“Do you feel your job description has changed since you were hired?” “What prompted you to start looking for another position?” Such questions are typical of the exit interview, to which an email from hr may invite you after you have handed in your notice. Do you accept? And if so, how honest should you be with your soon-to-be-ex-employer during the discussion??

“你覺得自從你被聘用以來，你的工作職責有變化嗎?”“是什么促使你開始尋找另一份工作的?” 這樣的問題是離職面談的典型問題，在你遞交離職通知后，hr可能會發(fā)郵件邀請你。你接受嗎? 如果是這樣，在討論過程中，你應(yīng)該對即將成為前雇主的人誠實嗎？

Just like humans, corporate entities do not want to admit their faults. As such, many companies deal with resignations badly. Exit interviews may help them do better. More important, understanding why workers leave is critical if you want to stop more of them heading for the exit. Recruiting and training top talent is a big cost for firms, particularly those in the service sector, so anything that can be done to reduce staff turnover is valuable. Poaching is part of any competitive industry, so knowing what drew an employee to a different firm can be useful, too. Former employees who leave happy can in future fill a role as corporate ambassadors.?

企業(yè)實體就像人類一樣，不愿意承認自己的錯誤。因此，許多公司對員工辭職處理得很糟糕。離職面談可能會幫助他們做得更好。更重要的是，如果你想阻止更多員工離職，了解員工離職的原因至關(guān)重要。招聘和培訓(xùn)頂尖人才對企業(yè)來說是一筆巨大的成本，尤其是服務(wù)行業(yè)的企業(yè)，因此任何能夠降低員工流動率的措施都是有價值的。挖人是任何競爭行業(yè)的一部分，所以了解是什么吸引員工去不同的公司也是有用的?？鞓冯x職的前員工將來可以擔任企業(yè)大使的角色。

For firms the best exit interview is the one that doesn’t happen. A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review concluded that they should be “the culmination of a series of regular retention conversations”. Such attempts will not work every time, or even often—staff churn is a fact of corporate life. For unsalvageable cases, some firms arrange a one-to-one conversation with the leaver’s manager. Others offer an online form, which is less personal but provides the opportunity to collate feedback easily. Such exchanges are best scheduled after the initial rush of emotion has passed but before the employee has checked out mentally. The information gleaned can be revealing. In some firms, it travels all the way up to the board.?

對于公司來說，最好的離職面談是不會發(fā)生的。《哈佛商業(yè)評論》進行的一項研究得出結(jié)論，這應(yīng)該是“一系列定期保留談話的告終”。這樣的嘗試不會每次都奏效，甚至不會經(jīng)常奏效——員工變動是企業(yè)生活中的一個事實。對于無法挽回的情況，一些公司會安排與離職者的經(jīng)理進行一對一的談話。還有一些提供在線表單，雖然不那么個人化，但可以方便地整理反饋。這樣的交流最好安排在最初的情緒波動過去之后，但在員工精神上離開之前。收集到的信息可以揭示真相。在一些公司，它會一直傳到董事會。

The incentives for a departing employee are less clear. (If you are pursuing legal action against your employer, your lawyer is likely to tell you to avoid the interview altogether.) It is tempting either to ignore everyone and just walk away or, conversely, to really let rip. “When one burns one’s bridges,” wrote Dylan Thomas, “what a very nice fire it makes.” But letting off steam by unburdening yourself of all the wrongs and little things that ever upset you is a shallow game.

對于離職員工的激勵則不那么明確。（如果你正在對你的雇主提起法律訴訟，你的律師很可能會告訴你要完全避開面談。）人們往往要么無視所有人，直接一走了之，要么相反地，盡情發(fā)泄。迪倫·托馬斯寫道:“當一個人燒掉自己的橋梁時，燃起的火焰是那么美好?！?但是，把所有的錯誤和讓你心煩的小事都發(fā)泄出來則是一種膚淺的把戲。

The bottom line is, you never know. You can be denied a reference or unnecessarily complicate the paperwork related to your stock options and pension plan. Or you could miss a chance to turn a former employer into a client. Your columnist, a guest Bartleby, has no immediate plans to leave her current job. But if she ever did, and was asked to participate in an exit interview, she would agree to do so—and would advise you to do the same.

關(guān)鍵是你永遠不會知道。你可能會被拒絕提供推薦信，或者把與你的股票期權(quán)和養(yǎng)老金計劃有關(guān)的文件復(fù)雜化?；蛘吣憧赡軙e過一個把前雇主變成客戶的機會。你的專欄作家巴托比客戶，最近沒有離開目前工作的計劃。但如果她曾經(jīng)這樣做過，并且被要求參加離職面談，她會同意這樣做，而且會建議你也這樣做。

As in any break-up, the one with an employer involves dealing with elusive concepts such as decorum (“It’s not you, it’s me”) or closure (“Thank you for everything”). It is also transactional. As such, it pays not to be too candid. Whether the process happens over the phone, on Zoom, in person or in an online form, refrain from speaking your mind too freely. It is better to be excited about your new chapter than to unleash vitriol on colleagues who were unkind or censorious over the years.

在任何“分手”中，與雇主的“分手”都涉及到一些難以捉摸的概念，比如禮貌(“不是你的問題，是我的問題”)或結(jié)束(“謝謝你所做的一切”)。它也是事務(wù)性的。因此，不要太坦率是有好處的。無論這個過程是通過電話、Zoom、面對面還是在線表格進行的，都不要太自由地表達自己的想法。與其對那些多年來不友善或吹毛求疵的同事進行刻薄的批評，不如為自己的新篇章感到興奮。

Being too diplomatic is safer, unless it devolves into insincere platitudes. “This place is toxic” is bad; “the thing I admire about the leadership team is their long-term vision” may be worse. To strike the right balance it is useful to think of the exit interview as a performance appraisal in reverse. Outlining what you enjoyed most about the place (the pay, the camaraderie or the coffee) is a good place to start. Explaining what drew you to another employer can be particularly instructive. Gentle suggestions about what you would improve are fair game. Always remember that notes from the interview are official documentation that can be reviewed. Whatever you do, do not post rude comments about your former employer on social media.

過于圓滑會更安全，除非它演變成不真誠的陳詞濫調(diào)?！斑@個地方有毒”是不好的；“我欣賞領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團隊的一點是他們的長遠眼光”可能更糟糕。為了達到恰當?shù)钠胶?，把離職面談視為反過來的績效評估是有用的。列出你在這個地方最喜歡的東西(薪水、友情或咖啡)是一個很好的開始。解釋是什么吸引你去找另一個雇主會特別有啟發(fā)意義。關(guān)于你要改進什么方面的溫和建議是合理的。記住，面談筆記是可以查閱的正式文件。無論你做什么，都不要在社交媒體上發(fā)表對前雇主的粗魯評論。

In his book “Liar’s Poker”, Michael Lewis tells the story of a senior trader quitting Salomon Brothers after being offered much more money by Goldman Sachs. His managers pleaded for him to stay, invoking loyalty to the firm; the trader retorted that if they wanted loyalty they should have hired a cocker spaniel. But a good exit interview should be about mutual graciousness when neither party has anything else to lose. For an employee to deny such a conference shows pettiness and resentment. For a company it is one last chance to leave a good impression. If you decide to part ways, why not do so on amicable terms?

邁克爾?劉易斯在《說謊者的撲克》一書中講述了這樣一個故事：一位資深交易員在高盛開出更高的薪酬后，離開了所羅門兄弟。他的經(jīng)理懇求他留下來，以表示對公司的忠誠；這位交易員反駁說，如果他們想要忠誠，就應(yīng)該雇傭一只可卡犬。但是，一個好的離職面談應(yīng)該是雙方都不會有任何損失的情況下，雙方都保持禮貌。如果一個員工拒絕這樣的會議，那就顯示出他的小氣和怨恨。對于一個公司來說，這是留下好印象的最后一次機會。如果你們決定“分手”，為什么不友好地“分手”呢?