by Bruno Somerset

Created on: August 18, 2007   Last Updated: September 18, 2008

An exit interview can be tougher for a manager than the hiring interview, for several reasons. The most obvious is that in the hiring interview the person being interviewed is trying to make a good impression in order to get the job. This is typically not the case during an exit interview.

Some standard exit interview questions would include:

Why are you leaving? Is it for more money, better benefits, or a more flexible schedule?

How well do you feel management addressed your questions and concerns?
Do you feel like you had the opportunity to advance in your career here?
If your circumstances changed, is this a company you would return to if the option existed?

There are many other possible questions, but the exact questions asked in an exit interview don't always matter. Whether they are general or specific, you will usually get one of three types of answers, often depending on the attitude of the employee when they leave the company. Because of this, and in spite of conventional Human Resource wisdom, in over a dozen years in management I have found exit interviews beneficial only about twenty-five percent of the time.

Most employees leave a company on good terms, and want to leave the door open to return if things don't work out at their new job. These people will almost always give positive answers to exit interview questions about the company, management, and their experience while employed. By the end of the interview, you almost wonder why they're leaving given how wonderful everything seems.

Disgruntled employees make up the second group. They will slam everything from their supervisor to the quality of the coffee in the break room. Sometimes they will have said these things during their time with the company, and sometimes it will come as a complete surprise to you. It is difficult to take anything useful out of the interview, however, precisely because they are criticizing every aspect of the company. If they narrowed their comments to a few specific things, it might be possible to look into what action could be taken, but in these cases you wouldn't even know where to start.

The final group, which makes up about a quarter of the exit interviews I have done, is made up of solid employees who really want to see the company improve, if not for themselves, then at least for their former coworkers. They will give thoughtful, detailed responses to questions that you can actually use to correct aspects of the business that need improvement.

While certainly not a manager's favorite activity, the exit interview is a fact of life in business. And if you can wade through the answers that don't really tell you anything helpful, there are comments and suggestions that can help your company now and into the future.

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