Be professional when announcing your resignation

Be professional when announcing your resignation, start off with your immediate superior and follow up with your colleagues if the situation allows it. Avoid having your resignation being a topic of office gossip before your superiors know what’s happening. In some cases, you might be required to keep the matter a total secret, abiding by that requirement will be viewed generally well.

Give ample notice time

Be sure to abide by your company’s procedures and timeframes, give sufficient notice beforehand and present the written form to your boss. Make it brief, tactful and stick to the point. The resignation letter you present should be the final thing you have to communicate with the organization. You have to make sure it is positive, as the future view of your former company towards you, may depend on it. We would advise you to avoid using the letter as a channel for your grievances or as an expression of any bad feelings you have towards the company.

Ask for a reference letter

Before you go, ask for a reference letter/letter of recommendation. It will prove useful for the future, surely! Signup for our newsletter, join our group or simply watch out for our upcoming article on reference letters.

Proactively offer to help prepare your replacement

In some cases you can offer to help, find and train a replacement while your notice of departure is running. You can also be available for consulting after you have left the company to help them with their work. Both options are often well received and since you know your work best, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Handover Documentation and process guides

Take your time to create an all-encompassing Handover Documentation/Process guide, in which you outline key events, tasks, duties, goals, responsibilities, documents and procedures to be followed by your future replacement. Signup for our newsletter, join our group or simply watch out for the upcoming article on how to create a proper Handover Documentation as a good exit from the company.

No badmouthing (if you can help it)

There are three ways to exit a company: the good the bad and the ugly. The latter depends entirely on your final actions in the company, and as a general rule, you should avoid saying bad or terrible things about the company. In the future, you may end up working with some of these people and it’s a very poor choice to be caught in dumping the bucket full of trash on your colleagues as a ‘goodbye’. Positive exit feeling is a thing you should strive to achieve, regardless of the emotional or ego cost. Think of this as an investment in your future, especially in a small labor market like the Bulgarian one.
We can help you with damage control by turning the ugly exit into a bad, or why not a good one? Contact Lift HR today for a free consultation.

Say a final goodbye to everyone

Don’t just pick up and leave. Make sure you have the opportunity to say goodbye to every person you have worked with. Focus on the positive when having your goodbyes and be sure to provide your personal contacts in case someone chooses to stay in touch with you after you leave, even to the people with whom you had rough relations with!