Situation change: Leaving your job
People look for a new job for many reasons – not feeling challenged enough in their current position; feeling undervalued, overworked or underpaid; being made redundant in tough times, and so on.
Whatever the reason, whether it’s forced on you or is your own choice, it’s important to have the right knowledge and advice to hand to help you through the process of finding a new job.
Managing your resignation
If you feel your role or workplace doesn’t suit you or provide you with enough challenge, and you’ve decided to find another job or take some time out, it’s important to handle your resignation with dignity.
Guidelines
How you manage your resignation can affect the reference your employer gives to future employers. Adhering to some resignation etiquette should make the daunting prospect of announcing your imminent departure a lot easier.
Etiquette
- Inform your manager, as soon as you can
- Communicate your intention to resign in a letter
The resignation process
The resignation process will only begin once you’ve written your letter of resignation, which is in effect a legal notice of your intention to resign.
The next stage in the process is uncertain. How will you and others deal with your decision? How will your peers and superiors treat you during your notice period?
You may wonder about how you will feel if you’re asked to stay on in the company. Or, indeed, how you will feel if you’re not asked to stay on. It’s also natural to think about the friends you’ve made that you won’t be seeing day-to-day any more.
Finding the right time to hand in your notice
There’s no ideal time or way to hand in your notice. Here are some guidelines to ensure all goes as smoothly as possible:
- Be discreet. Don’t tell your colleagues before your manager. Let your manager decide who to tell next and when to make your decision public.
- Choose an appropriate time to tell your manager, ideally not before an important client meeting or at a particularly busy time of the day.
- Know your reasons for leaving and, if necessary, practise giving them.
- Your manager may be shocked or angry; be prepared for a bad reaction.
- Remember you’re within your rights not to reveal what company you’re moving to.
- Explain that you’re willing to take an active part in the handover process.
- Stand firm with your decision.