| Topic Name: |
Leaving Accenture |
| Message Name: |
What do they ask in the exit interview? |
| Date Posted: |
01/12/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
In my opinion, the main two things it depends on are : 1) What are you leaving to go do? and 2) Will you be leaving on good terms?
In my situation, I was leaving to go to business school, a decision supported by my project team. I actually spoke with my direct manager (an ex-AP) 6 weeks in advance to give him a heads up and discuss transition options. Together we then spoke with the client partner, somebody who I knew very well and who was happy for me, and then all of us went to our lead client. Since I was very close with my career counselor and partner mentor, they found out immediately. Once all of that was settled I spoke with HR and started the official process. Everything was very civil and I received genuine congratulations and best wishes from everybody.
Honestly, I have to say my experience was the ideal situation, and this was mainly due to the fact that I was working with friends.
The thing that I would be most careful of is the timing of your notice. I gave my project 6 weeks because we were running with basically a skeleton crew and I knew that I would have to bring somebody on and train them up into my role. If it had been an overstaffed project, I probably would have waited to make the official announcement because I would have been fearful of being told to leave ASAP. If you have a specific timetable for which you want to get paid, you need to keep this factor in mind when deciding who to tell and when.
Other Do's:
- Be honest in your exit interview. Why not, you've got nothing to lose and it's your last day!
- Send out a goodbye email to your project and close contacts. Send out personal emails to your CC, HR Rep, and any close mentors. I still talk with these people now that I'm in school, and if I ever needed help they would do so. Burning bridges is a bad idea.
- Plan your transition well. There's nothing worse than receiving a call 3 weeks after the fact with questions.
- Make sure HR has all updated contact info if you're moving, and ask every last question with regards to vacation payout, 401K rollover, and benefits.
Some other key Don'ts:
- Don't tell HR before you tell your project.
- Don't send a "fuck you" letter to anybody you don't like. There's no point, and it's only going to hurt you in the end.
- Don't say anything to the client until approved by your project team (get verbal approval from partner/manager)
- Don't flaunt the fact that you're leaving. Be professional, especially around clients. Just because you're leaving doesn't mean you should screw up things for other team members. They're going to have to live with the consequences of any of your actions.
In the end, 95% of the people I saw leave did so on good terms and with no logistical problems. Most of the issues I saw occured back during the great partner purge of 2002.
Good luck, and post any additional questions you have. |
| Message: |
...and what if you don't feel like telling them where you are going? Do they press for it?
And if you're leaving because you feel under valued, do you say so?
Which is different from saying f -you.
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