Where does your current employer think you are at the moment?

Where does your current employer think you are at the moment?

Alternative and related questions:

What reason did you give to your current employer for your being absent to attend this interview?
Why does your current boss think you’re not at work right now?

The meaning behind the question:

Ouch! This really can be a nasty question. As well as being a deliberate attempt to panic you, the interviewer is also probing both your loyalty and your honesty. They’ll be very interested to find out both how you handle the question and where, indeed, your current employer does think you are.

Your answer:

If you’re lucky, your boss will know exactly where you are and your answer will be a piece of cake. In most cases, though, your boss will be blissfully unaware of what you are up to – and you could have given any one of a number of excuses as to where you are. The single most important thing here is to not be exposed as a liar. You may have made up a little white lie for your current employer to explain your absence – it’s harmless enough. But it’s not going to impress your interviewer. I hate to say it but it’ll be time to cover one little white lie with another.

Example:

For obvious reasons, I haven’t told my current employer about this interview. I consider it, for the time being, to be a personal matter and that’s precisely what I told my boss – that I would be needing to take a half-day today because I had a personal matter to attend to.

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