The exit statement

Hopefully you’ll never need one. But if you do, I’ve had some practice…

What is it? It’s what you say to explain a layoff, so it’s important to have a strong one. If you need to write one, here’s some guidance. Do this before your interview. Draft it out, revise it, and at least memorize the key themes and flow. You don’t have to learn it word for word. But you want to be confident in your delivery at what is typically one of the most stressful moments in an interview.

A good exit statement includes 3 topics that flow together:

1️⃣ The big thing that happened outside the organization 

2️⃣ The resulting big thing that happened inside the organization

3️⃣ The resulting layoff

Short and sweet is good, 50-75 words. For example:

"𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳8 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 30%. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘺 15%, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧."

And then shut-up. That’s all you need to say. Don’t wonder out loud why they picked you, or offer that you thought the company handled it badly, or that you didn’t like your boss much anyway….None of that helps. It’s a simple statement of facts, 1, 2, 3. And the ball is back in the interviewers court.

Use the button at the top of the page if you want to have a quick no-cost chat about your exit statement.