How To Quit A Job?

Christoph Puetz

Leaving a job is often a difficult step. Sure, there is the
exciting opportunity to do something different, but if have
been with an employer for over a year this can become an
emotional step. People leave jobs for various reasons. The old
job might just plain and simple suck. The pay is lousy and the
boss is behaving like a dictator of a 3rd world country. Or the
job might be target of outsourcing and the employee is
pro-active by looking for his/her own way out. Or the job is a
dead end. No opportunity and the daily routine is boring. It
could also be that the immediate co-workers and managers are
just not as nice and that there is no great work relationship
that makes the employee to love to go to work. A not so
exciting job can still be a great place to work if you have
great co-workers and managers around. Work is about money, but
the socializing part is important, too.

We're not trying to get into the reasons for leaving a job here
for the matter of this article. However - we want to concentrate
on the actual part of resigning from a job. And again - there
are several different ways of leaving a job. If you absolutely
do not care about your old job you could just leave but this
step can have severe impact on your career down the road. Keep
in mind that employers like to check the places you worked at
before they want to hire you. These sins of the past might come
back and hurt your reputation. "Oh, he left that job without any
notice. What if he does the same thing to me?" - This could be
just one thought a new employer might have. Depending on the
job a one week or two week notice should be given. In some
cases 3-4 weeks can be appropriate. As higher you get up in the
ranks this might be the way to go. An executive leaving a
company without taking care of a proper transition might hurt
himself if the company gets into problems afterwards and this
becomes public knowledge. Treat the employer fair and do not
burn any bridges. In the long run this will be the best
decision an employee can make.

When resigning you should be prepared to avoid unnecessary
stress. In most cases resigning is a stressful event. A well
prepared employee can take some stress out of this big step
with proper planning. Write a 2 or 3 line letter of
resignation. Nothing fancy. Try not to explain why you leave.
Just state that you are resigning from your position and let
the company know what your last day at work will be. Sign the
letter and hand it to the manager you are resigning to. Do not
just turn over the letter and walk away. Say that you are
resigning and then hand over the letter of resignation. Be
prepared to answer questions why you are leaving. Do not make
up things. Prepare a quick list of pain points if needed. You
might even help your co-workers by giving constructive feedback
about certain situations and problems. I personally recommend
never to mention the word money as the main reason of leaving.
If things come down to money if often gets dirty.

Eventually be prepared for an immediate counter-offer during
your resignation. Some companies try to fix the problem of an
employee leaving by throwing more money at him/her. Or they
want to buy time and pretend giving you more money. They give
you more money but work on your replacement at the same time.
Things might also work out Ok for a while but when the going
gets tough and it comes to layoffs the guy who took the
counter-offer might be one of the first ones to be let go
because of the cost factor. I see only one situation when it
can be good or Ok to accept a counter-offer. Say you are
leaving because of the work environment and you are able to
point out problems and issues. Some employers are blind about
these things and just don't realize how employees feel about
certain things. Suddenly a good employees leaves and the issue
comes to the surface. Some employers are willing to fix the
issue and these are rare situations a counter-offer can be
accepted. Still - the employee has to carefully evaluate the
situation. It is important to know who you are dealing with
from a personal side. Can you trust the employer?

Sometimes a counter-offer can come up during the last few days
at a company or shortly after the last day. We have seen cases
when counter-offers were made within 60-70 days after the
employee left. These situations are not good. I highly
recommend not to accept such a counter-offer no matter how
tempting the offer is. The employee has to keep in mind that
he/she already left. This mark will always stick. One day the
employer might be in a different situation and has to decide
who to let go first. Will it be the loyal employee who is with
the company for 8 years or is it the "Gung-Ho" who left just to
be lured back by money and who eventually leaves again if the
next employer is willing to hand out even more cash? Make a bet
....

These are just a few things to keep in mind when thinking about
resigning from a position. Be prepared. Be strong. Change can be
very good for your career.