Your advice doesn't go far enough. Never say anything in an exit interview. If you're in an "at will" state your employer likely doesn't give a reason when they fire someone, to avoid giving grounds for a wrongful termination suit. Why should you give them any more consideration? Once the financial relationship is severed, neither party has any obligation to the other.

Aside from legal concerns, if you have complaints with your company you should voice them while you have a stake in the outcome. Whoever you report to should already know if you're unhappy. If not, then one of you isn't doing your job.

But if there was no problem, and a recruiter pursued you, then you can honestly say you're leaving for a better opportunity. Which, when all is said and done, is the only thing you should ever say in an exit interview. It has the added benefit of always being the truth.

I left a very big company a few years ago, and someone from HR was supposed to call on my last day to do the exit interview. They never called, and I didn't bother to let my boss know. Instead, I merely left at the end of the day and went to my new job the following business day. I never heard another word from that company.

I think that's the best way to handle an exit interview. ;)

Yeah, Bob snuck the truth in there, but he still soft-pedalled it a bit.

The reality is that most companies, I believe, make no use at all of exit interview information. Worse yet they CAN ONLY MAKE TROUBLE FOR YOU.

If you are leaving for positive reasons (looking towards the future, growth, better opportunities, etc.), then the exit interview gives little actionable to the company.

If you are leaving for negative reasons, then the company wants to deny, deny, deny. Think about it--if they cared enough about the problem, they would have asked your opinion long before, and probably fixed it by now too. You will almost certainly be cast as a complainer and the source of whatever problem you bring up.

Ditch the exit interview. Use any excuse. Tell them your dog died. If you are leaving because of problems at that employer, you can flat out refuse to cooperate by not showing up at any scheduled exit meeting. That alone will send a message. If you are cornered in a hallway simply decline to say anything.

Ultimately the fact that you are leaving is the only message the company needs, or will pay any attention to.

The way to think about this is, how does the exit interview help you? Simply, it doesn't. There's no way you can benefit.

Many unhappy employees get misguided notions that they can "help the company" or "help the remaining employees" by spilling their guts. Sorry, but it won't work out no matter how you broach the subject. If the company can spin the message into "there was a problem, and now it has left the company", they will, and that's you.

I left a job years ago largely because my boss two levels up was a complete jerk. I considered telling HR my true reasons for leaving but didn't. Instead I gave them the usual better opportunity reasons and told them that it was a tough decision because I really liked working there.

Fast forward to the next job change three years later... Two weeks into the new job my new boss tells me that the jerk from my original employer gave me a "glowing recommendation" that had a lot to do with my being hired. Wouldn't have happened if I'd told them what I wanted to in the exit interview.

The old rule for entrance interviews holds for exit interviews: Never be Negative.

I enjoyed my exit interview when I was laid off. I'd seen it coming, and I also knew they expected me to have a major tantrum about it. Instead, I was nice as could be. Asked when it was effective, if it was end of the week, as there were some things that I was working on with someone that I wanted to make sure she would be able to handle... etc. Fun to watch them squirm, tell me no, it's effective right now. They also escorted me back to my cubicle to pack up - but 'walked a little ways behind so as not to embarrass me'. Ha - didn't bother me, I walked back with him and chatted the whole way. He wasn't comfortable, but it amused me. (I did have my little upset fit later, but on my own terms!) I was always pleased that I left with dignity, hopefully letting them wonder if they'd made a mistake after all.

Wow, you guys are cynicism incarnate! Sure, many (most?) companies may have mixed or bad motives in exit interviews, but all? Any place I've worked in the last 20 years definitely wanted to know the real reasons why anyone was leaving, even if it would cause too much corporate culture shock to change it.

If you worked there, you probably know if they're willing to listen to "dirty laundry airing" that's delivered in a constructive tone. So you'll probably know "how many cards to lay out" in your exit interview.

Well as long as it might even be possible and you would not mind, I generally mention availability for consulting or part time work, and under what general terms you would be interested. It sounds dorky, but I also have found that it works. It has even worked at all of the few places I have been fired from. One of those locations I was fired from was over a decade ago, and they are still good for $1000-5000 of billing a year. (I billed them $35,000 very part time the first year after I left)

Most of my current billables are either from places I word full time and left, or places those places referred to me. I also have two other nonrelated jobs which come from exit interview offers. One of these is a retail chain I worked a summer for in college which still uses me as a "secret shopper" decades latter because I mentioned that I thought that they might want to use ex-employees in this mode and offered my services. The current agreement I have with them is that while on the road I will visit their stores and have a specific amount of purchases I will be reimbursed for in return filling out the report and sending it in with my receipt. (I have a limit on the number of visits a month) All because I politely mentioned that I thought that this would be a good idea.

So go for it this is one area where you have very little to lose.

Or...when I was leaving my previous job as a medium-level individual contributor at a very large corporation I e-mailed the chairman asking for a 30-minute exit interview. To my surprise, one was scheduled. I covered a few issues, which he explained from his perspective and then moved on to opportunities we hadn't been able to pursue. We ended up going for 90 minutes. Don't know that anything changed, but I felt better for clearing the deck.

Speaking as an employer who takes exit interviews seriously, I want to know why an employee is leaving. It is rare that I don't know what the issues are prior to getting notice and the reality is that our company (as I assume is true with others) is not perfect for all skill sets or personality types. In a company that is receptive to communication, tell them why you're leaving. On the other hand, if the you're leaving because the company doesn't manage well, then keep your mouth shut.

I agree strongly with Bob and Drew. My only advice would be take the lessons you learned at this company and work to apply them in your future positions so that you won't loose good people.

As a general rule, keep your mouth shut and never complain. Instead, use your observations to make improvements. A situation with critical flaws that cannot be improved or fixed is a huge red flag.

Nice column from Bob as usual. Yes, and sadly, HR can rarely be trusted to look out for employees these days. Here's another thought:

The writer states "One of the major deficiencies they discovered was a big part of my decision to leave."

Well, have a happy exit interview and effusively commend the company for having the initiative to begin considering remedying the situation, noting that is an indicator of genuinely excellent leadership that deserves celebration. Such sustained,demonstrated leadership is the sort of thing that makes it so difficult to leave the family.

If it had affected you, you would have seriously considered leaving. Of course, it didn't - you are merely leaving for a better opportunity, aren't you?

For my exit interview, I really let it known my reasons for leaving. Upper management had failed to complete a wide variety of tasks, and left us (I am a network engineer) without support with a variety of vendor products, such as Cisco, HP, F5 Networks, all very important companies to have an ongoing contract with.

His management style had also left much to be desired--he was a rule by fear and intimidation, authoritarian type of individual, and none of us appreciated this.

Many people in my department, and others, defected. I hung on for over a year, and eventually found a more ideal job. While others had said they found jobs for more money, or cited personal reasons, I decided this did not address the issue at all. How was HR and the rest of the organization to know what was going on if no one spoke up?

I had no intention of working for this company again, and had never heard of the VP before he was hired. I had no fears of encountering him later on.

As it turns out, my exit interview was highly regarded. The VP dismissed all of my claims, but in the background, the other executives and HR were compiling data on him.

Within a month, he was asked to change his management style or leave. He chose to leave. The escourted him out of the building a few days later, and did not allow him to finish his two weeks notice.

Sad but true, you're the only one who has feelings about your departure.. I agree with Drew above:
"Once the financial relationship is severed, neither party has any obligation to the other"

Participate, but don't feel the obligation to contribute anything potentially damaging or even useful.. They didn't feel the need to retain you, you feel the need to leave... Nuff said!

Agreed, say nothing. In most instances Bob's right, it's window dressing. Resist the impulse to help them out by "correcting" your now ex employer.

They won't appreciate it, they won't appreciate you. If they had, um,,,, you would not be leaving.

Resist the impulse. It's noble, but probably futile and could hurt you more. It will be looked at 99 times out of 100 as sour grapes.

Don't do it.

I agree with Bob and Drew that exit interviews are "window dressing". At one point I let a company after it was sold ("merged" was the term used) realizing that the departmental IT unit I worked for would be subsumed by Corporate IT. Since I would be regarded as the "new guy" (despite a few years of service), and there were two or three other people in similar positions in Corporate, I saw my position as being redundant. When I left, it was (according the the exit interview) for "greener pastures". My position did not get filled for 2 years, and then only after the client base protested long and hard about lack of support.

When I left for a better opportunity after many years of service, I politely told them the truth. Their actions drove me to look for a new job.

I was selfish in answering their template questions, but felt I was doing the right thing. I knew the evil HR VP would twist my answers to his advantage, but that's how that company worked. Its part of why I left, and no longer a problem of mine.

I suppose this could come back to haunt me, but its very unlikely the fogeys at the top will leave before retiring.

For me, it was worth the risk. I felt it was more important to do what I thought was the right thing.

I've tended to work for small companies that haven't done exit interviews. The one time I worked for a company large enough to have such a policy it was a small division of a national company. I got along fine with my immediate bosses and co-workers, but there were issues with upper management such that I didn't want to make this company my career. When I left, I already had a job in another state, so didn't care about working for any other employer in the region or about local references, but wasn't interested in hurting my immediate bosses or co-workers, so had not said anything beyond the usual "I've got a better opportunity..." line. The person conducting the exit interview was a newly hired human resources director. It took place the day before the day that was actually my final day. He assured me that everything I said in the interview was private and would not be repeated. So, I told him that my frustrations with upper management were why I was not staying. The next morning, my boss' boss walked into my office, looked at me sadly, said "that could have been handled better," and walked out. I had said nothing to ANYONE else, so obviously the HR director had either repeated everything I said or made up stuff. So, only say what you want to be publicly attributed to you!

Never burn bridges, no matter how much you hate anything that may have happened at the old place.

Be as professional as possible.

I almost left the the job I'm at now about two years ago because the boss was (I'll be gracious) ineffective. I said I was leaving partially because of him, among other reasons (was actually taking a cut in pay just to get away from him). They immediately offered to reassign me away from him, promotion to running our (small) IT department and, since it turns out that I was the 5th person to mention him in my exit interview, began the process of asking him to leave (nice exit package, but, hey, he was gone). Violated my own rule and stayed. Blissfully happy with my job now and my little team of five has won several industry awards since then. You never know. Took a chance this time and it worked. Ordinarily, I use the same rule as mentioned by many others above...never say anything negative at the exit interview. In my case, I have worked at three different places twice each...living proof never to burn a bridge.

Bob is on target, but I think he soft peddled it. Exit interviews are indeed window dressing. They are conducted by the company solely for the company's purposes. Despite whatever assurances they give you, they can use the information you share in any manner they choose to. Plus, if they decide they really don't like you after your exit interview, it's very easy for them to decide that you were actually terminated by them rather than your quitting on good terms; if they decide that you were terminated you have no appeal process (you're no longer employed!) and it will follow you for years. That's the risk you run in any exit interview.

Don't say anything that you wouldn't want posted on the company bulletin board in the lobby with your name attached. Don't forget that you will need a reference from them at some point in the future, whether for simply hiring consideration or security background check or whatever. Companies are getting MORE intrusive in investigating you, not less, so you must leave on the best terms possible.

You already decided to leave, so there's no point in attempting to correct, fix, or change anything. Corporations large enough to conduct exit interviews also are large enough to resist change (as an example, the major airlines are deciding to go out of business rather than change how they operate. Remember Eastern?). The easiest way for them to deal with any negative comments is for them to make you the problem; the corrective action is that the "problem" is leaving the company ("corrective action is finished, let's go to lunch.") Neither you nor the company has any futher obligation to the other, BUT the company's opinion of you at departure will follow you for many years. Your opinion of them has no impact.

After 30 years of economic policy moving rightward, most of us are resigned to living in an economy where employers wield ever-greater powers of intrusion and intimidation over us. (I hate to say this, but our beloved IT keeps making it easier for 'em.)

After all, "Moving on" isn't some loose cannon. He/she is a professional with legitimate concerns. And yet we realize that even expressing those is often a crime in today's society, with the punishment being catastrophic financial harm.

I work at a company where about half the employees have collective-bargaining rights. When we have company meetings, they are the only ones with the confidence to say the kinds of things "Moving on" would like to. The business-casuals mostly just slouch in our folding chairs, with cowed looks on our faces.

What a bunch of acquiescent milquetoasts we are.

Someone already said it: Exit interviews are a necessary process for the HR folk...period.

I treat my career like a relationship. Some relationships last a long time. They're beneficial for both parties...everyone's happy, etc. it's a good thing, right?
When, for any reason, the relationship turns sour I try to rationalize and correct my attitude throughout the sour period. Initially, I will assume it's 'just me'. If the 'course correction' still yields disappointment I'll discuss the issue with the person/boss involved. If that fails to fix the 'problem'...I give the job a tender kiss goodbye (rationalizing, again) and then start the new career search.
The Exit interview? All hugs and kisses. I could care less--I've moved on.
And yes, it's a small world...words and actions do catch up to you.

Chances are, when you leave, you are going to work for your previous employer's competition. Why would you want to provide advice and direction to the company that just became, at best, "The Competition" and at worst "The Enemy"?

What you should say to the new "competition is:

"Naaa, I'm not leaving for more pay. In fact, you should consider reducing salaries, I was way, way over-compensated!"

"The fact that I was traveling 100% and the operations people, who worked out of an office which is about fifteen minutes commute from their house, nit-picked every line item, on every expense report, had nothing to do with why I am leaving. As a minority stock holder, it just makes me feel like my investments are safe. Keep up the good work. In fact, you should consider reducing the daily meal limits for travelers. I was actually gaining weight."

"No, my boss never engaged in harassment or intimidation. I liked being disparaged in front of the entire team at every status meeting. Each week, I would leave those meetings more fired up, and more determined to do a better job."

"The new cubicles are the best thing. I almost decided to stay just because I like being so much a part of what everyone around me was doing!"

"You really should consider raising the quotas necessary for qualifying for a bonus. There were quarters that I just didn't feel challenged."

"I am not sure who the IT manager is that is responsible for supporting folks in the field offices, but whoever he is, you should consider promoting him. Running a 4 billion dollar company with data that is loaded by hand into a series of custom spreadsheets provides flexability and helps each field office to be more adaptable!

I haven't read all the comments, but I want to add my weight to the consensus that while it may appear that the exit process (whatever it is) is an opportunity to "set a company straight," my experience has been (and I've been around the block MANY times) is that the thing that likely caused you to want to make a change had as a primary characteristic some aspect of the company that is broken and isn't receiving the attention it deserves for a reason. That is, you are IN the "exit process" for a reason and your comments aren't likely to change it.

A couple of axioms associated with this that have served me well both in a job and in exiting a job:

(1) Most companies are doing EXACTLY what they want to be doing. It may be something really stupid (and I've seen a LOT of "stupid" in my day), but usually, they already know about it and simply don't want to do anything about it for whatever reason (sometimes as simple as "We just choose to view this problem as produced by the person who brings it to our attention." -- some kind of "ostrich" approach and if so, it IS something they have chosen to do.

(2) Don't burn bridges. Everyone I've read so far is right; you only hurt yourself when you try to "fix" a company on your own. Keep it positive and personal related. If the company wants to employ an "exit interview" process that ultimately serves no purpose, that's another one of THEIR decisions. Go through the motions if you have to, keep it positive, and don't burn any bridges.

I'm in my early 40's and I've worked for about 12 companies in 17 years. 33% of those companies I've worked for again in other capacities (usually on 1099 freelance), and some of them I left because the company had real issues and were clueless about managing human resources (eg. what makes people "tick".) My opinion? 80% of the companies in America are clueless about "people management." That's just the way it is.

If I had taken the slant of "letting them know" I would never have been invited back, I would have lost tens of thousands in easy second income, and usually when I was invited back, it was on my own terms (because I did excellent work).

-es