As the Great Resignation continues, many employers are starting to wonder what they can do to keep more people from leaving. Enter the “stay interview.”
Don’t worry — this isn’t an interview where employees have to make a case for why they should stay in their jobs. Rather, it’s about employers learning what experiences, benefits, and compensation will help them retain the people that they hope to keep on their teams.
To learn more about stay interviews and how you can use them as a time to negotiate for what you want, I reached out to Lily Valentin, Head of Operations for North America at the job posting search engine Adzuna.
Here’s what she had to say:
1.First of all, stay interviews are generally more informal than, say, a job interview.
Don’t worry — this isn’t an interview where employees have to make a case for why they should stay in their jobs. Rather, it’s about employers learning what experiences, benefits, and compensation will help them retain the people that they hope to keep on their teams.
Valentin says that these types of interviews tend to be a bit more casual, so you don’t need to freak out or get extra dressed up if your boss schedules a stay interview with you. “The conversation focuses on what is motivating an employee to stay, what they enjoy about their current position, what would improve their work experience, and their career development goals within the organization.”
“Though this can seem nerve-racking at first, the stay interview is an opportunity for every employee to share how they have been feeling, what they are enjoying about the company, and what can be done to keep them from looking elsewhere if they’re on the fence about their future.”
2.In fact, getting invited to a stay interview can actually be a really great sign that your boss wants to keep you around.
Being invited to a stay interview is pretty positive — it means that your boss recognizes your contributions and likely doesn’t want to lose you. “At a time when employees aren’t short of choice, knowing their current employer cares about their experience, work situation, professional ambitions, and is eager to address any challenges, makes all the difference,” Valentin says.
3.So what kinds of questions can you expect to be asked in a stay interview?
A stay interview can cover a lot of ground. Valentin provided a list of some sample questions that you might get from your employer:
• How are you feeling in your role?
• What motivates you to “come in’ to work/log on every day?
• What are some of the challenges you’re facing that prevent you from delivering your best outputs, and what do you think the team and company can do to alleviate these challenges?
• Are you able to find a positive work-life balance, and if not, what can we do to help?
• Is there anything you really don’t enjoy working on, and is there anything you are looking to work on more?
• What are your longer-term career aspirations?
4.And unlike a job interview, you can actually ask to see stay interview questions in advance and prepare your answers.
When it comes to stay interviews, Valentin says that it can be really helpful to ask for the questions in advance and prepare your answers. “A great way to ensure there is no miscommunication on the objectives is to ask what questions will be asked in advance and have bullet points for each one. This is especially important if your chat is with a member of the executive team or even the CEO.
Read the complete article originally posted on Yahoo! Life
