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HR EDGE OS

Keep Your Best People: Questions to Ask

Ask before the resignation letter, not after.

The setup (say this first)

  • “This isn't a review. Nothing here goes in a file. I want to know what keeps you here and what would make you leave, so I can act on it.”

The questions

  • What do you look forward to when you come to work?
  • What would make you start taking recruiter calls?
  • When was the last time you thought about leaving — and what triggered it?
  • What talent do you have that we're not using?
  • What did you love at a previous job that you don't have here?
  • If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?

After the conversation

  • Pick ONE thing they said and act on it within two weeks
  • Tell them what you did — connect the action to the conversation
  • The one thing I'm acting on: