Importance of Proper Exit Interviews

As a recruiter, my expertise is in hiring. But the flip side of that is also in my wheelhouse: when employees leave your company.

Over the years, I’ve come to respect the importance of exit interviews as a practice. But for it to be a BEST practice, the way you handle the exit interview makes all the difference in the data you collect from it — and the experience everyone involved takes away from it.

If you have an HR department, they should be the ones conducting the exit interview — not the departing employee’s direct or even indirect manager. Your goal should be to solicit accurate, truthful information by establishing a relatively neutral environment for the exit interview.

You can also set up the situation for success by announcing your intentions at the very beginning of the interview: to gather truthful information you can use as constructive feedback and for record-keeping.

While recruiters are not necessarily a go-to resource for conducting exit interviews, we do have valuable experience in the world of hiring, and we’re always here to lend HR-related advice & perspective when needed.