Dear Bob ...I've been out of work for 7 months, now, and I'm wondering whether it is because I did something I thought was reasonable and moral.Just before I was about to leave, I found out that our IT Manager had been slipped in by the Supreme Court. OK, not really but...There were two people in the department when I joined the agency. A senior member who had been there early on (about 5 years) and had run most Dear Bob …I’ve been out of work for 7 months, now, and I’m wondering whether it is because I did something I thought was reasonable and moral.Just before I was about to leave, I found out that our IT Manager had been slipped in by the Supreme Court. OK, not really but… There were two people in the department when I joined the agency. A senior member who had been there early on (about 5 years) and had run most of the cabling, etc., and another guy who had been there about two years. The later was the pushy type, the former, just got the job done.Upper levels thought that we needed an IT Manager as they wanted to move the current person, who carried the Quality Management title, upstairs with them.They posted the job, as required by law I’m sure, one day before the senior guy went on vacation for 2 weeks, and closed it before he got back. The newer guy got the job, of course. When I wrote my bye-bye letter I mentioned this as one of several problems that I had seen.My exit interview was done by the Manager’s boss, who was quite indignant as he had been the one to set this up. “It was perfectly legal, he just didn’t see the posting”. Of course, if you’re not looking for a job, you don’t check that stuff often.He’s the sort who thinks he is above everyone. I thought that the deal was “immoral”. Anyway, after he had retired, I applied for a couple of jobs there, including one as specialist on a particular piece of software that I knew quite well.Never heard a thing.Your thoughts? – Exit interviewedDear Exited …It very well could be that your former employer’s lack of interest in your services is connected to your exit interview. So the answer to your question is yes. This goes back to a piece of advice I’ve given before: When it comes to honesty in an exit interview, the personal risk greatly exceeds the personal payoff. This can be proved mathematically. The personal payoff almost always has a financial value of $0.00. The risk of personal harm from being honest is greater than 0%. The value of the personal harm experienced should the risk turn into actual events is significantly greater than $0.00 (it might be the reason you’ve been out of work for seven months).Therefore, the expected value of the risk is greater than $0.00 while the potential benefit is $0.00. The costs exceed the benefits.There are exceptions, of course. If you genuinely like and trust the company you’re leaving and the people who work there, have comments that are constructive in nature rather than critical and issue-based rather than being about individuals, then there is some potential benefit to you in the form of leaving good feelings behind you. That clearly wasn’t the case in your exit interview. You criticized the actions of an individual. No matter what other result came from your doing so, you probably branded yourself a troublemaker. Now it’s coming back to haunt you.– BobPowered by ScribeFire. Technology Industry