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If you’ve been working with your IT recruiters to find a new position, the last step of your transition won’t be giving your notice.  Employers often want to conduct an exit interview before you leave.  These may seem like a time to vent with impunity, but the truth is that you could do some serious damage to your reputation if you handle one badly.  Here are a few tips that IT staffing firms suggest following as you go through exit interviews.

1. Approach an exit interview as seriously as you do a job interview.  Just like you would in a job interview, IT recruiting companies suggest you be professional, keep things positive, and be cooperative.  Especially with all the back-door references that LinkedIn enables, it’s important to perform exit interviews as the kind of IT professional you to be known as.  Check your emotions at the door, even if it’s tempting not to.  You never know if your words will make it back to other’s ears and burn bridges for you. (Some technical recruiters suggest venting to a trusted friend or family member before the exit interview so you get it out of your system.)

2. This isn’t a time to improve the company or give much feedback.  Even if exit interviews are sometimes presented this way, it’s often pretty ineffective to share criticism about an employer.  In fact, IT staffing agencies find that doing this will usually just hurt you.  If you’re leaving to seek out IT jobs that pay more, have a better work culture, let you do more interesting work, etc, now isn’t the time to say it.  The best time to ask for a raise, to give feedback about the workplace, or to ask for more interesting projects, was when you were actually an employee.  It’s often just going to be viewed as a slight if you detail all the reasons why you worked with IT recruiting agencies to get out of your current employer.  And as mentioned above, it’s always a bad idea to slight people.  You might unwittingly be burning an important bridge you need in the future.

3. Leave your future employer out of it.  Your IT staffing companies wouldn’t suggest you spend much time talking about how excited you are to join your new employer.  Even if you don’t mean to, people may assume you’re belittling your soon-to-be employer by comparison.

4. Lastly, try to say a few positive things about your soon-to-be ex employer before you go.  While it’s not helpful to say something that feels fake or forced, you can probably find one or two positive things to genuinely note.  Perhaps you had the opportunity to learn more about a new technology, or got to work on an interesting project.  Taking a moment to mention these things you’re grateful for will make you look professional and gracious.