Career Guidance: Do's and Don'ts of Quitting Your Job

Your career is your most valuable financial asset and managing it correctly can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime. Doing so sometimes requires you to move from one job to the next. And when you do so, there are some right ways and wrong ways to leave your former employers. Here are suggestions in managing your career when going from one job to the next from Career Builder. First, the do's:

• Do use professionalism and courtesy in announcing your intention to leave the company.
• Do write a professional letter of resignation.
• Do finish the job.
• Do offer to train your replacement if time permits.
• Do use your exit interview time wisely.

My thoughts on these:

1. Yes, of course. Always be professional and courteous. Also realize that it's likely that you're dropping a bomb on your employer, so be prepared to be sympathetic (as much as you can -- maybe you're enjoying it too much to sympathize). ;-)

2.  I've never written a letter of resignation and people who've given me one seem way too self-important. I simply tell my boss and follow up with an email (informally) and prefer the same be done to me if one of my direct reports leaves.

3. Finish what you can, but don't feel obligated to go far above and beyond the call of duty. It's likely that the company will want you to start transitioning immediately, so work to help your replacement get up to speed and let him or her take over for you.

4. As long as you give two weeks notice (which I recommend), you should have time to pass your work to someone else.

5. Offer constructive ideas/thoughts at your exit interview. Don't turn it into a gripe session or much of what you say will be discounted.

Now for the don'ts:

• Don't do it at the last minute.
• Don't badmouth the company.
• Don't leave your desk or office in disarray.
• Don't send boastful or sobbing farewell e-mails.

My thoughts on these:

1. I think two weeks notice is fine. In most cases, your new employer will want you to start as soon as possible and your old employer will want you to stay as long as possible. You have to balance the two, and two weeks seems like a good compromise. Don't be forced into longer by your old employer if you don't want to be. Two weeks is plenty of time for them to transition in most cases.

2. Don't burn bridges by badmouthing the company, your boss, employees, etc. The working world is very small and you never know what could come back to haunt you.

3. Cleaning up your desk should be fun. It consists of handing all your files to someone else to work on. ;-)

4. Don't rub it in. Yes, you can share your joy with others, but do it in a way that benefits everyone, not makes those staying behind feel bad.

Career Builder ends with some advice that I just had to include:

Remember: Leaving with class and grace will never come back to haunt you. Exiting on a sour note can.

Comments

[DeAnn Rossetti]

I agree that it's important to do all of the above, but I also think if it's obvious that you were pushed out by someone who made your life miserable that you need to let someone know that before you leave. It's been my experience that the person who is making you miserable is probably also poisoning the well for others. My husband left a job and discovered he was the 6th person to leave because of a bad supervisor. After I left, the bad manager who made me miserable also made the editor of the paper miserable enough to leave. There are just some people who shouldn't be in management as they are awful with people, and HR departments need to know this. Just my opinion, of course.

[FMF]

DeAnn -- I wouldn't disagree with you. I think it all depends on the manner in which you present it. If you're calm, professional, and can site facts/examples, then by all means it's ok to be honest and let the company know why you're leaving. This said, you also need to consider whether or not you'll ever need help from the person (or his friends) you're talking about. It may come back to bite you in the end.

No matter what happens, though, it's never good to be vindictive, overly emotional, or attempting to get even. These attempts will be seen through and you'll burn bridges with both the person you report as well as the company itself.

[Nick]

Don't send boastful or sobbing farewell e-mails.

I need to forward this one to our whole company. It's such a drama production around here when someone leaves.

[Grant]

Great topic!

There's one thing I'd like to add about an official resignation letter: It's official and it's a hard copy. You spell out your exact intentions, when your last day will be, whether or not you'd like a copy of your personnel file, and a bit of gratitude for giving you the oportunity.

This kind of stuff can be lost in an email, or misunderstood in a phone conversation. In a day when it's easy to fire off an email, it's also a bit more personal and professional.

Another point: Take advantage of the exit interview, but offer up constructive criticism. Don't just tell your boss he sucks and then walk out. If you're quiting because of personality issues, you may not be the first, and unless you tell someone, you will not be the last.

In a time when switching jobs is quite easy and common, most companies are trying to create incentive to keep people around, and they truely hate to lose good people. If they're worth working for, they'll want to have an honest reason why you quit.

It also helps if your exit interview is conducted by someone other than your direct superior...

-Grant
www.TheCornerOfficeBlog.com

[rei]

I partly disagree about the sending out sobbing emails. I don't think it is a bad idea as long as you tone it down and let people know that you just decide to move on and appreciate everything. Leave your contact info should anyone want to get in touch. That way if anyone wanted to get in touch maybe regarding another job opening somewhere else, they can get to you.

[Matt]

Weird. Maybe it's just the industry I'm in, but I've never been asked to stay longer than I offered to, and only once was I even taken up on my offer of two weeks. More typically, the response is "thanks for the offer, but if you're going to leave we'd like you to be out of the building within 15 minutes, and we'll be having someone watch while you pack up your personal effects". And I'm not talking just about companies that I left on bad terms. One job that I loved, which I still give as a reference, and which I only left because I was moving out of state, still did the same routine. Company policy.

And actually, the one company that _did_ take me up on the offer to stay two weeks, was also the one where I'd at one point been manager (and eventually sole survivor) of the satellite office, before they finally closed it completely and moved me to their new headquarters.