If you are planning on leaving your job, here are some tips for resigning effectively.
You've decided that it's time to look for greener pastures with another company. After spending some time looking for a new job and finally getting a job offer in hand, it's time to resign from your current job, but how can you leave without burning bridges? Making a graceful exit from a job shows that you are a professional and it allows you to move forward in your career without losing a good reference.
When you leave a job, you don't want to ever leave on bad terms, if you can help it. Even if you hate your boss and want to tell them exactly what you think before you leave, it's always a really bad idea. You never know when you are going need the contacts that you have created at your job, and what's more, you never know when you may have to work with those same people down the line. Don't ruin your professional reputation by bragging to co-workers about your new opportunity or making a childish scene.
Here are some tips for leaving your job gracefully:
- Give sufficient notice – The standard amount of notice when you are leaving a job is two to four weeks. Before giving your notice, read over your company's employee handbook to see what their policy is about employee resignation. This way, you can plan exactly how long it will take before you are able to begin working at your new job.
- Negotiate a settlement – Make sure that the payroll department's records match your records as far as compensation for any outstanding vacation time, bonuses or any other payments. If you wait until after you leave to address a problem, resolving it can take much longer.
- Offer to train your replacement – Offer to help in any way you can to find and train your replacement. If your employer takes you up on that offer, be sure to do everything you can to make sure that the new employee has all the tools to succeed at the job. Don't view them as competition.
- Don't slack up before you leave – After you give notice, don't stop working. Often, once someone submits their resignation they start slacking and spending their remaining time causing conflict or just not doing their job.
- Complete any outstanding projects – Don't leave any work undone when you move on. Try to complete any outstanding projects or reports and be sure to leave detailed notes about everything you have in the works for your co-workers. They will appreciate not being left in the lurch.
- Get contact information before you leave – Before you leave for the last time, make sure that you have updated contact information for your boss and your co-workers. This will make it easier to add them to your professional and personal networks.
When you leave your job for a new opportunity, try hard to let go of any anger or resentment you might have for your boss, the company or your co-workers. When you let it go, you can continue to have a professional relationship with these people and you'll be able to wish them well, and actually mean it.
What do you think is the most important thing when you are leaving a job? Let me know in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManhattanJobsBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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