The Only Way to Resign
Once you’ve accepted the offer with your new employer and set the start date, obviously the next step is to let your current employer know you’ll be leaving. Write a brief letter of resignation (the operative word there is “brief”).
If you feel a need out of loyalty or guilt to write anything more than a few short sentences, curb it. The only information your letter needs to contain are the following two (possibly three) items:
1. That you are leaving your current company
2. What your last date of employment will be
3. If you feel comfortable adding a sentence or two about how you enjoyed working for your current company, and you appreciate the opportunity to have been a part of the organization, tack that on.
It should NOT include:
Why you are leaving
Where you are going
What you will be doing in your new position
How much you will be making when you get there
How bad you feel about leaving (or conversely, how glad you are to be going!)
Make an appointment with your boss and hand deliver the letter. Tell them verbally the same words that your letter says. The face-to-face is courteous and professional while the letter is a formality for record of your employment. And be prepared for one of three things to happen.
(1) Either your boss will professionally acknowledge your resignation, say how sorry they are to have you go, and shake your hand, or (2) they will become very silent – just before they ask you what it would take to keep you. Or quite possibly, (3) they will do the former, and you will be asked to another meeting later so that they can find out what it will take to keep you.
If your company is truly professional, you will resign, shake hands, and that will be that. But it doesn’t always go down that way, which takes us into the second way to resign, which actually is in danger of not being a resignation at all. It only starts out that way.
The first thing you need to know is that a counter offer is NOT – IS NOT – a sincere and genuine statement of their desire to keep you around for as long as you might decide to stay should you change your mind and accept their counter offer.
What you’ve just done by resigning is put the company at a disadvantage. You are creating an opening within the company, and you’ve left your company at a loss. By resigning, you’ve basically said, “I’m not interested in this company anymore.” You’ve caused your loyalty to be questioned. You are in control, and they are not.