[HN Gopher] Skip the exit interview when you leave your job
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Skip the exit interview when you leave your job
Author : ohjeez
Score : 19 points
Date : 2025-06-23 22:22 UTC (37 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.petdance.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.petdance.com)
| clint wrote:
| Never understood the impetus to do the exit interview. I just
| simply decline and no one follows up or makes any kind of deal
| about it.
| nickff wrote:
| There's no use to interviewing someone who doesn't want to
| participate, which is probably why nobody follows up.
| moomin wrote:
| I remember doing an extremely painful one back in the day. I was
| leaving because relations had already broken down but i had no
| particular desire to burn any more bridges than i had to. So they
| got the only person who didn't already know me on the HR team to
| do it. I felt sorry for them, they might as well have been twelve
| and had zero context for the conversation.
|
| Q: Did you feel like a valued member of the team?
|
| A: I chose to leave.
|
| Q: (getting pretty exasperated by this point) Would you care to
| expand on that.
|
| A: No.
|
| Grief, it was painful and i remember it to that day. But yes, the
| moment you've handed in your resignation, that part of your life
| is over. There's literally no upside in doing anything other than
| smiling and getting out of the door.
| nickff wrote:
| > _" the moment you've handed in your resignation, that part of
| your life is over. There's literally no upside in doing
| anything other than smiling and getting out of the door."_
|
| From a purely selfish point of view, you're usually right. That
| said, if the organization is functional, (and yes, I know
| that's a big 'if',) such an interview with a departing team
| member can provide valuable feedback that might lead to
| improvements for the remaining team members.
| jrsdav wrote:
| I have only given negative feedback once when leaving a job, and
| it resulted in pretty sweeping changes in leadership across the
| department. I've since found out that the whole ordeal garnered
| me "legendary" status amongst the remaining employees.
|
| On the flip side, the author is right -- it's a small world out
| there. While I don't regret doing the "right thing" and speaking
| up about serious issues, I am nervous that I burned some bridges
| with the two leaders who were let go after my departure. So far
| it hasn't come back to bite me (~8 years and 3 jobs later), but
| as they say time will tell.
| jxjnskkzxxhx wrote:
| If that's true, why didn't you give that feedback while working
| there? Sweeping changes in leadership - if that's true they
| might hired you.
| rcxdude wrote:
| Often it only gets attention if it's delivered with some
| strong action.
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Black balling is only for the rich and powerful...dont try it
| please, you need them to survive.
|
| I agree, you dont need an exit interview but the logic everyone
| is parroting is how sociopath keep entrenched
| ironchef wrote:
| "Here's why: There is absolutely no benefit for you to gain by
| talking in an exit interview, and plenty of negative consequences
| to come out of it. At best you'll be remembered as a complainer,
| and you may make enemies."
|
| I guess I would counter with if I have friends there, I would
| like their lives to be better. If my exit interview is able to do
| that, then I would take that as a net positive.
| jonstewart wrote:
| The only possible way to help is by providing positive
| reinforcement. "I loved working with X. Y is really killing it
| on her KPIs." I am otherwise in agreement with TFA.
| mystified5016 wrote:
| Like all things, there's a place and time.
|
| If you're walking out over unfair treatment or wage theft or
| similar, sure, skip the interview.
|
| If you're at the end of your first internship, or leaving on good
| terms, or both parties genuinely care, there's plenty to be
| gained.
|
| The exit interview I had with an intern after my first time
| mentoring was very valuable for both of us, and was a positive
| point in our relationship.
|
| On the other hand, I'm quitting the same job and will be
| declining any exit interview with "I've spent the last six months
| explaining to you why I'm quitting". There is no value at all to
| be gained from the conversation so I won't.
|
| Skip the interview if the job sucks. Participate if you think
| you'll get value, or in particular if you're young and early in
| your career.
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| > There is absolutely no benefit for you to gain by talking in an
| exit interview
|
| small startup, you already have excercised shares, you want the
| company to continue to hockey stick but you think there is a
| blind spot in leadership that blocks hockey sticking.
| akdor1154 wrote:
| > There is absolutely no benefit for you to gain by talking in an
| exit interview, and plenty of negative consequences to come out
| of it.
|
| This horrible game theory bullshit being applied to all work
| interactions is why I will never work for an American company
| again.
| _def wrote:
| Why not try to improve the place you leave behind? Feedback is
| valuable and can be hard to do honestly while you depend on the
| job. This almost reads like fearmongering to keep cargo cults
| going some people profit off.
| charlie-83 wrote:
| It's possible to give feedback without burning bridges. At my
| last place I had a very long exit interview where I explained all
| the bad management decisions that led to me leading. I made it
| very clear that this was my account of events and focused
| entirely on how the decisions had affected me rather than saying
| what I think they should have done. They were really interested
| in the feedback and not remotely defensive.
|
| Why do this? 1. I was leaving behind a lot of people I consider
| friends and wanted them to have a better experience. 2. I think
| it gave a good last impression which they might remember.
|
| Obviously this was my specific situation and the managers were
| actually normal, nice people who could fathom that they may have
| made mistakes which isn't always the case.
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