---
title: "The Exit Interview Arrives Too Late."
description: "By the time someone sits down for an exit interview, the decision was made weeks ago. The conversation that changes something happens in the second month of the job, not the last week."
published: "2026-09-25"
tags:
  - Retention
  - Leadership
  - Managerial practice
takeaways:
  - "An exit interview describes a decision that has already been made, given by someone with little reason to be fully candid."
  - "Asking people what surprised them in their first sixty days gives you a chance to fix what they have noticed."
  - "People stop telling you things when they see nothing change, so act visibly on the first thing you hear."
  - "Departures are still worth learning from, and the best time to ask is a few months after the person has left."
keywords:
  - exit interviews
  - employee onboarding
  - staff turnover
  - listening to employees
startHere: 6
image: "./lead.webp"
imageAlt: "A wooden jetty over sand with the tide far out, and a small boat on the horizon."
card: "./card.png"
cardAlt: "A wooden jetty over sand with the tide far out, and a small boat on the horizon."
---

The exit interview is a ritual with good intentions. Someone hands in their notice, an hour is booked with a person from outside their team, and a form gets filled in. The person leaving is polite, because they will need a reference. The form goes into a folder.

What it captures is a decision that was made weeks ago. Whatever the person says now, it is too late for you to change their mind, and they know it.

## What people notice in the first sixty days

New people see your team with fresh eyes for a short window. They notice the meeting that has no purpose, the approval that takes a week, the thing everyone works around. By month six they have stopped noticing, because they have adapted or given up.

Sit down with each new person at around sixty days and ask what surprised them, what they would change, and what nearly made them wish they had not joined. Write down the answers and pick one to fix before your next conversation.

## Do one visible thing

The question only keeps working if people see what happens next. If someone tells you the onboarding documents are out of date and a month later they are still out of date, you have taught them not to tell you the next thing. Fix one item a quarter and say so in front of the team.

## Ask again after they leave

People who have left are far more candid, particularly a few months on. A short, friendly message asking what the job looked like from outside gets a better answer than the form did. You can also ask whether they would come back, and what would need to be different.