New Job 2 - Electric Boogaloo

paflyer said:
Why?
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Pay.

It was a family owned company and everyone was treated well. No complaints there. 2 week paid vacation a year, 100% medical, vision and dental, company phone, Etc...
But the pay was way too low.
 
Zeldman said:
Pay.

It was a family owned company and everyone was treated well. No complaints there. 2 week paid vacation a year, 100% medical, vision and dental, company phone, Etc...
But the pay was way too low.
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But the guy found 12K each when everyone started to bail...
 
My GM just texted me asking for the name of the company I am going to. Says the VP will want to know. What do?
 
overdrive148 said:
My GM just texted me asking for the name of the company I am going to. Says the VP will want to know. What do?
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That would make me a little uncomfortable. I mean, they're not a competitor, but still, why would the VP want to know?
 
paflyer said:
But the guy found 12K each when everyone started to bail...
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Yep. For 9 pilots. 9000 per month increase in pay roll. 108000 per year less going into the families pockets. Only two pilots left, and they were time builders that had airline ambitions so no problem there.

Still, the owner would let me take the 310 and go back to Texas to visit my mom a couple weekends per year. And use the company credit card to pay for gas. Perks were good.
 
overdrive148 said:
My GM just texted me asking for the name of the company I am going to. Says the VP will want to know. What do?
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Valid concerns. "I'd rather not say until stuff is finalized." Then you decide if and when things are "finalized".

Nauga,
who might or might not be paranoid
 
...or "Vivid Video"

Nauga,
who keeps them wondering
 
Wow. This sounds like a great job. When you've been on it a bit, love to hear about what it's like. Getting paid to fly without having to be in the weather. :)
 
falconkidding said:
.....you have to go get a new job for more money...
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This x's a million, for all you youngsters out there. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

EDIT: that doesn't mean u shouldn't give your current employer a chance, just don't hold your breath.
 
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I just texted him back saying "No offense, but I'd like to keep that information private". Thought about adding "for now" but the last thing I want during the exit interview is pressure to tell them. Secretly I suck at conflict and even just asking for more money from the new company was harrowing enough (first time I've ever had the option to ask for more).
 
Exit interview?
I say take a boombox, play that song, start dancing like the video.

Do a mic drop and then:

images
 
Just got out of the exit interview.

I brought up a list of things that I thought could be of use to the company as well as things that the company did well while I was there. The interview was only with the HR guy instead of my boss and the GM etc. So yeah. He seemed very interested and thanked me for my time (2.5 hours almost) full of examples and observations. I am pretty glad I at least gave them input. I don't have any super hard feelings against the place.

I am also eligible for re-hire so I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
 
overdrive148 said:
I am also eligible for re-hire so I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
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But keep in mind, if you return, you will have more experience.... ergo, you're worth more ...
 
eman1200 said:
This x's a million, for all you youngsters out there. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

EDIT: that doesn't mean u shouldn't give your current employer a chance, just don't hold your breath.
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In my industry the only people I see who remain stagnant are the ones who just show up, watch the clock and leave after 8. The ones that do personal/professional development activities and look to create their own opportunities fair much better. By opportunities I mean create business growth for whatever organization they're a part of. Either increasing revenues or decreasing costs are the main two levers that need pulled.
 
Congrats on the new job. I have a friend that has done the UAV/UAS for many years now, he always loved it, even when he was in Iraq...
 
overdrive148 said:
I am also eligible for re-hire so I got that goin' for me, which is nice.
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It doesn't mean that they would hire you back. It just means that if one of the five companies you are going to work for in the next 3 years calls, they will say 'he is eligible for re-hire'.

Oh, and your exit interview with the HR guy. You could have made those suggestions to a plant or the soda machine and it would have the same effect.
 
AggieMike88 said:
+1 to this. It can be a chance to provide (constructive) criticism to the employer, but often, it isn't a productive use of your time.

If returning company owned items and/or rental uniforms, ask for a documented inventory of what you turned in that is signed by the employer. This way they can't try to chase you down for an item that was turned in.
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Better yet, you write up the inventory, bring 2 copies, have HR or a MGR sign both, you sign both, each gets a copy. BTDT.
 
Zeldman said:
I should not say this, I am sure I will get flamed in more than one way.

I was working for a company. Turnover went from normal to almost every pilot was leaving within a 60 day period. I did not want to leave. The company treated pilots very well. I really liked where I was living. It was a money thing.

The boss, also known as the owner, called the pilots in one day. He said who ever stays will bet a $12,000/yr raise. I stayed.

Good luck with the new job. Sounds like some interesting opportunities may be in your future.

When I leave a job, I work until the final moment. Though I did leave a few jobs and tossed a burning match over my shoulder as I crossed the bridge leading out.
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My standard exit email is titled "So long, and thanks for all the fish"
 
jsstevens said:
If you can provide some constructive feedback without making it adversarial I would. I have in fact. But otherwise just stay professional and thank them for the opportunity.
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Don't bother with the feedback, they really don't care. They just want to make sure you're not publicly hostile to the company. My last exit interview consisted of returning the badge, at which point the security officer very "quietly" commented that I was making an excellent decision leaving the worst program in the company.
 
murphey said:
Don't bother with the feedback, they really don't care. They just want to make sure you're not publicly hostile to the company. My last exit interview consisted of returning the badge, at which point the security officer very "quietly" commented that I was making an excellent decision leaving the worst program in the company.
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I don't get why people make these kinds of blanket statements. One place I left I spent about an hour with the personnel lady (before HR was a thing) describing good and bad things and how they could be improved. I got a call from the VP who drove to the other side of town where I was now working, took me to lunch and asked quite a number of good questions about things I'd mentioned in the exit interview. I'm pretty sure that wasn't to "make sure I wasn't publicly hostile" (I'd made that clear anyway.)

I've done a few exit interviews myself and I'd like the feedback. I stand by make it constructive not adversarial and if they don't seem interested shut up and don't waste their or your time.

John
 
Two and a half hours? That's nuts!

I thought you were working at an FBO? How long did the hiring interview(s) take?

My resignation letters have always covered two items. One is that I'm leaving, second is the exit plan. I offer to stay until X date and give them the option to choose another date, no later than y. Once I was not on an active project so they said I could leave that day, which worked out great.

I would not advise writing anything, or saying anything in an official setting, for any reason. Sure, if you're tight with boss you can tell him over a beer on your last day... but someone dictating on to an HR form is not the place for sharing.
 
overdrive148 said:
  • I made a new position, designed it and made the SOPs for it, was told I'd be management for it and I'd be the one pioneering it, and then other people were assigned to it.
  • Lots of problems and turnover despite a rah-rah speech about we're the "best crew they've ever had and they're not just saying that" and "we want people to stay" and "you are the company".
  • it's been a draining experience with a lot of issues that everyone has but no one wants to talk about out of fear they'll get fired.
  • There are a lot of problems and I genuinely want to help them get fixed. Management doesn't know or look enough underneath them to recognize issues and when they are brought up they are met with negativity. Know it all kind of attitudes. At one point the word "fear based management" was used.
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It's creeping me out how much this sounds like my previous job. I felt exactly like you did and went into the exit interview hoping to give constructive feedback. I realized 2 minutes in that the boss wasn't listening and was just being defensive about everything and not taking anything I said seriously (that place was bleeding staff and everyone left for the same reasons, but he just thought everyone was too sensitive to the "changes" he thought he was implementing). So I clammed up and got out as quickly as I could.

It's probably good that the HR person did yours, as they might be more personally/professionally invested in keeping employees happy and mentally/professionally engaged. They don't have any reason to be defensive like some bosses might.

Good on you for busting out of there, and congrats on your new position! It sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!
 
Exit interviews:

Anything safety related was already documented in writing long ago. If it hasn't been fixed I ask the HR person if they'd like copies and feign surprise that the manager didn't already contact them about it if they don't seem to already know. If it was going to lead to ambulances and dead bodies, I would have already visited HR a long long time ago. So even this stuff would be minor.

Anything culture, process, or procedure related that I disagreed with I keep to myself. It's their company and my rate for management consulting is a lot higher than they're paying me to sit through the exit interview.

And nothing good can come of it for me. Any misunderstanding leads to problems for me, not them. Nothing to misunderstand if I say nothing at all.

Lots of good could come of it for them, but they never bothered to ask or they hired a manager who would ignore suggestions, and they're not likely to fire a BS artist, closed off or just plain clueless manager, over an employee leaving.

Heck I worked for a place that drove off just under 30 IT people in less than a year once after they were acquired by someone else.

None of the exit interviews changed anything and I was number 28 out the door.

Politely say you're moving on to another opportunity and get those words "eligible for rehire" even though you'll probably never look back, and walk out the door.

2.5 hour exit interview? No way. Maybe an hour with the old boss if they're a "good guy" and know about the problems that caused you to search for something else to do with your days.

The worst I've ever said to an HR person was, "I had an hour long meeting with so-and-so my boss over this, and he's going to talk to you guys about the things he thinks are worth changing. He wants this to be a positive change for the company."

That kinda leaves them with nothing else to ask, since they're not going to admit if they have a communications gap between front line managers and HR or upper management.

And if they do, they already know it anyway and aren't going to tell you that.

2.5 hours of free consulting to fix problems already brought up to those they hired to lead and deal with such things as leaders? Not a chance in hell.

Let's do the paperwork and I'm out of here.

Something to think about for your next one. Anything you told HR you'd already told the boss and he didn't address it. Their leadership problem isn't yours and you gain nothing and can only harm yourself or their image of you if they misconstrue constructive criticism as "complaining".

This assumes of course that you're a normal employee who has communicated issues properly all along, which most of us are and do. And if you were clamming up to save your job until you could find something else, well... they've got a culture problem so massive you're not fixing it with an exit interview.

I think you felt intimidated by the boss asking why, but if you already told him why while you were on the job, then he's feigning ignorance or wasn't listening anyway. A lesson for him or her to pay attention to what their staff says. You only look as good as your worst employee when you're in a leadership role. When one you gave a stellar interview walks out, it should NOT be a surprise unless they simply weren't communicating with you as the boss, and that's STILL on you as their boss. Huge wake up call for any manager. Either you're leading and listening, or you're going to have problems like your best staff member quitting because they told you what the problems were and you didn't listen.

The only exception to that is pay scales. A great many staff are terrified to tell bosses they're underpaying for the job. That's one management and HR have to stay on top of and communicate hard toward the employee if they're trying to fix it. Otherwise, underpaying is always a silent killer. People will look for a new job and won't believe you when you say you were trying to get them more pay or you can do it "now" you just didn't know they wanted it. Leadership always comes off looking bad on that one, and we know it. Losing a good staff member over a couple of bucks an hour is really really stupid.

That's all I've got. Lengthy exit interviews? No. Don't do them. Not in your best interests. Be prepared to point HR toward the boss who's job it is to already know and make it clear you briefed them. Out.
 
I'm in agreement with Nate when it comes to exit interviews. Instead of what can be fixed, let's deal with the return of any company property (keys, portable electronics, etc) and the paperwork that deals with any benefits and required notifications state/fed agencies. Keep it 20-30 minutes maximum so both sides can move on with minimal drama.
 
Exit interview? No. It's not your company any more and future improvements have stopped being your problem. Smile, shake hands and get out.
 
Well, today was my last day. Surprisingly the GM has been trying to make up for the things I noted to the HR manager (employee of the month for the last 2 months was done yesterday and the GM is admittedly trying to at least look like he cares). There is also talk of the company going to double time instead of 1.5x for overtime for call-in's all of a sudden. Its a start. Thanks for all the advice by the way.

ZvL1NLn.jpg

I guess they liked me a bit. Can't remember the last time anyone got cake without a birthday!

So now I have my flight review tomorrow morning bright and early and then training starts on the 4th. Still nervous!
 
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Is that an ice cream cake? If so, you must be an awesome employee!
 
And yet he does not share his ice cream cake with the rest of us.....:lol::lol::lol:

Good luck on the new job. And keep us informed on the training..!!
 
Zeldman said:
And yet he does not share his ice cream cake with the rest of us.....:lol::lol::lol:

Good luck on the new job. And keep us informed on the training..!!
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He sent us a picture. Online, that's sharing.
 
At our company, the exit interviews are conducted by HR and then shared with the executive team. They are reviewed, and they are discussed. This tone is set by the CEO who personally reads them and follows-up on issues. They have been helpful to me to identify issues that are occurring two or three levels removed from me that I am unaware of. These are typically the kinds of issues that in and of themselves are not what caused the person to exit. Rather they were annoyances that we can work to address in the future. However, sometimes we did just screw up.
 
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