Work Coach Cafe

“Steve” quit a job he’d been in for over 10 years. The small finance company he worked for had gone through several changes and for the last few years had been experiencing tremendous growth. Unfortunately things in the company itself weren’t changing fast enough to handle the new business demands.

Some of the people he’d been so friendly with when things were more informal had turned into not-so-great managers, putting inordinate amount of pressure on their staff – without looking to adjust work processes and structure to accommodate the growth. Sadly relationships he once had were actually starting to get uncomfortable.

For many reasons, it was time for Steve to leave. But, since he’s known the people there for such a long time, he asked me “should I offer some constructive advice as part of my exit interview before leaving my job?” He figured now that he was leaving the place, he could use his more distanced perspective to help them see what could be done to improve things. So he asked me whether he should “be honest” during the exit interview.

Quick answer: Not on your life, Steve!

That doesn’t mean he should be purposefully dishonest. It just means an exit interview is best handled with kid gloves. Be pleasant and positive, maybe throwing in some words of regret over leaving, as well as words of hope for your new life path. Best to keep bridges open rather than burning them.

Anything critical you’d say would only resonate badly with the people you once worked with – and you’re still going to need references from these people. Also, you may want to keep up some of the relationships, but leaving this way might make that difficult. Letting it all hang out at an exit interview – even with the best intentions – can ricochet in ways you’d never guess. Especially if there are some bad feelings about you “deserting” them. Or if management feels overwhelmed and would only see your “helpful” comments as attacks on them – sour grapes from someone no longer there to help during tough times.

And anyway, you’re rarely a prophet in your own land – especially when you’re leaving your own land for shinier new lands! So under those circumstances, your words have little chance for positive impact…while the potential for negative impact is huge.

Fear not. When things get bad enough they’ll hire a consultant (like me) and pay her or him lots of money to tell them some of the very things you might have told them for free. But the difference is…they’ll probably listen to the consultant and feel better for it!

While employers bemoan the fact that they aren’t getting good information from these exit interviews, the truth is you are better off keeping away from offering “helpful” advice at this time. You can be honest as far as you go…just don’t go any further than you need to.

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Although I had to stop answering individual questions (to preserve my sanity), as always your thoughts and stories are VERY welcome here.

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