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Exit Interview

pauliebdub

I have one coming up in the next few days as I'm.leaving a job that has been a rather unhappy experience. The exit interview is mandatory so how should I approach i? Should I give yes and no answers or be honest? The interview doesn't serve me any purpose Nor will it affect any reference I will receive.

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j4vier

i had one recently

chances are the reasons why you're unhappy, they've been mentioned to HR before.

Some questions were directly aimed at finding out why I was leaving.

I always kept it general, never pointed the finger at anyone. I don't see a point of kicking up a fuss just as you're about to go.

Try to leave on good terms would be my advice

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Mrs OBumble

Ireland is a small village: you never know where someone who you tell the truth about may show up next - in your next job, in your GAA club, as a parent at your kid's school, married to your neice, whatever.

Keep it general and polite.

Atlantic Dawn

I would leave it with low detail as to your issues and not bad mouth either the company or the staff, if you mentioned issues before and nothing was done it's their loss. Also you are leaving now you owe nothing to the company and whether it goes bust next week or not is nothing that will benefit or harm you. As mentioned you will likely bump in to some of these people later in your career.

TheBlock

It depends on how unhappy an experience it was. I wouldn't hesitate to say anything you would be prepared to backup face to face with anyone concerned. Remember someone may be taking on your role when you leave and if there is something that should be sorted it is in the best interests of the company to sort. You may have had a happier experience if your predecessor had pionted out issues in his/her exit interview.

No need to fear rerisals provided you aren't laying into someone for the sake of it.

ohnonotgmail

how can an exit interview be mandatory? just go in and give the most bland, useless answers possible. They'll soon give up.

Greenmachine

Sometime the less said the better. Not much to be gained even turning up, for exit interview.

pauliebdub

Thanks for the replies, I'll keep it short and not give too much away. I've nothing to gain really from it.

RainyDay

It's fairly disappointing to me that the majority view would seem to be to keep schtum in an exit interview. Certainly, it's not about pointing the finger, and it shouldn't be about saying things that haven't previously been said to a line manager. But if there are significant issues in the organisation that have played a part in your decision to leave, this is a fair opportunity to point it out. Any half-decent manager or HR person is not going to hold a grudge over your future career about a mature decision to give sensible feedback.

Heart Break Kid

If I was you I wouldn't bother, no such thing as a mandatory exit interview, the fact that your were told it was would be more reason not to go

ohnonotgmail

RainyDay wrote: »

It's fairly disappointing to me that the majority view would seem to be to keep schtum in an exit interview. Certainly, it's not about pointing the finger, and it shouldn't be about saying things that haven't previously been said to a line manager. But if there are significant issues in the organisation that have played a part in your decision to leave, this is a fair opportunity to point it out. Any half-decent manager or HR person is not going to hold a grudge over your future career about a mature decision to give sensible feedback.

If they were a half-decent manager they wouldnt need exit interviews to figure out what is going wrong.

doolox

...so you can waste more of their time with vague pleasantaries unless there is an obvious ogre you can stick the knife in on the way out the door.

I have found that large companies tend to have a coterie of ruthless hatchetmen in the lower echelons of management and that the HR section anf higher take things like human factors, work life balance etc more to heart.

Trouble is that the bean counters on the lower grades put everyone at each others throats and foul things up for everybody.

There is usually a bank of holidays, pension and other final details and payments that can be delayed or fouled up if you don't go on mandatory things so that an exit interview can be mandatory.

Everything in a corporation is mandatory until the final paycheck is issued and all monies due to you are paid.

aunty kitty

I don't see how your interview wouldn't affect your reference.

I would be positive about the company, needing to move on etc.

bad mouthing them, in my opinion, isn't going to gain you anything.

if I read an exit interview that slated the company, I would be thinking more about the employees attitude.

[Deleted User]

Do not burn any bridges, not worth it.

P_1

Be bland, noncomittal and non bridge burning, no sense in causing potential bother for yourself

aunty kitty

be positive, I would say.

syklops

A friend of my dad was working for one of the largest flavour companies in the UK. He got offered a new role in a smaller company but in a more senior position and in his exit interview told his boss exactly what he thought of him. He went to the new company and 4 months later the smaller company was bought by his previous employer and his new boss was his old boss. He didn't last very long.

Don't do that.

Baggy Trousers

pauliebdub wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I'll keep it short and not give too much away. I've nothing to gain really from it.

3 words....Don't burn bridges.

In the words of Boyzone, you say it best when you say nothing at all.

Irish_Elect_Eng

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

If they were a half-decent manager they wouldnt need exit interviews to figure out what is going wrong.

The exit interview is not normally conducted by the manager, but by HR or in the case of my own company an independent third party company. The goal for our company a MNC is genuinely to see why people are choosing to leave the company. The output of the exit interview is reported up, not back to the manager, with the goal of oversight and to identify long term trends, not focused much on an individual departure.

Most interviews are very brief and to the point. And there is little "digging", in our case anyway HR would be very aware of ongoing issued and have been actively involved in trying to resolve them.

4068ac1elhodqr

You'd better not let the grass grow too long on this one, so just pre-prepare a human resource paradigm shift offering, via the blue sky delivery of these old favourites:

I can take it to 110% before close of play
going forward to incentivise our user-base
micro-manage this drilled down granularity
high altitude view without wrong-siding the demographic
living the values on the strategic staircase
idea showers to net the low hanging fruit
pre-prepare towards forward planning
discuss: product evangelist v platform atheists
let's touch base about that 'paradigm shift' offline
from the get-go aim to sprinkling our magic
you can't turn a tanker around with a speed boat change
you need a holistic, cradle-to-grave approach
It will feed through the sales and delivery pipelines

i.e. Bland and polite, an opportunity to return popular phrases back to suits as punishment, they might even re-hire you on the spot.

[Deleted User]

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

If they were a half-decent manager they wouldnt need exit interviews to figure out what is going wrong.

Sometimes it's company policy. When I left my previous job I explained my reasoning to my manager and he was very professional about it. We still did an exit interview as it was company policy so I obliged.

ohnonotgmail

Interested Observer wrote: »

Sometimes it's company policy. When I left my previous job I explained my reasoning to my manager and he was very professional about it. We still did an exit interview as it was company policy so I obliged.

that isnt what i replied to.

seamus

In an exit interview I would always encourage people to be vocal about organisational problems, but downplay any interpersonal problems you may have encountered.

I've always seen as it as trying to leave the company a better place for those left behind. So if the advancement opportunities are crap, say it. If you feel that employees in your area are undervalued and underpaid, say it. If your boss was a cock, avoid saying that. But you could say that there was an oppressive micro-managed environment that made working difficult.

As mentioned above, a proper exit interview should be performed by someone senior in HR. The aim should be to identify any glaring trends or problems. Your manager doing your exit interview is never going to report that you said he was crap, and I would find it quite odd that any manager would feel the need to do one. A bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted; he should really already know and understand why you're leaving as soon as you hand in your notice.

daheff

seamus wrote: »

In an exit interview I would always encourage people to be vocal about organisational problems, .

I've always seen as it as trying to leave the company a better place for those left behind. So if the advancement opportunities are crap, say it. If you feel that employees in your area are undervalued and underpaid, say it.

to be honest with you I don't see any benefit for an employee giving any kind of honest critique of a company as they leave. How do they benefit from it? The company do, but the exiting employee doesn't. Most likely the employee is leaving because the company doesn't do things right, or treats staff like dirt. so telling the company the issues for them to fix after you leave, benefits the exiting employee how? Not a bit.

Exit interviews are to be endured by employees & HR alike. "company's all good, only reason I'm leaving is for change of scenary/new jobs closer to home" etc

seamus

daheff wrote: »

so telling the company the issues for them to fix after you leave, benefits the exiting employee how? Not a bit.

I never said it did.

I said that I regard exit interviews as leaving the company as a better place (or at least attempting to) for the colleagues you're leaving.

Ultimately it costs the employee nothing to do the exit interview (provided they don't go on a rant), so really it's up to the individual. I wouldn't refuse to do it just because, "There's nothing in it for me".

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

aunty kitty wrote: »

be positive, I would say.

What ? He is leaving the company as it was such a bad experience. Why be positive telling lies of how it was good experience when someone else will have to fill the role. Be honest but not overly scathing or bitchy and hopefully HR will take what you say on board.

CatFromHue

daheff wrote: »

to be honest with you I don't see any benefit for an employee giving any kind of honest critique of a company as they leave. How do they benefit from it? The company do, but the exiting employee doesn't. Most likely the employee is leaving because the company doesn't do things right, or treats staff like dirt. so telling the company the issues for them to fix after you leave, benefits the exiting employee how? Not a bit.

Exit interviews are to be endured by employees & HR alike. "company's all good, only reason I'm leaving is for change of scenary/new jobs closer to home" etc

I dunno if there's no benefit to the employee.

I did one once where I complained about how the documentation approval process worked, or didn't work, and I felt good getting it off my chest.

skallywag

I would be quite open and frank as to what my grievances are, albeit in a respectful manner.

Emsloe

Tell the truth in so far as you want to, but having done it myself I'd say I only felt better very briefly. As it settled in I realised nothing would change and I'd wasted even more effort in outlining the issues that had led to my departure. If your company is already aware of whatever issues you experienced, chances are the exit interview will purely be a box-ticking exercise, as so many of them are.