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Hi All,

As I have mentioned in my "New Year Resolutions" post, I am currently working out my notice period in my current job. I am going to another company that is not in direct competition with the agency I work for now, and am going for a LARGE rise and a nice package. I did not go looking for a new job, they approached me.

Initial reactions from work mates and managers was to congratulate me, "Sorry to see you go" "Always welcome back" etc. However now my line manager has changed his approach to me somewhat. Now I am being made aware that "I have dumped them in the Sh*t!" "Walked away from a good job" "Been disloyal" etc. This is now filtering down to other employees. As I am sure you guys can imagine this is fairly hurtful, especially after 4 years loyal service! And also when I have fulfilled my contractual obligations to the letter.

Now I am having an exit interview on Monday. I have no idea what this is all about? Two things I want to ask really...

1. Has anyone on here ever had an exit interview? What is expected?

2. My line manager is a talentless lazy gentleman. If asked do I say anything? Or is it best to smile sweetly and tell them all is OK?

I've conducted exit interviews and basically they are a waste of time if conducted by anyone other than someone who's independant unless what you've said is written down and you have the chance to read and sign it.

I would keep the meeting sweet, particularly if you;ve enjoyed your time there. All employers get jittery when someone valuable leaves. If you weren't good then they probably wouldn't bother.

Be honest and tell them that you've just had an offer that you can't refuse. You don't need to tell them what it is unless you want to. You have to decide what you will say if they decide to match it though.

This is a real possibility with some employers

Its a difficult situation to be in Al,

I left my last job about 2 years back after having "issues" with a manager that wasn’t pulling his weight and i ended up having to take up the slack all the time whilst watching him get the pats on the back.

I received a similar reception from staff their, initially they spattered the cliché of "you'll be missed" et cetera, and then they became slightly more concerned, the moral of the company was particularly low at the time anyway due to recent redundancies and things.

now, I wasn’t directly involved in revenue earning for the company, so my leaving wasn't a critical impact, however, after leaving I did receive allot of phone calls from ex-colleagues who were slightly distressed at the way things were as they were struggling to find the support they had previously received from me.

At times it felt as if it was, as you say, a little hurtful, but from my experience it became clear after a while that people were not angry with me, just frustrated with the environment which they now had to work within.

Although I wouldn’t condone lying to these people, i do think it is important that you try to keep them motivated and positive about the experience and change.

Even though i knew my friends and colleagues were bound to have a slightly harder time after i left i did my utmost to keep them positive, even teaching them a few little skills here and there to keep them satisfied if they found themselves short of support.

At the end of the day, life is a game of survival and you have to put number 1 first! Try not to beat yourself up over your excellent decision to better your career.

The Exit interview is a new concept to me, so I’m afraid I cannot offer any real advice, but I’m sure it wont be anything bad ... what is the worst that can happen?

So ... to summarise lol ... i would just recommend you stay excited and motivated about the changes and pass this enthusiasm around to your co-workers, everyone is scared at the prospect of change, only to find that once it has happened we are often better off.

Sorry if I babbled slightly... it’s been a long day.

Rob

At the end of te da, exit interviews are designed to find out if there are any patterns as to why people are leaving such as poor pay, bad working conditions, poor management etc.

It relies on people being honest although most people are afraid of this and just day what they think the company wants to hear, e.g. that everything is OK.

Exit interviews have been around for years

dat8962 wrote:At the end of te da, exit interviews are designed to find out if there are any patterns as to why people are leaving such as poor pay, bad working conditions, poor management etc.

It relies on people being honest although most people are afraid of this and just day what they think the company wants to hear, e.g. that everything is OK.

Exit interviews have been around for years

I think you are getting your do's and days mixed up Dat

Oops - ran out of h and y's there

Not a cool vanish

lol You stole the why and put the why beside the what. How????

If you got that, well done

Most large companies conduct exit interviews these days. As has already been said it's really a paperwork exercise to spot leaving trends, so it would be good to be honest, although be professional in your honesty and don't slag the company or people off too much - be constructive in your criticism.

If a counter offer is made it would be unwise to accept. The original reasons for moving will still be there & most people who accept counter offers leave anyway within 6 months.

I've been in Recruitment for over 12 years and my candidates go through exit interviews all the time - it's nothing to worry about

IMHO ...

for what it's worth, get out of the interview what YOU want.

Don't walk away thinking, I wish I had said ...

If it helps, make a few notes to take in, and just try to be critically constructive.

Piers.