How to Prepare for an Exit Interview

An interview, as know from time immemorial, is a set of protocols to find the best person for a job in terms of the most probable match. Interview experiences range from being easy as a pie to the worst nightmare ever. Interviews are used for different types of selection like full time jobs, part time jobs, internships, etc. One common feature in all these types is that they interview people to recruit them. An exit interview is a type of interview where a person who is moving out of the company is interviewed. It is the exact reverse of a recruitment interview. Like a candidate who has a lot to tell about his past job experience in a recruiting interview, a person would have information and comments regarding the position held, problems solved, work atmosphere and many more. The use of an exit interview is to collect information and use it in various regards. Information collected from an exit interview can be used to:

Understand and rectify obstacles in the job
Know the employee's reason for leaving
Reduce the number of people who may leave due to the same reason
Recruit a replacement
Encourage the employee to stay
Study the performance of the team in which the employee worked
And a lot more.

The interview
A person from the human resources department mostly conducts the exit interview. The HR executive collects information from a leaving employee. The information collected is used for development purposes. The opinions from an exit interview are very important if the company rehires the employee in the future. An exit interview helps maintain the employer-employee relationship even after the person leaves the company. It is considered one of the successful practices of the modern day work culture.

The reason
There are a few reasons for an employee to exit from his job. They are voluntary resignation, layoff and termination. An employee resigns voluntarily when he/she gets a better opportunity. Layoff is cutting a number of employees during non-production seasons. Termination of the employee can have many reasons like violation of company policies, shortage of attendance, cancellation of the post or reshuffling of the team. Exit interviews are mostly conducted for employees leaving by voluntary resignation.

The questions
A questionnaire in the standard format is prepared by the company. It contains questions focusing on the reason for the decision. The questions are aimed to extract any possible information or comment from the employee for the betterment of the company's productivity. Questions regarding the position held, performance of the team leader and team members, work environment and work culture hold a major role in the questionnaire.

The answers
The exit interview is not compulsory. An employee can decline answering the questionnaire. The questions should be answered based on the usefulness of the comments. The answers should not affect anyone working with the company. The answers should be based on a constructive move and not otherwise. It is to be remembered that this is not an opportunity to express one's anger. The employee should make sure that he/she leaves the company with a positive impression and should be helpful in case of a rehire.