TL;DR — Forty exit interview questions grouped into role, manager, culture, compensation-neutral and future-plans categories, so you can pick a relevant set instead of reusing the same six questions for every leaver. Also covers when video suits the conversation better than a form or a meeting room.
- Pick six to ten questions from the list rather than asking all forty — a shorter interview gets more honest answers.
- Keep compensation questions neutral and focused on perception, not numbers, unless your organisation has a specific policy for that.
- Video suits an exit interview when the leaver is more candid alone with a camera than in a room with HR.
- Always give leavers the option to skip any question or decline the interview entirely.
On this page
Why the exit interview is worth doing properly
Someone on their way out has little left to lose by being candid, which makes the exit interview one of the few moments an organisation gets an honest read on what is actually working and what is not. The catch is that a generic, rushed version of it — six questions read off a script in a fifteen-minute call — rarely produces anything useful. A well-chosen set of questions, asked in a format the leaver is comfortable with, produces far more.
Role and day-to-day work
- What did your role actually involve, compared with what you expected when you joined?
- What part of the job did you find most satisfying?
- What part of the job did you find most frustrating?
- Were you given the tools and resources you needed to do your job well?
- What would you change about how the role is structured for whoever takes it on next?
- Did your responsibilities match your job title and level?
- Was there anything you wanted to do more of that you never got the chance to?
- How clear were you on what success looked like in this role?
Manager and leadership
- How would you describe your working relationship with your manager?
- Did you feel you got useful, regular feedback on your work?
- Did your manager support your development and growth?
- Was there anything your manager could have done differently to support you better?
- Did you feel comfortable raising concerns with your manager?
- How well did leadership communicate decisions that affected your work?
- Was recognition for good work handled in a way that felt fair?
Culture and team
- How would you describe the culture of your team?
- Did you feel included and able to contribute fully?
- Was there anything about the day-to-day culture that made work harder than it needed to be?
- How did the team handle disagreement or conflict?
- Did you feel your work was valued by the people around you?
- Was there anything about the environment — remote, hybrid, in-office — that affected how you worked?
- Is there anything about the culture you will genuinely miss?
Compensation-neutral questions
These ask about perception and fairness rather than specific figures, which keeps the conversation useful without turning it into a negotiation or a complaint about numbers.
- Did you feel your pay and benefits were competitive for the role and market?
- Was the process for pay reviews and promotions clear to you?
- Did you feel rewarded in proportion to your contribution?
- Were non-salary benefits (time off, flexibility, learning budget) part of your decision to stay or leave?
- Is compensation part of the reason you are leaving, even if not the main one?
The decision to leave and what comes next
- What was the main reason you decided to leave?
- Was there a specific moment or event that made you start looking elsewhere?
- Is there anything that could realistically have changed your decision?
- What are you looking forward to in your next role?
- Would you consider returning to this organisation in the future?
- Would you recommend this organisation to a friend looking for a job?
- What would you tell someone starting in your role tomorrow?
- Is there anything you wanted to say during your time here but never found the right moment to?
- What is one thing this organisation does better than anywhere else you have worked?
- What is one thing you would change if you were in charge for a day?
Running the interview on video versus in person
A face-to-face exit interview has the advantage of a real conversation — follow-up questions happen naturally, and a skilled interviewer can read the room. It also has a real cost: many leavers hold back in front of an HR representative, especially on questions about their manager, for fear it will affect a reference or simply out of habit.
A video-based exit interview, where the leaver records their own answers to a set list of questions on their own time, often produces more candour precisely because no one is sitting across from them. It also removes scheduling friction in the busy last week of someone's notice period, and it gives you something closer to the leaver's actual words rather than a note-taker's paraphrase.
| Factor | In person | On video |
|---|---|---|
| Candour on sensitive topics | Lower — social pressure from the interviewer | Higher — no one is watching live |
| Follow-up questions | Natural and immediate | Limited to the questions asked upfront |
| Scheduling | Needs a mutual slot in a busy final week | Recorded whenever suits the leaver |
| Record of exact wording | Depends on note-taking | Exact, in the leaver's own words |
A practical format that uses both
Many organisations get the best of both by sending a short video request with four or five of the questions above, then following up with a brief live conversation only if something in the video answers warrants it. This keeps the process light for leavers who just want to answer and move on, while still leaving room for a real conversation when it is needed. For the broader comparison between video and a written form, see Video Feedback vs Surveys.
How to run exit interviews in Whoosh
Create an exit interview campaign with five or six questions from the list above, and send the leaver one link a few days before their last day. They record their answers from their phone or laptop in their own time, with no interviewer in the room, and the responses are saved in one place for whoever handles offboarding reviews.
- 1.Choose five or six questions across role, manager, culture and future plans.
- 2.Create a campaign and add the questions as separate prompts.
- 3.Send the link a few days before the leaver's last day, not on it.
- 4.Make clear any question can be skipped.
- 5.Review responses for recurring themes across multiple leavers, not just individual cases.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions should an exit interview actually include?
Six to ten is usually enough. A list of forty questions is a menu to choose from, not a script to read in full.
Should exit interviews be mandatory?
Most organisations make them optional — a reluctant participant rarely gives useful answers, and a voluntary interview tends to get more honest ones.
Who should review the responses?
A neutral party such as HR, not the leaver's direct manager, particularly for questions about that manager.
Can we ask about specific salary figures?
Keep questions about perception and fairness rather than specific numbers unless your organisation has a defined reason and policy for collecting that detail.
What should we do with the answers afterwards?
Look for patterns across several exit interviews over time rather than reacting to any single comment in isolation.