If you’re not happy with your job and you’ve successfully explored other options and have decided to resign from your current employment, here are a few tips and suggestions on how to appropriately terminate your current position.
First of all, no matter what your job satisfaction level is, if you intend on quitting your job, you should extend the courtesy of giving your employer at least two weeks of working notice. In fact, if you can give more, you should.
Depending upon the timing of your leaving and the position that you’re in, you should offer to stay until a replacement is found for your position.
When your decision is finalized and it comes time to give your notice, you will want to do this in person and certainly not over the phone or via email.
If you occupy a higher level position, you should type out a more formal resignation notice and sign it to give to management. In your resignation letter you will always want to take the high road no matter the circumstances of your resignation. Include verbiage that thanks the employer and company for the opportunities over the past and such.
Even if the circumstances surrounding your resignation are less than ideal, it never does you any good to spit venom or otherwise deride your employer… never burn your employment bridges. This type of behavior may some day come back to haunt you. During the period that you are working out your notice always interact with everyone in a positive manner and don’t get caught into any trap of negative conversation about your supervisor or the company… always be pleasant and professional during your lame duck time.
As your last day approaches make sure that you have all your personal belongings organized and packed up. Be sure to make everything as smooth as possible with the Human Resources department by making sure you have checked back in any and all company property that was assigned to you and any paperwork that may be required.
The key to the whole resignation process is to remember that you may one day want to use this employer or company as a reference, so model your resignation behavior accordingly.
Use your best judgment for the give situation and circumstance and always act professionally regardless of the situation or environment and you’ll be able to quickly and successfully move forward with the next exciting challenges ahead of you.
