[Exits and offboarding](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates#exits) # Exit interview form A one-page exit interview form for the person running the conversation, with an opening script, eleven questions and a closing section to fill in, copy or print. Employee name Role Team and manager Start date Last working day Interviewer Interview date **Opening words to read out** Thank you for making time. I am asking these questions so we can learn what to improve for the people who stay. I will take notes. What you say is shared as themes, not as quotes with your name on them, and you can skip any question. **The decision** What made you start looking for another job? What does the new role offer that this one did not? Was there a moment when a change would have kept you here? What was it? **Role and growth** Did the job match what you expected when you joined? Did you see a path to grow here? What was missing? Did you have the tools, time and information to do your job well? **Manager and team** How would you describe working with your manager? What was it like to work on your team? Did you feel your work was noticed? **Looking back** What did we do well that we should keep doing? What is the first thing you would change here? **Closing** Filled in by the interviewer straight after the conversation. Primary reason for leaving (pick one) - Growth and career path - Manager - Pay and benefits - Workload - Culture and team - The role itself - Personal or relocation - Other Would they consider returning? - Yes - Maybe - No Asked whether we may stay in touch Thanked them and confirmed the plan for the last day Columns: Action, Owner, By when. 3 rows. Last updated October 14, 2026 ## An exit interview form keeps every exit conversation comparable. An exit interview is a conversation with someone who has resigned about why they are leaving and what would have changed their mind. The form is for the interviewer. It holds the same questions in the same order for every leaver, so the notes from one conversation can sit next to the notes from the last ten. This form opens with words to read out, moves through the decision, the role, the manager and the team, and closes with one primary reason picked from a fixed list. That last field is the one you will count later. ## Here is how to use the exit interview form in five steps. _Figure: How to use the exit interview form in 5 steps. Step 1: Pick a neutral interviewer. Step 2: Hold it in the final week. Step 3: Read the opening words. Step 4: Listen more than you write. Step 5: Pick one primary reason._ 1. **Pick a neutral interviewer.** Someone from the people team, or a manager from another team, should run it. A leaver rarely tells their own manager the full reason. 2. **Hold it in the final week.** Book 30 to 45 minutes in private, a few days before the last day. Send the questions the day before so the answers are considered. 3. **Read the opening words.** Say what the conversation is for and how the notes will be used before the first question. It sets how open the rest will be. 4. **Listen more than you write.** Ask the question, then ask what they mean by the answer. Write short notes in their words and do not defend the company. 5. **Pick one primary reason.** Straight after the conversation, choose one reason from the list and write the follow-up actions with an owner. ## Here is a worked example with invented names. Take an invented company, Brambleworth Logistics, with 300 employees. Dana Okoye, a dispatch team lead, resigns after three years, and Marcus Bell from the people team runs the interview. Dana says the new job pays about the same. What moved her was that she had asked twice about a path to operations manager and never got an answer. Asked what would have changed her mind, she says a plan with a date. _Figure: A filled-in example. Brambleworth Logistics, an invented company: one exit interview. Employee: Dana Okoye, dispatch team lead, 3 years. Interviewer: Marcus Bell, people team. What made you start looking?: Asked twice about a path to operations manager, no answer. Would a change have kept you?: A plan with a date. Primary reason: Growth and career path. Would consider returning: Yes. Follow-up action: Operations director explains the route to operations manager to each team lead by month end._ Marcus picks growth and career path as the primary reason, notes that Dana would consider returning, and writes one action: the operations director will explain the route to operations manager to each team lead by the end of the month. ## These mistakes spoil an exit interview. - Having the direct manager run the interview, which hides any reason that involves the manager. - Arguing with an answer or explaining why the company did what it did. The leaver stops talking. - Writing a summary in your own words. Keep their words, because the phrasing is the evidence. - Leaving the primary reason blank or picking several, so the interview cannot be counted. - Treating the form as the end. If nobody owns a follow-up action, the next leaver will say the same thing. ## People ask these questions about exit interview forms. ### Who should conduct an exit interview? Someone the leaver does not report to: a member of the people team, or in a small company a manager from a different team. The point is that the leaver can speak about their own manager without that manager in the room. ### How long should an exit interview take? Thirty to forty-five minutes covers ten to twelve questions with time for follow-ups. Shorter than that and you only get the polite answer. Longer and both sides tire before the closing questions, which matter most. ### Is an exit interview form the same as an exit survey? No. The form is filled in by the interviewer during a live conversation. An exit survey is filled in by the leaver alone, in writing. Use the survey for answers you can count across many leavers, and the interview to understand them. ### What do you do if the employee declines the exit interview? Accept it and offer the written survey instead, or a shorter call after they have left. Record that it was declined, because a team where most leavers decline is telling you something about trust. ### Should the manager see the exit interview notes? Share themes with the manager, not the raw notes, and wait until you have more than one leaver from the team if you can. Feedback about a specific manager goes to that manager's own manager first. ## These glossary terms explain the ideas behind it. - [Exit interview](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/exit-interview) An exit interview is a structured conversation with a departing employee about why they are leaving and what would have changed their mind. - [Exit survey](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/exit-survey) An exit survey is the written, usually anonymous form version of the exit interview, built from consistent questions so answers can be counted across many leavers. - [Regretted attrition](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/regretted-attrition) Regretted attrition is a departure the company did not want: someone whose performance, skills or relationships you would have paid to keep. - [Boomerang employee](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#boomerang-employee) A boomerang employee is a former employee who is rehired by the same company after working somewhere else. ## These pages on this site go deeper. - [Exit interview template guide](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/exit-interview-template) - [Exit interview questions](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/exit-interview-questions) - [Why good employees leave](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/why-good-employees-leave) ## These templates pair well with this one. - [Exit survey template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/exit-survey) Twelve questions a leaver answers in writing, in about ten minutes. - [Exit interview tracking spreadsheet](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/exit-interview-tracker) One row per leaver, eight columns, and a short review for the quarter. - [Employee offboarding checklist](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/offboarding-checklist) Four stages and 21 items, from notice to the week after the last day. ## Find out who is showing exit signals. Score one person against ten factors in five areas, in a few minutes, and see which signals are contributing most. [Run a flight risk assessment](https://www.teampredict.ai/tools/employee-flight-risk-assessment) Free, no signup required. About TeamPredict TeamPredict is retention early-warning software that flags resignation risk from public LinkedIn signals, so you have lead time to keep the people you want to keep. [See how TeamPredict works](https://www.teampredict.ai/retention-software) [Back to the HR templates](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates), where all 22 are listed.