5 Tips To Keep Your Resignation Classy

Handing in your resignation is rarely an easy task. But, whether it’s just time to move on or you’re fed up with your employer – it’s never helpful to depart on bad terms. So in the interest of keeping it classy, try following these five tips to ensure you resign with grace!

Give At Least Two Weeks’ Notice
Nothing makes a worse impression than leaving your former employer in a lurch, so offering to work at least the usual two weeks is critical. If you’re in a high-level position, you may even need to stay longer. However, if your new employer needs you immediately, make sure to explain the situation to your former employer to minimize the damage.

Organize Your Files
While you may know where everything is, whether on your computer or in the filing cabinets, others may not be able to figure it out. So take the time to go through all the loose papers on your desk or floating around your desktop, file them in the correct files, then explain your system to your manager, employees, or replacement. Also, don’t forget about all those emails you still have in your email system. Saving them to files on your company’s server will keep that information accessible to everyone well after you’re gone.

Give a Full Debrief on Your Projects
Even if you keep impeccable notes, there are still details on your projects that you’ve simply kept in your head. Before your last day on the job, think through each project you’ve been working on or projects that are coming up, write out all the details someone would need in order to proceed without you, and put that list in a safe place. It will also help if you can walk someone else through the list in case there are any unanswered questions.

Don’t Slack Off
It’s easy to give in to the temptation to cruise through your final days, but it’s always wise to end your job on a good note. Strive to get as much done as possible to lift some burdens off your co-workers. It’s natural for people to begin pulling projects away from you and you may find your to-do list is very short, but just make sure that you’re doing as much as you can. Your employer, and employees, will appreciate it!

Provide Honest, Tactful Feedback
If your HR department conducts an exit interview, be honest and give them your full opinion of your leadership, department, and the company overall. The only way a company can fix any problems they have in their system or ranks is if they know about the problems in the first place. Be sure and praise appropriately too – if a particular benefit or company program was a huge value to you – say so. Also, before your last day, think about who else you’d like to have a frank conversation with – your manager, director, VP, or even employees you manage. Just make sure that you are tactful when you provide your feedback and don’t let it be tainted with bitterness or anger.

2 Responses to 5 Tips To Keep Your Resignation Classy

  1. Rudy Cortez June 29, 2012 at 3:21 pm #

    I gave honest and tactful feedback at an exit interview and ended up blacklisted by a former employer.

  2. Bob July 3, 2012 at 9:48 am #

    Rudy,

    If you ended up blacklisted, then your feedback was comprised of too much honesty and not enough tact.

    Doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong though.

Leave a Reply