Exit interviews are a trap • Hacker News Board

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#21

Post by annoyingnoob » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

mirceal wrote: post #15

annoyingnoob wrote: post #13

I tried to skip an exit interview once, the HR person was late to her own meeting. After waiting for 5 minutes, I left. You can bet she called me back in there. Felt so good to tell her one reason I was leaving the company was that no schedule was ever on time in the entire company, ever, including my exit interview. I told her straight up that I was going to be honest because I had no intention of ever working there…

lol. no. it's not about working there again. It's potentially working with any of the people that work or have worked there. If you give feedback and it's taken the wrong way/rubs people the wrong way this will come back to haunt you. so, no feedback. at that point there is literally no upside. The time for feedback is while you work there.

In my case, there were no repercussions. I didn't make it personal and I didn't call out any individual humans. I was very honest about my perspective of the company as an employee. I always wondered if it would come back to haunt me, never did.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#22

Post by cpach » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

What’s the point of exit interviews really?

I had an exit interview earlier this year. All the constructive criticism I had, I had already given, during my tenure. And as Jacob alludes to, there’s no point in venting in an exit interview.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#23

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

vishnugupta wrote: post #7

PSA: HR is not your friend . Their job is to keep tab on and shield corporations from employee unrest. Think of them as a benign internal police; sort of complement of legal department. Legal is to handle external threat and HR is to handle internal threats.

[deleted]

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#24

Post by eftychis » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:10 PM UTC

mateo411 wrote: post #4

There can be an upside to an exit interview. If you have equity in the company, then suggesting things in an exit interview that will be a positive change for the company can benefit you. Note, that the likelihood of a company implementing changes based on your exit interview feedback will be pretty low.

I would even say zero. More likely your exit might be the final straw to break the camel's back, but unfortunately I have never seen that happen. (Might get a CEO fired though; so that might be positive in some companies. But again that is the mass exodus of talent and not what they said in their exit interviews.)

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#25

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:11 PM UTC

sweetheart wrote: post #11

The author states there is no upside to giving honest feedback of a company in an exit interview, and the one comment I see at the moment which argues perhaps there could be an upside is making the case that the upside is when you personally benefit from stock prices increasing. Why is it difficult to see that an upside would be that the company makes a positive change and people other than yourself are benefitted? W…

[deleted]

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#26

Post by legitster » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:11 PM UTC

I have no idea what the author is on about. The exit interview is often the best 30 minutes of a bad job!

You can tell them what they are doing well, what they aren't doing well, praise good employees and criticize bad managers.

If you are both professionals, it's a cathartic experience that supports your remaining coworkers. If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway. But if you are an unprofessional neurotic intent on treating Greg from HR like a captive corporate agent, I guess you will probably have a bad time?

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#27

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #25

sweetheart wrote: post #11

The author states there is no upside to giving honest feedback of a company in an exit interview, and the one comment I see at the moment which argues perhaps there could be an upside is making the case that the upside is when you personally benefit from stock prices increasing. Why is it difficult to see that an upside would be that the company makes a positive change and people other than yourself are benefitted? W…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#28

Post by lnxg33k1 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

I have never done any exit interview, if I had to do one I would just say I got a better opportunity somewhere else. Generally speaking, if you need me to tell you what’s wrong with a place where you spend 8 hours per day, then maybe it’s better for you to spend your days doing another job, but I also tolerate companies because in this system I’m required to have a job to have an acceptable life , but inside I hate any company and the point of this fake "show" that they care about improving is such a bullshit that to me it’s frustrating to be asked to take part in it so that ‘we can learn and improve’ just please

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#29

Post by Apreche » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

What's with the assumption that you are quitting a job because it sucks? A lot of times people have to quit or change jobs for their own reasons and only have positive things to say.

And if the job does suck, who cares if you burn bridges there on the way out? You only need to maintain bridges that go to good places.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#30

Post by daenz » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:12 PM UTC

In an exit interview I've done, it was clear to me that HR was trying to spin a story about why I was leaving that didn't align with what I was saying or trying to say. They were nice enough, but it was full of questions that appeared to be designed to invalidate my thoughts or feelings. For example, the question: "But did you have the resources you needed to do your job?" to my point of "I felt like I was set up to fail on these projects."

They also focused on single points that were actually just a small part of a much larger picture, emphasizing them as though to suggest that they were the singular reason for me leaving. It was a frustrating experience, and it felt dishonest. I felt like they didn't want the real reasons I was leaving, they wanted a story that didn't make the company's processes and management look flawed.