Even though you have done all that you can to inform your employer that you’re leaving the company you want to make sure that you leave on the best possible note. At your exit interview, you will have a chance to explain your reasons for leaving and also to leave with your head held high without needing to consult an employment lawyer.
Here are a few questions that you should prepare for when it comes time for your exit interview.
1. Why have you chosen to leave the company
This will probably be one of the first questions that they ask you during the exit interview. The reason that you are being asked this question is so that the human resources department can find out what is happening in the part of the company that you work in. What they are hoping to hear is that you have found a better paying more rewarding position elsewhere that the company could simply not compete with. If you have any grievances with the company you may want to think about how bringing them up will affect you in the long run.
Will you want to come back to the company at any point in the future, or are you staying in the same industry and want to keep the relationships you have built at this company as positive as possible? If so, then you may want to hold off on being too critical.
2. Were you given all of the tools and training you needed?
This is a common question that is included in many exit interviews. They are looking for ways that they can improve the onboarding process for new hires. If you have had to learn a lot of things on the fly by yourself then you should say so. Lack of sufficient training is very common in large organizations and can lead to employees getting frustrated.
3. How well did you get along with your manager?
This is where you may need to be a little diplomatic, as things as now getting personal. If you have something positive to say, you should feel free to go ahead and hand out the praise where you see it fit. If you have anything negative to say it is always a good idea to offer solutions or suggestions to improve on the situation. Any criticism that you give during this interview should be constructive.
4. If you had to pick one thing to change about your job here what would it be?
You can understand why they want to know this. After all, one of the Human Resource’s main goals is to increase employee retention. You can decide how much detail you go into here. You may want to suggest a few things that would have made your time at the company easier. Whatever you decide to share it will help the company a great deal when it comes to hiring your replacement.
5. What was the most enjoyable part of your job
Employment satisfaction is something that large companies take very seriously. This is an easy question and if you honestly can’t think of something that you enjoyed about your job, feel free to tell them.
6. What was the most challenging part of your job
They ask this question to try to learn if there is anything that they can do to make the job a little more appealing and hopefully retain the employee for longer. If there was more than one aspect of the job that you found particularly frustrating don’t be shy about highlighting it.
