What did you like and dislike most of your last job?

When Calvin Coolidge announced he would not run for the re-election to the Office of the President of the U.S.A. he surprised many people. No reason for the retirement was given so one reporter felt duty bound to ascertain the reason. Coolidge replied. "I'm leaving because there is no room for advancement"

Let's look back a few years. There is no question thar you have advanced. In some way you are absolutly more advanced (and thus succesful) than you where then.

In the eyes of the most talented individuals, advancement is not so much getting promoted to their boss's job as is receiving new responsabilities and a better title. Lateral moves are acceptable particularly if there is a different title.

If the scenario is a job-interview the best answer to this question may be it is not that of Mr. Coolidge. 

In those circumstances the best answer has a number of key elements:

* first, avoid negatives, mention dislikes to acknowledge the question while giving a reasonable explanation for not expounding on a dislike.

* second, include something positive in the answer

* third, tie in the positive to the new potential job-research helps.

If your last job was so bad that there's nothing positive about it, look harder!. Desiring to have better leadership it is one of top reasons talented candidates resign. You can spin poor relation with manager to: having learned about management through observing what not to do: For example: "I don't take time to dwell about bad things, but I have to say I learned a lot about management at the last job. I intend to apply those lessons here."

Perhaps you resigned because contribution wasn't valuated: Spin it to lessons about the importance of enjoying work: "I can't say there were a lot of negatives, at least nothing that stands out now that I think about it. What I do know is that the job taught me how important it is to enjoy work. One of the reasons I'm interested in this job is it's something I'll enjoy."

Good luck!