Prepare for Your Exit Interview
Kent Jacobson, a.k.a. "Mr.Success"

Deciding to change jobs was the easy part, telling you boss and
going through the exit interviews is difficult and you need to be
prepared.  So, you have decided to leave the company and turned
in you paperwork to your manager after much thought and
introspection, what you need to prepare for are the next three to
four exit interview sessions. This process is similar to buying a
new car and getting bounced from one person to the next, they try
to counteroffer and talk you out of leaving al the while trying
to wear you down. It is always fascinating to me how companies
can come up with extra $$$ when you tell them your leaving. Trust
me on getting ready, you need to be prepared or you will wake up
tomorrow and go back to you same position, in the same company
and will soon be just as miserable as you were when you decided
to leave the first time.  There are three areas of planning for
the exit interview process that you need to prepare for.

Step 1.  Prepare a notification letter that you will give to your
manager. There are two subjects to cover in your letter; planned
exit date and brief explanation on why you are leaving.  The
question on *why* you are leaving will be asked several times, it
is better to put you thoughts in writing so you can refer to them
later. In your explanation, be succinct and straight forward in a
positive manner.  Do not single out any person or event that
could turn against you and be the sole focus of discussion that
may eventually turn into an emotional confrontation.  Be firm in
you convictions and refer to your letter for guidance, refer to
professional growth, demonstrated company stability,
communication, work environment, you now the reasons, put them in
writing. After you complete the letter, have a trusted peer or
family member read it back to you for critique and comment. Plan
for staying the customary two weeks, this is the professional
approach and allows time for management to try and back fill and
cross train as appropriate. 

Step 2. Realize when you turn in your letter, the psychological
game begins. Be prepared with a counter offer when asked.  I say
*shoot for the moon*, because if they say yes, you do not want to
have any regrets. The people you speak with will try to negotiate
and talk you out of leaving. Be prepared for this and firm in
your decision to resign. Common questions you will be asked
besides why are: *What company are you going to?  My response
would simply include comments such as, the company name is not
important for our discussion and not any of your concern. *There
is no reason for you to disclose this information to them, other
than giving them an opportunity to degrade that company and
convince you going there is a poor choice. What would it take to
keep you here?  Counter with, what are you offering?  You know
what you want because you are prepared, but do not disclose that
information first, let them offer you something. Think before you
open your mouth! *Why haven't you discussed improvements for the
company before?  Maybe we can implement some of your ideas.  Bla
bla bla I say... in my opinion the company should be doing these
improvement activities anyway, why are they waiting for a person
that is leaving to jump into action? Don't buy into this
strategy; you have been around long enough to see what the
priorities are and what actually changes from a leadership team
perspective. If the company was on top of their initiative, you
would have already seen activities for improvement. *Have you
thought about what this will do to your pension & retirement?
Often the comment is, if you say for xx years, your pension will
double or triple by the age of 55. Think about all the money you
are loosing ...stop and think, I don't have that money now, how
can I loose it? Again, you have researched the POTENTIAL impact
to your pension and retirement when you were preparing to leave.
I say potential because these people you are talking to have no
more of an idea that the company will be profitable let alone
still be operating in 5 to 15 years than you do.  This will
probably come from the Human Resource(HR) manager,
and will be the last straw in trying to tell you what a poor
decision it is to leave.

All in all, you should spend no more than 5 minutes with each
person you speak with after your initial discussion with your
manager.  The reason I say this is, you can be assured they have
spoken to their management and HR about your desire to leave and
been coached on counter offers, discussion points etc. Realize
that anything they have to offer will be should be of no interest
to you, be professional and polite to a point, they are only
trying to get you to stay. What can you do, take the initiative
when speaking to each subsequent person by asking what do you
want to know that is not in my letter?  This is a great tactic to
see if they have even read it, if not that should also tell you a
lot.

In summary, leaving a position is going to be emotional, think
through your decision completely, discuss with your trusted
peers, family and friends.  Consider the options and above all be
prepared for the exit interview barrage.  You can do it, go with
your instincts as well because you don't want to wake-up with any
regrets!