Exit Interview Questions
Exit interview questions for an HR person, manager or owner sitting down with someone who is leaving, whether an employee, a manager, an intern, a retiree or a volunteer. The list runs in the order of the conversation: why you are leaving, the job, your manager, team and culture, pay and growth, then what to settle before you go, and each question has a note on what a useful answer contains, what to ask next and what to do with it afterwards. The guide covers who should run the meeting, which confidentiality promises you can keep and what to say if you are the one leaving; it is general practice, not legal advice.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Why you are leaving
Why did you decide to leave?
Why ask it
The first answer is usually the safe one: a better opportunity, more money, time for a change. Write it down as given, then ask what was happening at work in the weeks before they started to look. The reason that comes out second is the one to record, and sorting it into a short fixed list of causes lets you count answers across leavers.
What first made you start looking for another job?
Why ask it
Deciding to leave and starting to look are often months apart, and the earlier moment is the one you could have done something about. A useful answer has an event in it: a review, a reorganization, a promotion that went to someone else, a new manager. Ask roughly when it was, then see whether other leavers from the same team date their search to the same event.
What does your new job offer that this one did not?
Why ask it
Ask them to put what they name in order, because pay is rarely the only item. A bigger title, a manager they have worked with before, remote days and a shorter commute each point to a different fix on your side. They do not owe you the new employer's name or the salary, so take what is offered and leave the rest.
Is there anything we could have done that would have kept you here?
Why ask it
Put it as a question about the past and not as the opening of a counteroffer, unless you have the authority to make one. The answers worth most are specific and cheap: a conversation that never happened, a schedule change, a decision nobody explained. If you hear 'nothing, it was just time', try once more with 'what would have made it a harder choice?'
Did you raise any of this with anyone before you resigned, and what happened when you did?
Why ask it
This sorts leavers into two groups that call for different fixes: people who spoke up and saw nothing change, and people who never felt they could say it. Record which one you are hearing, along with who was told and when. Do not turn the answer into a debate about what was or was not said at the time.
What will you be doing next, if you are happy to tell me?
Why ask it
Not every leaver has an employer to name: some are off to study, to look after someone, to start something of their own, or to nothing yet. Resigning with no job to go to often means that getting away mattered more than where to, so spend longer on workload and on how they were managed. Record the kind of destination and not the name (a competitor, another industry, study, home), because over a year those totals show whether you are losing people to rivals or to the work itself.
Did you go looking for the new job, or did it come to you?
Why ask it
When a recruiter made the first move, ask what made them take the call, since a person who is content tends to let those messages sit. Several people approached by the same competitor for the same kind of role is a signal about your pay or titles in the market. Pass that pattern to whoever sets pay, without the names.
How much of your decision is about this workplace, and how much is about the rest of your life?
Why ask it
A move, a partner's job, study or family ends plenty of jobs with no fault on anyone's side. Take the personal part in a sentence and do not ask for details of health or family. The workplace share, however small, is the part to write down, because it is the only part you can change for the next person.
If your manager had asked you six months ago how things were going, what would you have said?
Why ask it
The honest reply is often 'I would have said fine', which tells you that the question from that person would not have worked. Follow with: who here would you have told the truth to? The name they give, or the lack of one, shows where a stay conversation needs to come from on that team.
Do you think other people on your team share the reasons you are leaving?
Why ask it
You want the spread and never the names: is it one person's view, half the team's or everybody's? If they volunteer who else is unhappy, do not approach those people as though they had been reported. The right use is a round of ordinary check-ins with the whole team, run by someone they trust.
Would you have stayed longer if we had offered fewer hours or a different kind of role?
Why ask it
Written for someone who is retiring, though it suits a parent or a student too. Ask it out of curiosity and not as pressure to stay, and leave age, health and money out of it entirely: the decision is theirs. A yes is a reason to think about a phased or part-time option before the next long-serving person gives notice.
The job
What did you like most about your job here?
Why ask it
Easy to answer, so it works early or straight after a hard stretch of the conversation. Get a particular week or project that shows it. What leavers enjoyed is also the true selling point of the role, and often a better line for the next job posting than the one you have.
What piece of work here are you proudest of?
Why ask it
People light up at this one, and it resets a meeting that has been mostly complaints. Afterwards, check whether their manager would have named the same thing: if the manager has never heard of it, that says more about their one to ones than any answer about feedback will. With the leaver's agreement, it is also the right thing to mention when the farewell is announced.
What did you like least about the job?
Why ask it
Sort the answer as you hear it: a task, a condition such as hours or noise, or a person. Tasks and conditions can go to the manager as they stand. If it is a person, note the name and come back to it when you reach their manager or their team, so that this answer stays about the work.
How close was the job to the one described when you were hired?
Why ask it
A gap here is a recruiting problem and among the cheapest to fix: the posting gets rewritten and interviewers change what they say. Ask which part differed, whether the tasks, the hours, the travel or the amount of independence. For interns and volunteers, who often sign up on the strength of one paragraph, put this near the top, and give the answer to the recruiter before the role is advertised again.
Did you have the tools, equipment and information you needed to do the job well?
Why ask it
Push past 'mostly' to the particular thing: the software that crashed, the login that took three weeks, the report only one person could run. Ask what they did to get around it, because the workaround shows what the gap was costing. Whoever takes over the job inherits the same gap, so it should reach the manager that week.
How was your workload, and did it change during your time here?
Why ask it
Get hours for an ordinary week and for the worst one, and ask whether they picked up the work of someone who left and was never replaced. If they did, their own departure is about to do the same to whoever remains. Tell the manager before the leaver's tasks are shared out, not after.
How well did your training prepare you for the work you ended up doing?
Why ask it
Follow with: what did you have to work out for yourself? That list is the missing part of your onboarding. With someone leaving inside their first year, give this more time than anything else about the job, since an early exit often has its roots in the first weeks.
Looking back, what should someone have told you in your first month?
Why ask it
The answers are usually small and practical: who really approves expenses, which meeting matters, where the files live. Interns are good at this one, because their first month is still fresh and was a large share of their whole stay. Collect the replies in one document and hand it to new starters.
Did you know what was expected of you, and how your work would be judged?
Why ask it
A real yes comes with the measure attached: a target, a standard, a named person whose opinion counted. If they cannot say how they were judged, ask how they knew whether a week had gone well. Then check their account against what the manager says the goals were, and treat any difference as the finding.
Which of your skills did we never use?
Why ask it
This turns up the internal move that might have kept them: the analyst who wanted to train people, the nurse who wanted to work on scheduling. Find out who they mentioned it to, if anyone. If nobody knew, look at how people on that team hear about openings elsewhere in the organization.
Which rule or process here wasted the most of your time?
Why ask it
People on their way out will name what the rest have stopped noticing. Ask how often it came up and how long it took, since 'about three hours a week' is something a manager can act on and 'too much red tape' is not. Before removing anything, ask one person who relies on that process what it protects.
How did the job change after you started, and did anyone talk it through with you?
Why ask it
Jobs drift: duties get added, a title stays put, and the pay conversation never happens. Write down what was added and when. If the job is about to be posted again, this answer is the up-to-date description, and it may show that the grade or the pay no longer fits.
How easy was it to fit this job around the rest of your life?
Why ask it
Keep to the mechanics: how much notice of the schedule they got, messages in the evening, whether leave really meant leave. Their family arrangements are theirs to bring up or not. One person's answer is a preference, so hold it until you can set it beside others from the same team.
How did your shifts, or your split of home and office days, work out for you?
Why ask it
Change the wording to fit the job: remote and hybrid setups, rotating shifts, on-call weeks, required office days. If a change of policy started their search, record that as its own reason and do not fold it into 'the job', so the people who made the policy can see what it cost. Finish with what arrangement would have worked.
Did you feel your work made a difference here?
Why ask it
Volunteers are the people to put this to first, because anyone giving their time for free tends to stop when it is wasted or goes unthanked. Whoever you are asking, get one occasion when the work clearly counted and one when it seemed to vanish. A leaver who never saw where their work ended up points to a manager who did not close the loop.
Were there stretches when you did not have enough to do?
Why ask it
Asked mostly of interns, temps and volunteers, who are often left waiting for work while everyone around them is busy. Find out when it happened and what they did with the time. If it was the first two weeks, somebody needs to plan those weeks before the next person arrives; if it was the whole summer, the placement may not have had a real job in it.
If you managed people here, did you have the authority and backing to do it properly?
Why ask it
For a departing manager or supervisor. Go through hiring approvals, budget, support when they dealt with poor performance, and how many hours a week were left for managing once their own tasks were done. What they describe is the job their successor is about to be offered, so it belongs with their boss while the posting can still be rewritten.
Your manager
How would you describe your relationship with your manager?
Why ask it
Questions about a manager only work when that manager is not the one asking and is not in the room. Listen to the temperature as well as the words: 'fine' with nothing after it is an answer. Get one time the manager helped and one time they did not, so that you leave with events and not adjectives.
How often did you and your manager meet one to one, and what did you talk about?
Why ask it
It is a factual question, so even a guarded leaver will answer it. Regular meetings that only ever covered task status are a different problem from meetings that kept being canceled. Count the answers by manager over a year, and the pattern will be hard to argue with.
Did you get feedback that helped you do the job better?
Why ask it
The test is whether they can recall the last piece and roughly when it came. Feedback that arrived once a year, or only after something went wrong, is worth noting. So is unbroken praise: a person who never heard a criticism often cannot say where they stood.
When you did something well, who noticed?
Why ask it
Complaints about recognition are seldom about awards. Ask what kind they would have wanted: a word in private, credit in front of the team, or the same thing showing up in their pay. If the answer is that a customer or a colleague noticed and the manager did not, say that plainly in your notes.
What did your manager do well that you hope they keep doing?
Why ask it
A balanced account makes the critical parts more believable, and it gives you something true to open with when you report back to that manager. Ask for an example. If a long pause produces nothing, write that down too.
What could your manager have done differently?
Why ask it
Steer toward behavior and away from character: 'canceled our meetings' can be passed on and changed, 'does not care' cannot. Before you share any of it, think about how small the team is. Where a comment would identify the leaver, either get their agreement or hold it until it can go into a summary with others.
Could you disagree with your manager or bring them bad news?
Why ask it
'I learned not to' is among the most serious things a leaver can tell you, because it means that manager's own picture of the team is missing whatever people stopped saying. Get the occasion and what happened in the days after it. Take it to the manager's boss as a pattern to watch, not as an accusation.
Did your manager treat everyone on the team by the same rules?
Why ask it
Start with the things people compare: shifts, leave approvals, who gets the good projects, who gets corrected in public. If what you hear is treatment tied to who someone is and not to what they did, it may have stopped being feedback and become a complaint. Pause there and say what you will have to do with it, so they can choose how to go on.
Did your manager ever ask what you wanted to do next?
Why ask it
A manager who did not know this was always going to hear about the resignation last. If they did ask, find out what followed: a plan, a project, or nothing. Hold the answer against what the manager says they knew about this person's ambitions.
How well were you kept informed about decisions that affected your work?
Why ask it
How they usually found out is the real answer: from their manager, from a general email, or from a colleague in passing. Then get one decision they still do not understand the reason for. Unexplained decisions are cheap to fix, since the explanation can still be given to the people who stayed.
Team and culture
How would you describe the culture here to a friend who was thinking of applying?
Why ask it
Framing it for a friend gets plainer words than 'describe our culture' does. Listen for the 'but': 'friendly, but you have to push to get anything decided'. Collect the phrases leavers use and compare them with what your careers page claims.
What was it like working with your team day to day?
Why ask it
You are listening for whether people helped each other or kept score. Ask who covered when someone was off and how the dull tasks got shared out. A good team under a poor manager, or the reverse, is common enough that this answer should be recorded apart from the manager questions.
Did you feel like part of this place or like a visitor to it?
Why ask it
Especially worth asking of volunteers, interns, contractors and people who worked remotely or on nights. Ask what would have made the difference: an invitation to the team meeting, a name on the schedule, being told the news at the same time as everyone else. These are small fixes that the next person will feel in their first week.
Did you feel respected here, by managers, colleagues and customers?
Why ask it
Naming all three matters, because in shops, clinics, call centers and classrooms the disrespect that wears people down often comes from the public. When that is the answer, find out whether anyone senior stepped in or the employee was left to absorb it. A plain 'yes, mostly' is fine to accept; 'mostly' followed by a pause deserves one gentle 'when was it not?'
Did you see or experience anything here that concerned you, such as harassment, discrimination or unsafe work?
Why ask it
Before you ask, say what a yes will set in motion: in most organizations it has to be passed on, whatever else was said about confidentiality. Do not investigate in the room. Take down what they tell you in their own words, thank them, say who will be in touch, and then make sure that person is.
How well did other teams work with yours?
Why ask it
Feedback about the space between teams has no single manager to own it, so it tends to get lost. Get the handoff that went wrong most often and the team on the other side of it. Send it to both managers together, described as a process and not as a complaint about either team.
How much confidence did you have in the people running the organization?
Why ask it
Senior leaders seldom hear this from anyone still on the payroll. Find out which decision raised their confidence or lowered it, and whether they knew where the organization was trying to go. Send it upward as themes across several leavers, never as one person's quote.
What do people here say to each other that never gets said in a meeting?
Why ask it
Someone who is leaving can report the corridor conversation without owning it. Do not ask who says it. One leaver's account is gossip; the same thing from three is a topic for the next staff survey or an item for the leadership agenda.
What happened here when someone made a mistake?
Why ask it
You want a real one, theirs or one they watched, and what followed: was it fixed and learned from, or was someone made an example of? In work where safety or money is involved, a team that hides mistakes is a risk in its own right, so pass a worrying answer up promptly.
When you suggested a change, what became of it?
Why ask it
There are three common fates: it was tried, it was turned down with a reason, or it disappeared. The third does the damage. Ask what the idea was, because it may still be a good one, and tell them if you intend to pass it on with their name attached.
Which of our stated values did you see in practice, and which only on the wall?
Why ask it
Have the list in front of you, since few people can recite it. Ask for an example of each. A value that leaver after leaver calls decoration should be either backed with something visible or quietly dropped from the recruiting material.
Who here did you learn the most from?
Why ask it
The names that come up are your informal trainers, and they are rarely the people with 'trainer' in their title. With the leaver's permission, tell that person they were named: it costs nothing and it is the kind of thanks people remember. It also shows whose departure would hurt more than the org chart suggests.
Who on your team should we take care not to lose, and what do they need?
Why ask it
Best put to a leaver who managed the team: they know who is restless, who is underpaid for what they do and who is ready for more. Act on it within weeks, since a team is unsettled when its manager goes. Never tell the people named that they were discussed.
What will you miss about working here?
Why ask it
The answer names what is holding everyone else in place, which no list of complaints will tell you. If it is only 'the people', the work and the conditions did not make the list, and that deserves a line in your summary. For a retiree, leave time for this one, since it is often the part of the meeting they came for.
Pay and growth
Did you feel fairly paid for the work you did?
Why ask it
The follow-up is 'compared with what?': the market, a colleague, or how much the job had grown. Each comparison leads somewhere different, to a pay review, an equity check or a new grade for the job. Do not defend the number or reveal anyone else's, and do not hint at what a successor will be paid.
Which of our benefits mattered to you, and which did you never touch?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful one: a benefit nobody takes up is either badly explained or not wanted. Name one or two that are commonly missed and see whether they had heard of them. Leavers will often mention what the new employer offers that you do not, which is a free look at the competition and theirs to share or keep.
Could you see a next step for yourself here?
Why ask it
Find out what they thought the step was and what stood between them and it. If a path existed and they did not know, you have a communication problem that one conversation could have solved. If there truly was none, say so in your report, since no amount of manager coaching fixes a missing rung.
What did you want to learn here that you never got the chance to?
Why ask it
The block is usually one of three things: money, time or permission. Time is the easiest to overlook, since a training budget is no help to someone who cannot leave their desk. Note what they wanted, because a colleague in the same role probably wants it too.
Did your performance reviews match how you thought you were doing?
Why ask it
A surprise at review time means the feedback during the year was missing or too soft to register. Ask what the surprise was and how it was explained. Read their last review before the meeting so you can hear the difference between their account and the file without quoting it back at them.
Did you know what it would take to get your next raise or promotion?
Why ask it
A yes should come with criteria they can repeat. 'Wait your turn' and 'it depends on budget' are what people report when no criteria were shared. Look up the dates of their last raise and title change yourself beforehand, so the meeting is about how it felt and not about the calendar.
Did you ever apply for another role or a promotion here, and how was it handled?
Why ask it
An internal application that ended in silence is a familiar start to a job search. Ask whether they were told why and by whom. If the feedback never came, the fix is a rule that every internal candidate gets a conversation, and it can be in place before the next vacancy.
If we had matched the other offer, would you have stayed?
Why ask it
Only ask if it cannot be mistaken for an offer, or if you are in a position to make one. A yes says pay was the reason, and the role needs a pay review before it is filled. A no says pay was the door and not the reason, so return to what first made them look.
If we offered you a permanent job, would you take it?
Why ask it
For interns, temps, seasonal staff and contractors at the end of a term. Ask what would decide it either way. A no from someone you would gladly hire shows what your offer has to beat, and a yes should go to the recruiter that day with the date they are free to start.
What did you hope to get from your time here, and did you get it?
Why ask it
Meant for anyone who came for a fixed term with a goal of their own: an intern after experience, a volunteer after a cause, a contractor after a skill. Ask what they will put on their resume from it. If they struggle to name anything, the placement needs real work designed into it before you offer it again.
Before you go
What are you in the middle of, and who should pick up each piece?
Why ask it
This belongs to the manager more than to HR, and to the first days of the notice period, not the last. Ask for it in writing, with where each file lives and what the next deadline is. Then check that the people named know they have been named.
What do you know that is not written down anywhere?
Why ask it
Vital with retirees and anyone who has held a job for many years: why the system is set up the way it is, which supplier needs a phone call and not an email, where the old records are. Nobody can list this cold, so ask which three things colleagues come to them for most. Then book time for them to show someone before their last day.
Who outside your team relies on you, and have they been told you are leaving?
Why ask it
Think of clients, suppliers, other departments and anyone who has their direct number. Agree who tells each one, and when. A customer who learns it from an out-of-office reply will wonder what else they have not been told.
What do you still have of ours, and is there any account or password that only you know?
Why ask it
Laptops and keys are on every checklist. The gap is usually the supplier portal registered to their email, the shared inbox only they check or the social media login they set up years ago. Go through their week system by system, and have each one moved to a named colleague while the leaver is still there to approve the reset, not written into a handover note.
What should we look for in the person who takes over from you?
Why ask it
What the job needs now may not be what the old posting says, so steer them toward today. If they describe somebody more senior than they were, or two people, the job has outgrown its grade. Hand the answer to the hiring manager before the advertisement goes out, not after the first interviews.
If you were redesigning this job before we fill it, what would you take out or add?
Why ask it
A vacancy is the one moment when a job can be reshaped without taking anything from anyone. Ask which task belongs with a different team and which is no longer needed at all. Even a small change, made and mentioned, shows the people staying that leavers were listened to.
What advice would you give your successor?
Why ask it
You will get practical things: who to get to know, which deadline is real, what can safely be ignored. Ask them to put it on one page. For intern and seasonal roles that turn over every few months, a folder of these pages becomes the best onboarding document you have.
Would you recommend this as a place to work?
Why ask it
A plain yes or no is the least useful version, so find out who it would suit and who it would not. 'Yes, if you get on the right team' and 'yes, for a couple of years early on' each tell you where the problem sits. A no from someone who liked their own team is a comment on the organization, so ask what they would warn a friend about.
Out of ten, how would you rate your time here, and what would have made it one point higher?
Why ask it
The number is for your records: put to every leaver in the same words, it is the one answer you can chart by team and by year. In the room the second half does the work, because 'one point higher' draws out something small and fixable where 'what would make it a ten' gets a wish list. Three or four scores are not a trend, so do not report an average until there are enough to mean something.
Would you think about working here again?
Why ask it
Follow with what would need to be different, and check that they are happy to hear from you about future openings. Record that separately from whether the organization would rehire them, which is a different decision made by other people. Do not promise anything in either direction.
How have you been treated since you gave notice?
Why ask it
The notice period is what leavers describe to other people afterwards, and the colleagues who remain are watching it too. Ask how their manager reacted, how the news was announced and whether they were kept in the loop or frozen out. If something is going badly and they still have days left, there is time to put it right.
Is anything still unclear about your final pay, your benefits or the paperwork?
Why ask it
Have the answers ready or the name of the person who has them, and do not guess at what someone is entitled to. Follow up in writing before the last day. Some interviewers ask this first, on the view that people speak more freely once the practical worries are out of the way.
Would you be open to occasional work for us after you leave?
Why ask it
This comes up most with retirees, who may be glad to cover a busy month or train a successor. Treat a yes as interest and not as an agreement: the terms need arranging properly, and pension or contract rules can limit what is possible, so check before you offer. Note how they would like to be contacted.
How would you like us to keep in touch, if at all?
Why ask it
A personal email or postal address for final documents is worth confirming whatever else they say. Beyond that, ask before adding anyone to a newsletter, an alumni group or an events list. Retirees and long-standing volunteers often want the connection more than the organization expects, and an invitation once a year is not much to arrange.
If you were in charge for a day, what is the first thing you would fix?
Why ask it
It forces a ranking after an hour of separate complaints. Record the answer word for word. When the same first fix comes from three leavers in a year, it has earned a place on a leadership agenda with the count beside it.
Is there anything you came here wanting to say that I have not asked about?
Why ask it
Ask it and then be quiet for longer than is comfortable. What people hold back until now is often the reason they agreed to the meeting. If something serious arrives this late, do not rush it because the time is up; book a second conversation.
Before we finish, is there anything you have told me that you would like left out of my notes?
Why ask it
Read the main points back first so they know what you heard. Be straight about the limits: a report of harassment or a safety problem cannot be taken back out. Ending this way is what makes the next leaver, who will have heard how it went, willing to talk.
Running an exit interview: who asks, what you can promise and what to say
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who should run it, and when
Not the person's own manager
The direct manager is the subject of a whole group of these questions and usually has a say in the reference, so a leaver will tell them very little. Use someone from HR, a manager from another team or the manager's own boss. In a small organization with no HR, the owner, a board member or a trusted person from outside can do it. The manager still needs a conversation of their own, about handover: the first questions under Before you go.
Pick the day
The last day is the worst choice: people are distracted and saying goodbyes, and it is too late to act on anything. Aim for the middle of the notice period, after the announcement has settled and before their attention has moved to the new job. Some organizations also send a short written follow-up a few months later, when the reference has been given and people feel freer.
Make it voluntary and say so
An invitation gets better answers than a summons. Say what the meeting is for, how long it will take and who will see the notes. If someone declines, offer a short written form and leave it there.
Choose ten or twelve questions, not the whole list
Forty-five minutes is plenty. Take two from each group, more from the group that fits what you already know about this departure, and keep the same core for every leaver so the answers can be compared. Send the core ahead of time: prepared answers are fuller, and nothing here needs to be a surprise.
Listen, do not defend
You are not there to correct the record, explain a decision or win them back. Each time you argue a point, the answers after it get shorter. Thank them, ask for an example and write it down in their words.
Do something with it
Sort each leaver's main reason into the same short list of causes and look at the totals by team a few times a year. Fix the cheap things in the same week, and tell the people who stayed what changed and why. An exit interview is the latest possible moment to learn any of this, so take the questions that produced the most and put them to current staff while they still have a reason to stay.
Confidentiality promises you can keep
Promise who will see it, not that nobody will
'This is completely confidential' is rarely true, and leavers know it. Say what will happen instead: who reads your notes, where they are stored, and that the manager will hear themes and not quotes. A narrow promise that holds is worth more than a broad one that does not.
A small team cannot be anonymous
If three people report to a manager and one of them leaves, any feedback can be traced. Say so, then offer the choices: pass it on now with their agreement, hold it until it can be combined with what others say, or leave it out.
What you cannot keep to yourself
If someone describes harassment, discrimination, a safety hazard, fraud or anything else your organization is expected to act on, you will usually have to pass it on whether or not they want you to. Say this at the start, before any question, so nobody is caught out halfway through a story. What has to be reported, and to whom, depends on your country, state and sector. This is general practice and not legal advice: ask whoever advises you on employment matters, and know the answer before the meeting.
Notes, files and references
Decide beforehand whether the notes go in the personnel file or are kept apart from it, and tell the leaver which. Tell them too whether anything said here can affect their reference or whether they could be rehired. If the honest answer is that it might, they deserve to know before they speak.
Do not promise change
'We will fix that' is the easiest thing to say and the hardest to deliver, since the decision is rarely yours. Promise that it will reach the right person, and say who that is.
Passing it on
Report in groups: by team, by quarter, by reason. Paraphrase anything whose wording would give a person away, and hold a single comment until a second leaver says something similar, unless it is the kind of thing that has to be acted on at once.
Managers, interns, retirees and volunteers
A departing manager
Ask the usual questions about their own boss, then the two written for people who managed: whether they had the authority and backing to do it, and who on the team should not be lost. Bring the handover questions forward, since a manager's unfinished work includes other people's reviews, approvals and promises. How their team saw them is a separate matter, learned from the team's own conversations and not from this one.
An intern
Fifteen or twenty minutes in the last week is enough. Use the questions on how the placement matched its description, whether there was enough to do, what they wish they had been told in the first month, what they hoped to get from it and whether they would take a permanent job. The supervisor's view of the intern is a different conversation; keep the two apart.
A retiree
Less about why, more about what they know. Spend most of the time on what is not written down, who relies on them, advice for a successor, and whether they would welcome occasional work or an invitation back. Ask whether fewer hours would have kept them only as a matter of interest. Leave age, health and finances out entirely, and leave room for what they will miss.
A volunteer
Leave out Pay and growth apart from what they hoped to get from their time, and spend the meeting on whether their work made a difference, whether they felt part of the place, whether they had enough to do and how they would like to keep in touch. Volunteers who stop often do it quietly, without notice, so a phone call from the coordinator a few weeks after the last shift may be the only exit interview you get.
Someone who was laid off or dismissed
This is a different meeting. Leave out the group on why they are leaving, settle the practical questions on pay and paperwork first, and offer the rest as optional. After a dismissal, or where a dispute seems likely, take advice before holding one at all.
A written form instead
Some people say more on paper than face to face. Send eight or ten of the core questions with space to write, not rating scales alone, and offer a conversation to anyone who wants one. The score out of ten travels well to a form; most of the others come back shorter and safer, with no chance to ask for the example.
If you are the one leaving: what to say
You can usually keep it short, or say no
In most workplaces the exit interview is a request and not a duty, though a contract or handbook can say otherwise, so check yours. Declining politely, or asking to answer in writing, is normal.
Decide your two or three points beforehand
Pick the things you most want the organization to know and find an example for each. The questions on this page are the ones you are likely to be asked, so you can prepare. A short answer you have thought about does more good than everything you have felt for two years.
Describe what happened, not what someone is like
'Our one to ones were canceled most months' can be acted on. 'She is a terrible manager' will be discounted and may be repeated. Mention what worked as well: it is true, and it makes the rest easier to believe.
Assume your manager may hear it
Ask at the start who will see the notes and whether they go on your file. Even with good intentions, feedback from a small team is easy to trace. Say only what you would stand behind if it were read out with your name on it.
Serious matters deserve more than this meeting
If you are leaving because of harassment, discrimination, unpaid wages or something unsafe, the exit interview is not the only place to raise it and may not be the best one. A formal complaint, a regulator or an adviser of your own may be the right route, and timing can matter. This page is not legal advice; get some if that is your situation.
Use it for your own questions
Bring your list: final pay, unused leave, when benefits end, what a reference will say and where your documents will be sent. Finish with thanks if you can mean it. You may well work with some of these people again.