone with a certain area of expertise to come in and help them in that area. That’s their weak point, the x factor for them to continue their growth, and they need you to help solve that area of weakness.

This is definitely a positive sign as it’ll show that if you’re able to come in and hit the ground running, you can be their lynchpin.

5: Diversity Initiatives

DEI has become a major initiative at many companies. We all know that certain industries are dominated by a certain gender, race, or ethnicity. So these roles help address those concerns.

What you’ll want to find out is if this role is related to points 2 or 4 on top of that (good), or if they’re just hiring you to add a point to their DEI column (bad).

Make sure - no matter what - you ask this question on every job interview, every round. Gather the answers and write them down every time. If the answers align with each interviewer, the company passes the test. If they don’t, then you’ll need to address them as that’s a sure sign of a dumpers fire and a sinking ship.

Hopefully this helps.

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