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How have you conducted exit interviews for your past jobs?
Recently a co-worker quit (after the usual 2 week notice). From talking to this person, he apparently did not hold back anything in his harsh opinions of our manager. Some of his resentments were justified, such as the company screwing his job title/pay for almost 2 years with no promotions. He really flamed the manager character wise also, which I could see his point of view.
But I have always followed the advice that one should never say anything bad during an exit interview. And throughout my career going back over 20 years, I have never said anything bad during the exit interview. Even when I felt I was treated unfairly and badly, I always spun it positively. I never saw the point of airing out dirty laundry, when it's not going to benefit you in anyway.
I recently went on an interview I felt went great. I don't want to count my chickens and all, but when I have the exit interview or have to explain to my superiors why I want to leave, I'm still going to spin it positively. Even though I want to leave because I'm dying due to the extraordinary hours I have to put in to keep up with the work load, and not getting any help.
In 2012 I was laid off after 21 years for some in-office political reasons, and upper-administration was furious. Knowing they were on my side, I was cautious in my exit review. I didn't try to LIE about my feelings about the things that went on - she (HR) knew better, and I didn't want to look like I was trying to pee on her leg and tell her it was raining. But I gave her honest answers without cutting my nose off to spite my face. A year later I was hired to another department in a promotional position, so I'm glad I didn't sabotage my chances for recall.
However, this employer has horrendous issues with management in certain departments, and I seriously think they get more hostile exit reviews than positive ones. I don't think much of what HR hears in those reviews are untrue.
Exit interviews are just another form of corporate BS. At the exit interviews I have had, each where I was leaving on my own accord for a better job, I have told them that everything was "just great", or I tell them it's for "work-life balance", or some other mumbo-jumbo. If they really wanted to know what their internal problems are, they would care and make changes before they start losing good employees. I also don't want to give them any reason not to give me a good reference in the future, and, I also don't want to burn my bridges behind me.
I figure, I'm a hard working, intelligent, and valuable employee, and I'm leaving this place. Nothing else needs to be said.
I quit my first real professional job a couple of months ago. I had been there since I finished college a little over 8 years ago. They didn't even bother to do an exit interview with me. I don't know if my case would be an example of an employer that just didn't care what their employees think or if they simply realized that most of the feedback that employers receive in exit interviews is worthless. Probably a little of both.
If they really wanted to know what their internal problems are, they would care and make changes before they start losing good employees. .
This is really how I felt when I finally got angry enough to quit my job a couple of months ago. Quality employers and good managers should know what the issues are and address them before they ever get to the point of losing a good employee(s). The exit interview is the not the time to try to find out what is wrong with your company, as it is too late at that point.
This is the kind of corporate bs I wish would die out. Along with words like "right-sizing", lol. I never say anything bad. It is a waste of time. I worked somewhere once where for years employees said they were leaving because of a lack of healthcare insurance. You know what made the company change? The Affordable Care. The years of feedback was irrelevant.
It's all true - it IS bullcrap and a waste of time. My last supervisor must have a file an inch thick with complaints, grievances, and trouble that she's caused and gotten herself into - a big liability, yet she's still there because the right people don't want to deal with it.
I, myself, had just filed a lawsuit before I was re-hired, so I'm glad that I did NOT lie and pretend that I had no complaints, because that exit review could have worked against me later had I continued with the suit. But I dropped it after my recall, because upper administration really wanted to do the right thing by me and I needed the job.
It does you absolutely no good to trash anyone or anything in an exit interview.
Exit interviews are a way employees shoot themselves in the foot by being labeled disgruntled and getting blacklisted from re-employment. It doesn't matter if you don't want to work at that company in the future. The business world is very small and your path may very well cross with someone who learned all the things you said in your exit interview.
I don't know if my case would be an example of an employer that just didn't care what their employees think or if they simply realized that most of the feedback that employers receive in exit interviews is worthless. Probably a little of both.
Oh, it's absolutely not worthless. It's just that they don't really do anything with the feedback they receive, nor do they really care tp, so I don't know why in the world they even make a show of doing the stupid things in the first place. "Retention" is not a big concern these days for most large corporations these days, and that's unfortunate, because I believe there are entire companies (Circuit City anyone?) that have gone out of business completely because they didn't think retaining quality, experienced, knowledgeable, and committed employees mattered as much as the bottom line.
It does you absolutely no good to trash anyone or anything in an exit interview.
Exit interviews are a way employees shoot themselves in the foot by being labeled disgruntled and getting blacklisted from re-employment. It doesn't matter if you don't want to work at that company in the future. The business world is very small and your path may very well cross with someone who learned all the things you said in your exit interview.
Absolutely. We also used to be given these little "surveys" where we supposedly were able to rate the company on different things. I always gave everything on the survey the highest rating possible, and left ridiculously glowing comments about how great I thought the company was. I knew the real reason for the survey was to root out the "dissenters". The ivory tower people need to learn that low paid does not always equal low intelligence.
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