(单词翻译:单击)
The bottom line is, you never know. You can be denied a reference or unnecessarily complicate the paperwork related to your stock options and pension plan. Or you could miss a chance to turn a former employer into a client.
关键是，这样做的结果难以预料。公司可能会拒绝给你写推荐信，或者故意把你股票期权和养老金计划的相关文书工作变得复杂。你还可能会失去把前雇主变成客户的机会。
Your columnist, a guest Bartleby, has no immediate plans to leave her current job. But if she ever did, and was asked to participate in an exit interview, she would agree to do so--and would advise you to do the same.
本文的专栏作者是巴托比专栏的客座作家，她目前还没有离职的计划。但如果她打算辞职，并被邀请参加离职谈话，她会欣然接受，并且建议你也这样做。
As in any break-up, the one with an employer involves dealing with elusive concepts such as decorum ("It's not you, it's me") or closure ("Thank you for everything").
和任何分手场景一样，在离职谈话时员工和雇主也会说一些语义含混的客套话（"不是您的问题，是我自己的问题"）或结束语（"谢谢您所做的一切"）。
It is also transactional. As such, it pays not to be too candid. Whether the process happens over the phone, on Zoom, in person or in an online form, refrain from speaking your mind too freely.
这些话都是礼尚往来，所以最好不要太过坦率。无论是通过电话、Zoom会议、面谈还是在线表格进行离职谈话，都不要太随意地说出你的想法。
It is better to be excited about your new chapter than to unleash vitriol on colleagues who were unkind or censorious over the years. Being too diplomatic is safer, unless it devolves into insincere platitudes.
与其在背后抨击这些年对你不甚友善或吹毛求疵的同事，不如说说对自己新工作的期待。保持外交客套是安全之策，除非它变成不真诚的陈词滥调。
"This place is toxic" is bad; "the thing I admire about the leadership team is their long-term vision" may be worse. To strike the right balance it is useful to think of the exit interview as a performance appraisal in reverse.
吐槽"这个地方害人不浅"不好；恭维"领导团队的长远眼光令我钦佩"可能更糟。要想恰到好处，你需要将离职谈话视为一种反向绩效评估。
Outlining what you enjoyed most about the place (the pay, the camaraderie or the coffee) is a good place to start. Explaining what drew you to another employer can be particularly instructive.
大概说出你最喜欢公司的地方（工资、同事情谊或咖啡）是个很好的切入点。向公司解释自己为什么去了其他地方尤其有启发性。
Gentle suggestions about what you would improve are fair game. Always remember that notes from the interview are official documentation that can be reviewed. Whatever you do, do not post rude comments about your former employer on social media.
给公司提出一些委婉的改进建议也很合理。一定要记住，离职谈话的内容会被正式记录留存。无论你做什么，都不要在社交媒体上说前任老板的坏话。
In his book "Liar's Poker", Michael Lewis tells the story of a senior trader quitting Salomon Brothers after being offered much more money by Goldman Sachs.
迈克尔·刘易斯在他的《说谎者的扑克牌》一书中讲述了这么一个故事：所罗门兄弟公司的一位资深交易员被高盛集团以高价挖走。
His managers pleaded for him to stay, invoking loyalty to the firm; the trader retorted that if they wanted loyalty they should have hired a cocker spaniel. But a good exit interview should be about mutual graciousness when neither party has anything else to lose.
这位交易员的领导恳请他留下来，希望他能继续效忠公司；但这名交易员反驳道，如果他们想要忠诚，当初就应该雇一只可卡犬。一场好的离职谈话应该是在惠及双方的情况下进行友好交谈。
For an employee to deny such a conference shows pettiness and resentment. For a good company it is one last chance to leave a good impression. If you decide to part ways, why not do so on amicable terms?
对于一名员工来说，拒绝参加这样的离职谈话只会显得自己小肚鸡肠、心怀愤懑。而对于一家好公司来说，这是最后一个给人留下好印象的机会。如果你已经决定和公司分道扬镳，为什么不好聚好散呢？
