A lot guys here are bad mouthing EK and those very same guys will be lying through their teeth when asked why they left.
There are so many different ways to say "EK is working pilots to death" without using those words. There are easily more diplomatic terms for communicating the same thing while still coming across as professional, than outright saying you left "because EK has become ****". Sorry fatbus, but you have no way of knowing what people are saying in interviews.
As far as explaining to
anyone why you left EK, it's an expat job, for god's sake. No one stays forever (a few sad souls aside). If the HR person across the table isn't aware of that, well, it probably isn't a job worth having. Most leaving will be going to similar expat operators who know full well what's going on at EK these days.
In the end it's the experience they look at and want. If anything, companies I've contacted were eager to hire someone away from EK - they are despised (and yes, feared) by many of their competitors, so gaining an ex-EK pilot is a bit of a coup in many places. Once they get past the shiny image EK has worked so hard to portray.
If you have the time-on-type, I wouldn't fear leaving without something solid lined up, whatsoever. Do it and feel the elephant on your shoulders suddenly disappear.