A Bit More On My Exit Interview

I have seen some comments on the web about my exit interview. Interesting comments for sure. So I thought I would add a bit more response.

It’s hard to express the tone of a person in a text medium like a blog. It was just the way the HR person spoke and the tone of his voice that really got to me. Almost condescending. I can understand being confused, and maybe even a bit flabbergasted, about me leaving just after a year. But there is right and wrong way to express that. I thought he stepped over to the wrong side of that line.

My boss himself understood. He didn’t want me to leave, but he told me straight up that personal and family situations come first. Would he hire me again? I would like to think so; he said I did good work.

Someone told me that 18 months is a pretty standard time for many people to stay in one company. I don’t know about that, but I did stay at my first company for 10 years, so it is not like I make a habit out of moving from company to company.

The job itself wasn’t my dream job. I took the job not because I thought I would love it, but more because it filled a need for my current situation at the time. If I was “in love” with the work, I probably would have tried to find a way to make it work — maybe the 115 mile commute would have taken on a different flavor. But even then, a very difficult decision would have had to be made. I would say the job was fair to good, but there were some issues with the role, the team and the work itself that did not make it a perfect situation.

The bottom line is that life happens, and life is more than just your career. You can’t always time things perfectly to make sure all parties involved don’t feel slighted. You can, however, do your best when you are doing what you are doing, but sometimes you just have to make decisions that you think are best for you and your family. And that’s it really — not much more I can say about it.