3 Best Practices For Participating In Exit Interviews Professionally And Honestly
Whether you are leaving a job of your own choice or not, participating in exit interviews can help you move on from a role professionally and personally. In this post, we examine three best practices for participating in exit interviews professionally and honestly.
1. Many Organizations Don’t Do Exit Interviews, You Might Have To Initiate
The last three jobs I left, my companies/organizations did not do exit interviews as a standard offboarding process when employees left. Exit interviews take time and HR energy that many organizations simply don’t have the time or space to take on. In all three cases, I went to HR and advocated having an exit interview, whether we called it that or not, as there were significant issues happening that needed to be addressed.
Advocating for an exit interview doesn’t always have to center around negativity. Oftentimes, there are really good things about your job that you will be sad to leave behind but ultimately you know your future lies elsewhere. That’s ok. It’s part of being a professional. Positive or negative, exit interviews give us, the employees, our chance to say our peace so we can fully, and holistically, move onto the new role.
2. Be Specific With Your Feedback
One of the reasons most HR groups steer clear of exit interviews is because they have a tendency to turn into complaining sessions where employees just sort of laundry list all the things they hated about the role, the company or the team members they worked with. Instead, when engaging in exit interviews, be as specific as possible with your feedback and give suggestions on how to improve.
For example, micromanaging is a common issue in the workplace. Here is an example of unhelpful exit interview feedback:
“Mike was a bad manager, always telling me what to do all the time. Who does he think he is? Also, he listened to music far too loudly and it was terrible music at that.”
Here is an example of actionable feedback HR can actually use:
“While Mike was my manager, I understand a lot of his job is managing projects and people but he never gave me a chance to talk at meetings, reply to emails, think creatively or actually talk to the client. One time, I had a great relationship with a client and they asked for me specifically at a pitch meeting and Mike ended up cutting me off, talking over me and taking my work that I had prepared in a presentation and presenting it as his own. Mike isn’t a bad guy, he just needs training on how to manage, work with other people and how to support his team’s growth, not swooping in and taking over our work and passing it off as his own.”
This example gives HR specific, actionable feedback they can take back to Mike the manager and coach him on how to be a better manager. The more specific you can be with your feedback, the better.
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3.Don’t Completely Sideline Emotions
Emotions have a place in the workplace and exit interviews are the best time to express challenges in the workplace and how that made you feel. If we continue our example of Mike the manager, here’s how to infuse some emotion into feedback.
“Mike wasn’t the best manager I’ve ever had, clearly, but he had a particular way of making me feel dumb at work, which I’ve never experienced before.. Like I didn’t know anything and he spoke down to me a lot. When people speak down to me, I get frustrated and hurt and typically quiet so when Mike would scold me and then ask me questions and I said quietly trying to contain my emotion, he was very insensitive and had no emotional intelligence at all. He never once asked me how I felt or what I needed emotionally to be successful at work.”
We spend 40+ hours a week working in most of our professional lives, emotions at work are natural. Managers that have no emotional intelligence or interest in their teams aren't good managers and businesses know that. If a manager can’t motivate their employees, are they a good manager?
Be sure to keep emotions in the conversation but link them to specific situations and what effect that had on you as an employee. It’s likely the reason why you are leaving a toxic or bad job/manager so say that. It’s possible to be honest and professional in exit interviews so long as you keep it factual and relevant.
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Meet The Writer!
Hi! My name is Nadia Ibrahim-Taney and I help people design happy and fulfilling careers through authentic career coaching. My expertise includes career exploration guidance, resume writing, interview prep and LinkedIn profile optimization. My pronouns are She/ Her/ Hers and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I focus on how diverse identities impact and influence folks holistically and professionally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or at Nadia@beyonddiscoverycoaching.com
