How to Prepare for Tricky Exit Interview Questions
When you leave a job on good (or at least amicable) terms, there’s a pretty good chance that the HR department of your soon-to-be-former employer will want to ask you some exit interview questions. The process might feel a bit pointless on your end, but it can help the organization determine a) why you left and b) what they can do to retain the next person who fills the position.
Preparing for the exit interview on your last day can be daunting, but it’s a much more straightforward process than hiring interviews, as exit interview questions are not designed to catch you off guard or make you think outside the box. To make preparation even easier, we’ve compiled a list of some of the trickiest exit interview questions employers tend to ask.
Strategies for answering 3 difficult exit interview questions:
- Why are you leaving the position?
This is easily the most common exit interview question. Companies want to know why you are leaving and may follow this up with questions about your next job. Did you start looking for work because you wanted more compensation and a better position or were there elements of the job that made you start looking for the exits? Did family obligations factor into your decision or were you motivated by a toxic culture or bad management? It’s best to answer this question honestly and respectfully.
- Do you have any recommendations?
As mentioned earlier, exit interview questions are not intended to trick or trap you. If you have any reasonable recommendations for the company, now is the time to politely and professionally state them. The open-ended nature of this question can make it challenging, but this is a great opportunity to let HR know how you feel. It’s much easier to talk about a company’s benefits package, growth opportunities, and work-life balance when you aren’t relying on their paychecks to buy groceries.
- Are you willing to sign an NDA or a non-disparagement agreement?
This will (most likely) not be phrased in the form of a question – HR will simply put some legal documents in front of your face and ask you to sign. An NDA, or non-disclosure agreement, is fairly standard practice, as it limits you from using or sharing proprietary information about the company. A non-disparagement agreement, however, is much vaguer and more restrictive: it can even limit you from posting about the company on social media or online job boards.
Of course, these are just three of the most common exit interview questions to prepare for. Employers may also ask about your manager, your team, company policies, and a host of other things.