4 Tips for Turning in Your Resignation

These Guidelines Will Help Make Your Next Resignation Easier.

Everybody – well, almost everybody – will interview for a new job at some point in their life.

The funny thing is that when that time comes, job seekers spend all of their time preparing and studying for the interview itself and they find themselves not mentally prepared for what comes after the interview.

Sometimes it’s easy to spend so much time getting ready for the actual interview that we neglect to prepare for the part of the process that ends up being the toughest – turning in your resignation.

Consider These 4 Tips for Turning in Your Resignation.

Make it quick

Don’t agonize over how or when you’re going to turn your resignation in. Jobs changes are stressful enough already; do yourself the favor of decreasing the stress a little bit by not agonizing over the logistics. Most field medical affairs professionals turn in their resignation first over the phone with their manager, then, to follow proper protocol, will turn in a written resignation letter via email. This should go without saying, but unless there is a unique situation that makes it impossible, always offer at least a two-week notice to your employer. Otherwise, you risk leaving on bad terms.

Stay rational

The thing that often makes resignations so tough is that we can let emotions take over and undo the thought process we went through to decide it was time for a job change in the first place. Sometimes nostalgia kicks in and suddenly we remember the “good days” back when we first started the position. Or maybe we start to feel bad about the situation we’re going to put our boss in by leaving. But it behooves us to remember why we decided to job hunt in the first place. Most people that we encounter don’t let one bad, emotional day trigger their job search. People who decide to actively interview usually get to that point through a series of well-thought-out decisions. Don’t let that thought process get wiped out by a bout of short-term remorse.

You don’t owe your employer additional details

When you turn in your resignation, your manager may ask for details regarding where you’re going or what the dollar figures of your offer are. Yes, it’s true that giving up these details could potentially help your employer set up a nice counter-offer for you, but you hopefully didn’t put yourself through a full interview process just to get a counteroffer (if you want a higher salary or title at your current job, there are more efficient ways to negotiate this!). Giving more details than necessary can lead to a series of mudslinging to make you feel uncomfortable about joining this new company. A quick, clean break-up makes this a less stressful process.

Counteroffers are only short-term fixes

Yes, it’s going to be tempting to accept a counteroffer where you could be given a salary increase or a promotion and stay at your current company to avoid the hassle of changing jobs. But the statistics show that by and large, people generally still end up changing jobs shortly after accepting a counteroffer. This could be for a variety of reasons. Oftentimes, a manager may promise you whatever it takes to keep you there, knowing that losing a top performer could reflect poorly on them as a leader. But the honeymoon phase after such counteroffers is typically short-lived. Once that initial sigh of relief has passed, your manager is still well aware that you were ready to leave the team. They may now bump you down their mental list of candidates for the next promotion or project that comes up, as you may be a perceived flight risk. Or you may start feeling resentment from your teammates who may feel it’s unfair you were rewarded for threatening to leave rather than being a loyal employee. The point is that counter-offers are typically just short-term bandaids that don’t fit your long-term goals.

Are there any other rules you follow to make resigning easier? Email me at [email protected].

Author: Lawrence Beck, CPC