Best Answers to “Why Do You Want to Change Your Job?”

“How I Escaped ‘Slide 27’ Hell & Landed My Dream Job at Flipkart”

By Arjun Mehta (Senior Marketing Manager, ex-TechMahindra)

Bangalore, 8:45 AM

Whitefield traffic jam. AC cab. Phone buzzing:

“Arjun, the campaign presentation has been moved to 9:30 AM. Client wants 15 more competitor slides.”

My stomach dropped. Again. At TechNova Solutions (India’s 3rd largest IT services co), I’d spent 6 months making PowerPoints for a toothpaste brand – not doing marketing. Just… slides.

My breaking point? When my VP said:

“Yaar, that Instagram Reels idea is too ‘masaledar’. The client wants safe charts. Slide 27 needs more pie graphs.”

That night, I DM’d my IIM buddy Rohan: “Bro, I’m becoming a PowerPoint zombie 😭

He replied:

“Flipkart’s hiring a Brand Innovator. They want ‘culture-shakers’. Apply or I’ll tell Mom you still use Orkut.”

The Flipkart Interview: Make-or-Break

Infosys Campus, Building 44

Interviewer: Priya Reddy (Head of Brand, razor-sharp saree, Titan watch).

“Arjun, your resume shows 4 years at TechNova – stable, good brand. Why switch?”

Truths flashed:

“My manager killed my only viral campaign!” 🚫

“I need WFH – my PG rent is killing me!” 🚫

“You pay 45LPA vs. my 35!” 🚫

Then I remembered my dad’s advice:

“Beta, big companies want loyalty. Show them you’re not a jumper – you’re an upgrader.”

I leaned forward (chaaru-style):

Me: “Ma’am, TechNova taught me everything – from handling T1 clients to surviving 3 AM crisis calls! [Pause] But I live for building brands, not just presenting them. Like when I led ‘Project Mango’ for that FMCG client – we used Tamil meme pages to boost sales 22% in South! [Her eyes flickered] Sadly, we couldn’t scale it…”

“That’s why I had to apply here. When I saw Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Days’ campaign – using auto-drivers as influencers? [Priya smiled*] That’s next-level ‘real India’ marketing! I’ve got 3 ideas to make it bigger next year – like tier-3 city kirana collabs…”*

Priya stopped taking notes.

“Auto-drivers worked because we understood real struggles. How’d you spot that insight for Project Mango?”

For 10 mins, we geeked out over:

Using Bangalore’s traffic jams for OOH surveys

Turning “Kannada vs. Hindi” comments into engagement hooks

My failed idea: “Dosa batter discount codes” (client vetoed it)

She ended with: *“Can you handle a 5-crore budget? We do things… differently here.”* I am asking my HR to send you the offer letter, please join asap.

The Indian Corporate Truth Bomb

❌ What Sounds “Chhota Employee” Energy:

✅ What Wins in Big Indian MNCs:

Your Bengaluru/Mumbai/Delhi Ready Script

(Customize brackets)

“I’m grateful to [Current BigCo] for teaching me [core skill]. My campaign for [Client] boosted [metric] by [X]% using [local insight – ex: “Marathi wedding influencers”].

*But now, I’m driven to build culture-first brands – like [NewCo]’s work on [India-specific campaign]. I’d love to bring my [skill] to scale initiatives like [their project] – especially in [Tier 2/3/rural markets] where I see [your big idea].”*

Pro Move: Name-drop their Indian competitor

“Imagine doing for [NewCo] what [Swiggy/Zomato/Byju’s] did with [viral campaign]!”