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Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?
5

Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

(OP)
There's a good chance I will be leaving my current position within the next several months.  Do you typically give your current employer a reason or explanation as to why you're leaving when switching jobs?  Or do you typically give your 2 weeks and that's it?  

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

2
I always give a written letter of resignation stating the date I will leave in compliance with my contract.

I always thank them for employing me and say something along the lines of however at this stage in my career I feel the new job offers better opportunities, keep it very short and sweet.

NEVER however tempting say you are leaving because your boss is a jerk, the pay is lousy and the company is a sweat shop.

One day you may well come across your old boss again but in different circumstances or at the very least want a reference.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

A clear letter stating when you are leaving is the norm.  Stating why you are leaving sounds like you are inviting an offer to stay.  Reasons for leaving are usually discussed during an exit interview you may be offered.

- Steve

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Nixon's resignation letter is a great example of a good letter. It contains the barest minimum information, but can say a vast amount by what it does not contain. Most importantly it leaves no written record of how you feel or the reasons why you are leaving. Any good manager will know exactly why you are leaving, but whether it is for better opportunities, or more money, or better quality of life, or just because the boss really is a jerk, you are far better not committing any of those thoughts to paper.
  

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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Yup, ditto all the above.  Don't get suckered into the briefly emotionally satisfying but highly destructive trap of editorializing to the company.  They may have a policy of exit interviews that (in theory) will discern why people are unhappy and wish to leave, thus making changes to make the company a better place.  But human nature being what it is, this is rarely how it is implemented.  Spew a few platitudes and don't leave any dead bodies behind you and all will be OK.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

KISS - Keep it simple sweetheart or stupid - depending on who you are talking to...

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

If they want to know, they will ask.  If they don't ask, telling won't help anything.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Here is the resignation letter verbage that I always use:

This letter is to inform you that I will be terminating my employment with the company effective on (insert date here).

Simple and to the point.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

At my last company, I gave a 2 weeks notice in a letter. I made positive remarks, didn't burn bridges.
But, the president and director took me into their offices separately and wanted to know negatives and positives. I told them everything from what the company is doing in a positive way to the negative stuff, and what should be changed.
A few people were fired after I opened their eyes to what was going on. I was offered to come back if I want to.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated Jul 13, 2008)
ctopher's blog

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I would (and have) search on the net for a sample resignation letter.  They are all based on the KISS principle.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

An exit interview is pretty standard when you leave your job. Any reasons or explanations can be provided there. The letter should be short and official. Its a formality really. They'll get their answers face to face.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I fantasize about my exit interview, but in reality, even there one shouldn't be truthful unless one wants to burn bridges in the way of references, etc.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

There exist the additional dangers of:
- saying something that can be used out of context with malice.
- praising people who are in fact your enemy.
- failing to praise people who will be offended by its absence.
- maligning people who were in fact protecting you from dangers that you did not see.

The best exit interview is none.  If you can't avoid it, speak as little as possible, and if you can't avoid that, _say_ as little as possible.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Expanding on Mike's point: talk a lot and say nothing!
  

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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Depends on the situation, I guess. I have given three exit interviews over my career and at each one of them I was frank and honest. In each situation I was leaving for a better opportunity that could not be matched by my current employer. They all understood and appreciated my comments on my experiences and thoughts about the organization. In each case I was also told they would be interested if I ever chose to return.

Leaving in a cloud of uncertainty does not make for a good last impression. If you are leaving your company because you hate it there, chances are they have a good idea why you're going anyway...

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Yeah, but if you're unprofessional enough to say right out loud what everyone's already thinking, that'll reflect badly on you.

The more you might want to say at an exit interview, the less you can actually say.  If you're really just leaving a good place for a better offer, there's no problem saying so.  If you're leaving because the place is, for example, full of incompetents, there is nothing to be gained in saying so, no matter how tempting.  It's not like they'll purge the place of the incompetents based on your say-so in an exit interview.

That's what I say in theory.  In practice, I don't know that I have the discipline to keep my mouth shut.  Haven't had the situation arise yet.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Depends on how much the exit interview is genuine exercise in finding reasons and how much it is simply done because that's what your supposed to do.

Then again, how effective can they be?

As suggested by HgTX the outgoing employee will not and should not be saying anything that isn't in his/her own best interests which often doesn't include telling them what's really what.

What's the point anyway? finding out something ain't right through exit interviews suggests it is too late, and especially so for that employee (like voluntary redundancies, it is always the best employees that go because (a) they are better able to see when the company is going no where and (b) they are the ones with the best shot at a new job).

If something isn't right they need better means to detect it.

So, if anyone has had an exit interview, what happened, how did it go and was there any discernible point to it?

Anyway, the best exit interviews are with your colleagues in the pub for a bevy or two on your last day. This is where you'll let your hair down a bit and the best means for the management to discover what is going on would be to get the pub landlord to provide some covert CCTV footage (with sound); no good waiting for a report from their brown-nosers, these guys wouldn't know the truth if it bit them. Of course, for the real deal they ought to have ongoing covert video surveillance of the coffee machine.

Then too, as HgTX also suggests, management will only act on things they believe. They will not believe that they are a problem and may prefer to believe that you are the problem because that way, the problem is going. It is never good news to think they have a problem with themselves or the remaining workforce.


 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
 

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Not too many people suffer in an awful job quietly. There are always signs and most of the time the person suffering is actively trying to change their environment which usually filters back to management.

I've always left one "good place" for another so I'm not sure how I'd handle going through an interview with months or years worth of pent up frustration and keep myself from saying something I shouldn't.

Points I did discuss with my managers when I left: Travel, career development opportunities, workload, inter-office communication, salary structure, reporting structure, etc. Some of these were kind of sensitive topics but none of them were the focal point of me leaving which allowed me to talk about them candidly.

Managers appreciate the opportunity to get honest feedback on why a staff member is moving on. If they can get another gear in your seat at your pay (or cheaper) then they probably won't be too upset to lose you. If you were a valued member of the team and they've lost other staff with similar thoughts, then they have some changing to do themselves to avoid losing good staff members in the future.

Leaving them guessing will just make managers use their imagination about why you're going....which most likely won't reflect favorably upon you. Thats burning bridges as well.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

You don't leave them guessing, you engage in some "selective telling".  The new job has better opportunities for advancement, more preferable geographic area, etc.  Same lines you fed your new employers when they asked you in the interview why you were leaving your old position.  You don't just take the fifth and refuse to speak.

If the old employer saw all those signs that you were unhappy and did nothing about it, never came to you to see what the problem was, it's because they didn't really want the input.  Why give it to them at the exit interview?

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I think we pretty much agree here then.

Don't: Throw management or fellow employees under the bus, even if they deserve it.

Do: give them some information that's more related to the organization as a whole or, if necessary, build your new opportunity up to make it seem like a fantastic opportunity in your career which their organization just can't offer you. No manager will fault you for doing whats right for you. Unless everybody in your company has worked there their entire life, they've forced some exit interviews at other places themselves and know how the system works. Giving them some recruitment and retention feedback is the least you can do. You're already getting what you want, a new job!

This will give them feedback they can use and at the same time avoid leaving too much negativity in your wake that could possibly hurt you down the road.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

If you're leaving a job, you've already concluded that the exit interview is useless- to you.

The only question is, can your carefully chosen words be of any benefit to your colleagues who you leave behind?

A closed mouth gathers no feet...

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

One other point:

HR typically conducts the exit interview that gets recorded.

The fact that there's an exit reflects on HR in two ways:
- Now they have to get off their butts and find another warm body to replace you.
- If you're the umpteenth to leave, Senior Management starts to question whether HR is doing their job right.

So, you, Mister/Ms. Quitter, have caused them to do some actual work, and possibly made them look worse than they already did... and that was _before_ the interview.

HR will typically record your carefully chosen words in such a way that you look, well, as evil, wicked, mean, bad and nasty as possible.  The only way to have any control over _that_ process is to provide them with as few words as possible from which to misquote.

Do you remember what High School politics were like?  Well, HR is still fully engaged in that sort of stuff, all the time.

An exit interview has NO upside for the departee or for the survivors.



 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

In my experience, management gives the exit interview, not HR. HR was present at one of mine as a recorder but was not involved in the interview actively.

I can't really speak to what effect, if any, my exit interviews had after I left but it was certainly appreciated at the time and in each occasion I was told the door is always open if I wanted to return. I'd say it wasn't useless to me for that very fact (plus the solid reference down the road).

Engineering is a transient profession, the majority will change jobs many times over their career. Managers are either engineers themselves or are at least very familiar with them. You're not the first one to go and chances are they'll have to steal an engineer from someone else to fill your shoes. Its not like your stabbing them in the back, its part of the business. Be professional and give the interview.


 

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Give the interview.  Just don't indulge any revenge fantasies.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Fanman72,

Never say anything negative about your old company, this can burn bridges that may be useful in future.

It is best to say something like "It was an opportunity that I felt was too good to pass up."

They will usually not ask for a further explananation.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I had an exit interview when I left my (through university) sponsoring company.

I was young (22) and told the truth.  I liked the work but had stumbled upon a great offer to do similar and better elsewhere.  Plus it didn't involve living in the arse end of London with other people who couldn't afford to buy their own places.

- Steve

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Going on to better opportunities in better geographic locations is always an ok thing to say.  If that happens to be the truth, it's fine to tell the truth.  And all the people in this thread of the "just be honest" persuasion seem to have left their jobs for that pleasant reason.  When there are no hard feelings, a pleasant discussion about some minor ways in which the soon-to-be-former company could improve can be a good thing for all involved.

But for those who are leaving because the old job sucks, too much honesty is not a good idea.  One should still say it's a better opportunity or better geographic location or whatever.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I give 80-hr/2-week notice. This way, they can't use you as a whipping boy for remainder.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?


I believe saying what's on your heart is normal thing to be done - as long as it has been said without hatred; at that point it simply stops to be true. Remember one thing: it doesn't matter how bad the company is, you are the one who allows bad emotions to develop and grow inside yourself. Saying bad things at the end of your employment is the same like spitting on yourself.

If the company is bad, feel free to say it is bad. Do not blame people, do not speak bad about the people who made you feeling like running away from the company. Feel free to say what are the bad things inside the company, and with what you cannot agreee. Express your attitude but don't insult anyone, you don't have the right to behave in such manner. And who cares about the reference? We are professionals, and our work and experience is what makes us good engineers - not our references.

Best regards,
 

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

Manny,

I had an employer who would blame the company staff when individuals chose to leave. If the person who was leaving spoke the truth (that the company and the boss was bad), the boss would go and tell the managers that ("X is leaving because of your bad treatment" [a false statement, as it was the boss who was the problem]). The company staff would then hold a grude against the individual(s) who departed.

As far as references go, in my case I chose to pursue licensure. You can't get a PE without good references. I had to suck up to 3 jerk employers. If I had told them the truth about their bad behavior, I could kiss my references (and PE licenses) goodbye.

Some employers truly want to know how they can improve. Others assume that everything is perfect since they are perfect and they are in charge. Gauge your farewell statements accordingly.

RE: Give explanation to manager about why I'm leaving?

I have one of these interviews next week. I doubt that I will be able to keep to the 'say nothing' plan even though I probably should. The fallback plan is 'facts, not emotion'.

I will post my experience.
  

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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

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