They sit you in a room. HR. Maybe a form. “What could we have done better?”
Everything about the exit interview is designed to feel like they care while generating exactly zero accountability. Your answers go in a file. The file goes in a drawer. The drawer goes nowhere.
The exit interview is the suggestion box for people who are already gone. You can be honest — finally, you can be completely honest — and it won’t change a single thing. The person asking the questions doesn’t have the power to fix anything. The people who do will never read your answers.
It’s designed to make you feel heard on the way out so you don’t say anything on the way in to your next job.