In this new iteration of my blog, I plan on having tutorials to help you be a better grown-up. We’re going to talk about things they never got around to teaching us at school. I have a couple ideas for these first few posts, but I’d love to hear from you. What have you always wanted to know? Contact me and I’ll put together a (semi-)professional to answer your question.
First up, let’s learn how to quit a job.
Before his Wisconsin job, Randy was out in Seattle working for a big airplane company. And then September 11th happened. Needless to say, he was let go pretty quick as business all but came to a standstill. He’s been at the same job for his whole stint in Milwaukee, so he didn’t know all the steps to quitting when he was offered the new gig last month. As the girl who moves jobs every three years, I consider myself a professional in this arena. So let’s begin.
- Wait. STOP. Pause until you have a physical offer in hand. I know, I know you are super excited that they’ve called to offer you the perfect new job, but you’re going to feel a little sheepish if you come to find out the benefits really blow AFTER you’ve done cartwheels down the hall of your current office, aren’t you? Just hold tight until you have a letter or email in hand before shouting from the rafters. Trust me, there will be plenty of time to celebrate.
- And then it happens – you get the written notification and all looks swell. (Woo!) Assuming this happens while you are at work, (because of course this happens during work hours. We could pretend differently, but come on…) I think your first step should be to clean up your computer files and your desk.* You don’t want to make it obvious (your boss should be the first to know), but on the off chance you get walked out the door, you should ensure there is nothing incriminating in your files (like a draft cover letter and resume you ultimately sent to the new place.)
- When you are ready to make it official, prepare a short letter announcing your resignation and your expected last day. This day may be negotiated, but I like having it in there. Print out the letter (run to the printer!) and make your way to the bossman.
- I’ll let you decide if you should schedule a meeting with your manager or just knock on the door. I’ve found that I’m completely useless once this letter is in my hand, not the boss’, so I’ve been known to go straight to the boss. Of course, if this is a particularly stressful part of the year or day for your manager, you should be considerate of their time. If you typically have a weekly update meeting, that could be a good time for this conversation.
- Be gracious. No matter how much you can’t stand the current job, I promise you you’ve learned something. (Sometimes “what not to do” is the most important lesson.) You know by now that you never want to burn bridges, so use the resignation meeting as an chance to thank your manager for the opportunities afforded you in this position.
- Be prepared for a counter-offer. If you’ve been a great employee you may get a counter-offer from your current employer. Could any amount of money or benefits or new tasks get you to stay? If so, be prepared with this list in case you are asked.
- Don’t be horribly offended if they don’t counter-offer. You never know what the situation is behind the scenes. You might have been the best thing that’s happened to them, but also the most expensive employee. Perhaps they can’t afford you anymore.
- You have the meeting with the manager and decide on your last day. Also, your manager should tell you how they want to announce your departure to the company. Official notice should come from them or someone higher up the food chain; not from you.
- NOW you can officially accept the offer with the new company. Go ahead and turn those cartwheels, girlfriend. You’ve got a new job… YAH!!!
- Then remember you still have this job to take care of for X amount of time. Be a good employee for X amount of time, young lady!
- Offer to create a status list of the projects you are working on to include suggestions for interim managers on each. If this offer is accepted, put serious time into this list. Life will go on without you, but it will be much easier if your replacement knows where to pick up.
- Truly clean out your desk and your computer.
- Eat cake at your party at work.
- Go to happy hour with your work friends. After too many glasses of cheap wine, go home and be stoked that you made it out. These happy hours are guaranteed to become bitch sessions making you VERY happy you’re leaving.
- Wake up the last day with a headache (and vow to not eat and drink as much on the next job!), and a little heartache. I’ve found no matter how much I didn’t care for the job, the last day was always bittersweet. We spend the majority of our lives at work, so of course you’ll be a little sad when it’s over.
Did I miss anything?
*I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so please take this all as just suggestion. I’m just an honest girl telling you as I’ve done it. I’ve got a handful of former bosses as some of my closest mentors, so I think it worked for me.
