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What is an Exit Interview?

What questions can you expect to be asked at the exit interview?

What if I'm leaving because of personal reasons?

When will the company give me my exit interview?

The Exit Interview - A guide to getting out of there!

You have resigned - what happens now, well that depends ery much on your company but what follows is some ideas to prepare you for what might happen.

What is an Exit Interview?

People appear unclear what exactly an exit interview is, but with the cost of recruiting and of training replacement staff prohibitively high it is in the employer's interest to keep these costs to a minimum by recruiting carefully and then retaining the good staff that it has. One means by which an employer can monitor its performance in this area is by obtaining information - by means of the exit interview - with staff that are leaving. There are many reasons why employees leave, including:

• more pay
• work-life balance
• travelling distance is becoming a biggy as the roads appear to get worse

to name but three

It is important for the employer to learn any lessons from the exit interview, so that they can be applied in the future. As the outgoing employee, the best way to deal with the exit interview is to answer questions honestly. Certainly, you should aim to be as co-operative and open as possible; please do remember to remain calm and in control of what you say. As with the meeting you had with your manager when resigning from your job (click here to see the article on how to resign) , you should conclude the meeting without getting angry or emotional.

What questions can you expect to be asked at the exit interview?

Remember that the exit interview is there so that the company can find out why you're leaving. As a result of the things you say, the company may change things to make sure that they keep their employees happier at work for longer; employee retention in other words. This means that the following questions (or variations of them) will almost certainly be asked:

1. What has led you to decide to leave the company?
2. What reasons did you consider the most important in choosing your new job?
3. What are your views on the management?
4. What is the management doing right or wrong?
5. Do you feel you were given enough support in your job?
6. What did you most like about the company and what did you like the least?
7. What are views on the way the company treats it's employees?
8. How could we improve effectiveness and morale?
9. In your opinion is there any way that we could improve our business?

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You are under no obligation to divulge personal information such as your views on your colleagues, any personal enmity you have with anyone in the company or your views on the attractiveness of anyone working there. In fact, it would be unprofessional of your Manager or HR department to ask you questions like this and is really of little relevance. After all, the company isn't going to sack one of your colleagues after you've left on the basis that you didn't get on with them.

If you are asked questions of this nature, simply point out to your interviewer that you are happy to give your professional opinions about the firm but that some questions are too personal and you cannot see how these views would benefit the company.

What if I'm leaving because of personal reasons?

Sadly, it is true that many employees still suffer from sexual and / or racial discrimination at work and feel that they have no alternative but to leave the company. For example, in the UK in 1999 alone, there were over 7,500 cases of sexual discrimination at work.

If you're leaving work on racial or sexual grounds, the resignation process and giving an exit interview can become tense and nerve-wracking procedures to go through. How much information should you divulge to your Manager or HR department particularly if you are considering taking legal action against the firm? This is a complex question indeed and one that will discussed in a separate article. (Not yet published).

When will the company give me my exit interview?

The straight answer to this question is "any time after you've handed in your resignation letter". Once you've formally resigned from your job, you're then working out your notice period and so will only be with the company a little more time, perhaps another month or so (depending upon the terms in your contract of employment).

As such, the company may decide to give you an early exit interview because they want to acknowledge your action. Alternatively, an early exit interview may mean that the company may not want you to work out your full notice period. Even if you think this is the case, remember to stay professional and not to let off steam just because you're leaving soon. The answers you give may remain on your personnel file and be used against you when it comes to writing references.

The same advice applies if the company gives you your exit interview on (or around) your last day of work. Just because you're going, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't stay professional.

A last piece of advice would be not to fret. Enjoy the opportunity to have a frank discussion with your Manager or HR department and smile in the knowledge that it'll soon be all over and that your leaving party beckons.

If you think there is anything missing in this article or any issues about the exit interview we've failed to address, please email us at the address at the bottom of the page.

Your thoughts and comments on the service provided by Elite Selection Services are very highly valued by us, please take the time to send us your comments via info@eliteselectionservices.co.uk

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