We all know about first impressions and how important they can be. But how about last impressions? They can hold some pretty high importance as well.
Let’s say you are grocery shopping and you are having trouble finding things and no one is around to help you. You start searching and searching, and begin to get frustrated that your visit to the grocery store is taking much longer than you expected. But as you are checking out- the cashier is incredibly nice and helpful and even apologizes to you after you mention the lack of help and difficulty finding items. So, you leave the grocery store with not-so-much of a bad taste in your mouth and think, wow, that cashier was great… I’ll probably come back here again.
As professional interviewers, we are often the last person an employee speaks to on behalf of the organization they left. And despite having a not-so-great experience with the employer, we can ease that process with a positive exit interview experience. For those employees who had a good stint with an employer, we can reinforce the positive experiences they had there with a successful exit interview.
For some of the engagement interviews that we conduct, we may be able to reduce turnover for a company because we give an employee an opportunity to vent if they are experiencing trouble or friction at work.
I have performed many engagement interviews where the employee says, wow, I am so glad they are doing this. Thank you so much for calling me–– or–– this means a lot to me. It shows the employee that the company cares, and is taking steps to make improvements in the future. It also garners valuable business intelligence for the organization that can help improve employee morale and increase tenure for future team members.
Remember, first impressions are important, but a last impression can be just as meaningful.
-Stuart Marion