Ask HN: Should one give honest feedback after quiting a job? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should one give honest feedback after quiting a job?

4 pointsDrinkWater13 comments

You quit your job because management sucks. Do you give honest feedback?

Imho, i dont know what to do in that situation. I feel that it will gain me nothing, but brings me in a risky situation concerning my future.

Be completely selfish for this consideration and just ask yourself "whats in for me?".

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The time to raise your concerns was while you where part of the organization. If you did so and they where ignored, then they will be ignored in the exit interview. Problems can be addressed politely while you are in a job, if you did not take the opportunity to resolve the issues while employed there is no reason to do so in the exit interview.

Don't bother. You're frustrated and want to vent, that's understandable. However, your feedback will most likely not be taken seriously. Instead, take the lesson to heart and be better when it is your turn to be a manager some day.

No!

Whatever the reason, do not tell them.

There is no benefit to you. There is unlikely to be benefit to them -- most people can't deal with even polite criticism.

An exception can be when the reason is politically "OK" and obvious, e.g. leaving the job to be a full-time parent.

If you have VERY good relations with your employer, then they will know your feelings in advance anyway.

If your future employer will come over anything negative (from you or about you) - he will not want to deal with you.

So just let it go.

If you talk to HR on your exit interview that feedback will go up through the management channels in an attempt to learn from that feedback. When HR talks to the managers they will know the person who provided feedback. When you look for a new job one of those managers might be at the new company you are looking to get hired at.

I would recommend to hold your tongue.

Isn't HR required to give my criticism to the managers anonymized?

Even so, "a recent member of X team with Y role and Z complaint" is pretty uniquely identifying.

Maybe you should just tell the truth about the management. Of course, you should not be too angry, because is your decision, is not like someone fired you.

Maybe, my opinion will be read by someone higher than the management and take action.

But... check if you're the only one with this problem :)

Your feedback will not just be ignored, it will completely fail to process. They won't understand why you are telling them your feedback. They will be simply be confused about what thing you are trying to get by talking to them. If you are lucky they will have had some training that sometimes ex-employees will try to give a thing called 'feedback' which they should write down and file appropriately for legal purposes.

If you want empathy find yourself a good robot to talk to. With no robot available, write everything out in a letter then don't send it.

I gave feedback to my VP & direct manager when I quit, in a very reasonable & friendly manner. I was leaving on amicable terms to start my startup so there was no bad blood. Nonetheless, he didn't really bother with my feedback and continued with how things were. (8 people in my team quit in a span of 6 months because of the bad management).

Edit: So => don't bother

This may be naive, but I would be honest and reasonably objective. Not "the mgt sucks". But the "mgt style was not a good fit for me. There was too much micromanagement." Not "the job sucked". But "the job was not what I thought it would be, based on the job description and interviews."

OK, so I was right with my tendency. The bad thing is, like mentioned in the comments, you can't vent. Thanks everybody!

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