Farewell: Say goodbye to your old colleagues with a smile

Q. After feeling frustrated and unhappy at work for a while, you’ve found a new job. What is the best way to quit the current one?

A.Do it in person first, and then in writing. Make an appointment to talk to your manager. Morning is usually best, because it gives your boss a chance to absorb the news and to start a plan for your transition, including the paperwork that will need to be completed, how and when your job will be posted and who best to train to handle your duties until someone else is hired, said Rich Gee, founder of Rich Gee Coaching, a career coaching firm in Stamford, Connecticut. Have a resignation letter prepared to hand to your boss, either at your meeting or shortly afterwards.

Q.How should you prepare for that conversation?

A.Dig up the employee handbook and familiarise yourself with the company’s policy on resignations.

“If you signed a noncompetition agreement, you might want to see a lawyer and make sure you’re permitted to take the new job you’ve been offered,” said Andria Ryan, a partner in labour and employment law at Fisher & Phillips in Atlanta. Review the employment agreement you signed when you were hired, she said. These may spell out what is required to separate from the company, including any entitlements, and you can use them to outline your expectations of what the company should provide when you leave.

Some industries, like financial services or sales, may escort you to the door the same day you give notice, because of the chance of losing any new sales leads, for example, to the new employer. So brace yourself for that possibility, said Brian Drum, the chief executive of Drum Associates, an executive search firm in Manhattan. “Start moving personal information and effects from your office ahead of time, before you tell them you’re resigning,” he said.

Leaving a job is more complicated for senior managers and executives. “At an executive level, you have access to client, product development and strategic information that the CEO doesn’t want you to take with you,” said Don Schmincke, founder of the Saga Institute, a leadership development firm in Baltimore.

“Because there can be so much at risk for the company, you can usually negotiate a severance agreement that’s mutually beneficial.”

Q.What should you say to your boss?

A.Start with the good stuff, even if you have to struggle to come up with something, advised Rachel C. Weingarten, author of Career and Corporate Cool and president of the GTK Marketing Group in Brooklyn. “Make it a quick summation of how long you have been there, what you’ve accomplished in that time and what you learned. Then say you feel it’s time to move on to new challenges.”

Don’t talk about the bad stuff. The business world can be small, and it is crucial to your career to maintain relationships, Weingarten said.

Offer to help in any way you can with the transition to your successor and discuss the logistics of returning company property like your BlackBerry, laptop or cellphone, Ryan said. “You don’t want your employer having to chase you down to get that laptop back,” she said.

This meeting is also the time to make arrangements for giving your boss or your successor access to confidential files, passwords, contacts and sales leads.

Q.When is it acceptable to vent your pent-up frustrations with the job?

A.Never. No matter how much you hate your boss — or how often you’ve fantasised about saying what you really think — you don’t want to burn bridges and give anyone a reason to speak negatively about you. And if you have been unhappy for a while, the chances are that your boss already knows it.

Leaving is not the time to vent, said Dawn Fay, a regional vice-president at Robert Half International, a staffing firm based in Menlo Park, California. “Even in an exit interview, you should always keep emotion out,” she said. “You can offer your reasons for leaving with some suggested solutions. But angry accusations will only make you seem emotional and unprofessional.”

Q.What should your letter include?

A.The letter should include a formal statement that you are leaving, the timetable for your departure and a restatement of your plan for returning company property and transferring confidential information.

But that letter is also your goodbye press release, Weingarten said, so remind your manager how long you’ve been at the company and all that you’ve accomplished.

Q.How much notice do you have to give?

A.At least two weeks, but that’s not a hard-and-fast rule. Be flexible, said Kip Hollister, chief executive of Hollister Inc., a staffing firm in Boston. Most important, don’t leave projects unfinished. Tell your manager what’s on your plate and how long you believe it will take to complete it or satisfactorily hand it off to someone else.

“Let him know if it takes three weeks to finish, you can stay,” Hollister said. “You don’t want to leave midway through a project.” Senior-level managers and executives usually give several months’ notice. “They need to stay on board long enough to manage the transition,” she said.

Q.What if your boss makes a counter-offer?

A.Be wary of it if you have been unhappy in your job. If you accept it, you may lose the trust you once had with your employer, said Randall Hansen, founder of Quintessential Careers, a career development website. “Your employer now knows you want to leave, so they will start looking to replace you,” he said. “The counter-offer is often just a stopgap measure.” Better to decline it tactfully and focus on your new job instead, he said.