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Resigning
General Guidelines
Never be hasty
Never be hasty in making a decision to resign. Always make sure you have explored the possibilities for advancing your career where you are first.
Talk to family
Talk things over with family and friends and make sure you are moving for the right reasons; does your new job offer a better working
environment and career prospects or simply more money?
Don’t burn bridges
If you make a decision to leave, don’t be tempted to ‘burn a few bridges’ by telling your current employer some ‘home truths’
about their organisation or staff. This is a time to contain your emotion and give rational reasons for your departure which focus on the positive.
Planning is the key
Planning is the key to resigning with dignity and you should think carefully about what to include in your resignation letter and exit interview
to avoid leaving on a bad note. Remember, an exit interview is not a personal counselling session!
Be professional
Arrange a meeting with your line manager to discuss your departure and hand over your resignation letter.
Keep the conversation professional and show your appreciation for the time you have spent with the company to avoid a highly-charged, negative outcome.
Do ask verbally for a written reference and get a verbal acknowledgement that it will be provided.
Give adequate notice
You should ensure you give adequate notice of your intention to resign, according to the notice period in your contract of employment.
Always make sure you fulfil all your work requirements, offering hand over notes and training for the person taking over your job.
Never ‘wind down’ as this will leave colleagues you have worked well with for years with a negative impression.
Consider counter offers
Consider any counter offers such as promotion or future pay rises carefully. (See below)
Counter Offers
A large proportion of people who accept counter offers and agree to stay with their current employers leave within the next 6 to 12 months.
When you work up the courage to resign there are usually more significant reasons for wanting to leave your existing role than salary or even promotion.
These could be anything from how you are being managed, your relationship with colleagues, wanting more of a challenge or simply a change in your working environment.
It is highly unlikely that these will change if you decide to stay, but an experienced manager will know how to encourage you to change your mind in his/her favour.
After all, your resignation could damage your manager’s reputation, increase his/her work load and lead to expensive recruiting costs over the next few months.
So here are some key issues you might consider when deciding to accept or reject a counter offer:
- Re-examine the reasons you decided to look for a new job and don’t accept a counter-offer unless you are absolutely sure these will change.
- Make sure you know how any increase in salary will be funded – is it your next scheduled pay rise or promotion and will you be overlooked next time?
- Your resignation may have already called your loyalty into question and jeopardised your long term career prospects.
- You should not have to force your employer’s hand in order to receive the recognition you deserve!