The Exit Interview

An exit interview is an interview that might take place after you have announced your resignation from a company but before you have actually left the company. Typically it could take place on your last day on the job or shortly before that.

You might have this interview with a member of Human Resources if your company has an HR department or it could be with your direct manager.

The purpose of the exit interview is generally to get you to answer questions verbally (or in written form) about your experience working at the company.

They might ask you questions like:

This is a very short list of possible questions and there are many, many more that you could be asked to answer.

When you think about it, the Exit Interview is an interesting event...The company generally asks you questions that they might have been better off asking you before you resigned when you were actually an active employee!

Having said that, the idea behind doing an exit interview at this point seems to be that since you're cutting ties with the company, you'll be more forthcoming with information without fear of having it held against you especially if you have some negative comments.

Personally I have never been through what I would call a formal exit interview but I have had informal discussions with my manager after I'd resigned.

Typically, my manager wanted to know about my experience working at the company and more specifically they often asked me about what I liked and what I would have liked to have seen done better.

Several times my manager asked me what they could have done better as my manager.

In other words, I have never worked for a company that appeared to have an official policy of doing exit interviews.

Whether or not you choose to participate in an exit interview is up to you. As we spoke about on the Resignation Letter page, I always think it's best to leave a company on good terms but having said that, participating in an exit interview is your choice.

If you got fired from the company, I'd probably consult with a legal professional before agreeing to participate in an exit interview. You don't want your comments used against you if you choose to pursue legal action for wrongful dismissal or take your employer to court for a better severance package.

If you voluntarily quit your position, you might decide to think about whether or not to participate in the exit interview or you might ask to see a list of the questions you'll be asked before deciding whether or not to participate.

Again, in my personal experience my "exit interviews" were very informal discussions with my manager and because I got the impression my manager simply wanted some feedback from me, I had no problem helping them out.