When the time comes to advance within the work world, you sometimes have to make the initial move by presenting a resignation letter. For some, performing this task is better said than done. The embarrassment of telling an employer you no longer want to work for their firm can become an unusual task to complete. It sometimes causes tense relationships and may even facilitate a few sleepless nights. Plus, in many work cultures, the situation is relatively unstable, and the way you handle this assignment can make or break your eventual job prospects.
Why Write a Resignation Letter?
The proper way to inform an employer that you no longer wish to work for them is by writing a resignation letter. As you cruise through the appropriate channels of policy, it is this act that will settle your legitimacy as a reliable worker when applying for other means of the profession.
Walking away from the job scene screaming the words, “I quit,” is highly unacceptable. It will indeed reflect on your job performance reviews and dangerously hurt the positive remarks your last reference will provide.
Many workers write resignation letters because they have found a different job that either passes the kind of ecosystem they are interested in or pays a higher salary. Usually, money is an essential factor that leads workers to escape their current job situation. Sometimes, it is for special reasons, such as creative differences with bosses.
Others have simply had enough of their present job position and maybe their boss to the point that they dread returning to their work day after day. Some will write a resignation letter in the worst-case scenarios before they have even found a replacement job.
Resignation letters also arise when workers have a sense that they are about to be dismissed. It enables them to smash their bosses to the punch and save a few pieces of well-deserved dignity. On a new job application, it always looks better to have left a former job on your own accord than state that your ass was fired.
Even if you have person-to-person resigned, a resignation letter is still a suitable action to complete. Hopefully, you can still manage a positive association with your old employer, who might be called upon to write a recommendation letter in the future. Resignation letters should be completed professionally – typed and neatly presented.
The Ups and Downs of Resignation Letters
Before you sit down to sign out your resignation letter, you should have already wholly thought out why you want to walk away from your job and that you are entirely sure this is what you want to do. Many times, workers have penned the letter, emailed their resignation, and after finding different (entrepreneurship mostly) measures worse than before, want to come back. Sadly, by that time, going back to their old job is no longer a choice.
Sometimes, going back to your old job is a probability, but the way you express yourself through the resignation letter will decide whether or not it is one for you. If you have correctly chosen your words to offend your employer, you might have a job waiting for you at your office or old firm. If you have presented your resignation with disgust, attitude, and willfulness, probabilities are you will not be welcomed back at all.
Proper Procedure
Generally, one month is the most reasonable and acceptable time frame to give notice in your resignation letter. The only exception to the rule is if you have already approved a contract that states otherwise. In some cases, it could be two weeks, while others might have to wait an entire month.
If your boss asks you to stay longer than a month or beyond your contractual agreement, you do not have an obligation to stay. Depending on your situation, you may have a new firm waiting for you to start your first day, or maybe this is one of those situations where the employer is still trying to take advantage of you. One month is the ideal amount of time your job has to harvest your hard work benefits.
Tips on Writing a Resignation Letter
When drafting a resignation letter, you should leave the private banter out of the text and stick to the decision to move on from the company. Accentuating the positive will score points with your former employer (if needed), and talking about how the firm has helped you grow is also suggested. When it’s time to move on, a reason should perpetually be given. Negativity labors no point since you are already leaving; therefore, leaving on good terms will work much more in your favor. Below you will find a few extra tips to consider when it comes to writing a resignation letter.
- After the greeting, begin your resignation letter with the purpose of your leaving. Regardless of whether you are relocating to Texas or finding employment elsewhere, you should state why you are going so employers do not feel slighted.
- Show appreciation by stating the knowledge, skills, experience, and opportunities you could earn during your time with the company.
- Offer help, such as telling them that you may be of some support during the transition. This may involve training a replacement during your last month.
- Tell the employer that you can be contacted if they have any questions or need any further details. Supplying up-to-date contact numbers in the letter is recommended.
