You’ve survived three rounds of layoffs, but you’re tired of doing the work of four people. Or maybe the Berlin Wall was up the last time you got a serious raise. Or the headhunter who keeps pestering you has finally come up with an attractive opportunity.
Whatever the reason, you’ve decided it’s time to pursue the proverbial other interests and hand in your letter of resignation. And while composing it, lines from the classic country tune “Take This Job and Shove It” keep swirling through your head. Your gut tells you this is a good time to sound off about how much better off the company would be if your boss had only listened to your ideas.
Ignore your gut. Leaving an employer, like every other aspect of your professional life, needs to be done properly. This is even more important in today’s job market, where workers can expect to change employers several times during the course of a career. With everyone making that many changes, you never know who your next boss will be, or who will end up working for you down the road.
First, the basics: Experts advise writing an upbeat, brief resignation letter addressed to your department supervisor. The letter should be dated and contain the date your resignation becomes effective. This letter could be referred to in the future if you ever seek employment with the firm again, so keep it as positive as possible.
Giving two weeks notice is customary, but not a legal requirement. In some cases — if you’re jumping ship to join a competitor, for example — an employer may ask you to leave the building immediately, so be sure you’ve cleaned out personal items from your desk before handing in your letter.
What to leave behind? Background documents that would be helpful to a person who fills your position. This leaves a good impression even after you have left by helping out the office with future work.
If you’re in a highly competitive field, your resignation could get even more complicated by a move to a competitor.
Executive recruiter Linda Heagy helps clients through job changes every day, but she found herself managing her own this summer when she left Ray and Berndtson to become co-managing director of rival Heidrick & Struggles Inc.’s Chicago office.
For Heagy, the offer was clearly an upward move. Executive Recruiter News, a trade journal, estimates Heidrick is the nation’s second-largest recruiting firm with more than $123 million in annual revenue. Ray and Berndtson is No. 6.
Still, jumping ship to a competitor required tact. Heagy attributes her smooth departure to an understanding boss and her own finesse.
“It’s a very small world and all you have is your reputation,” Heagy says. “You want to leave with everybody saying, `Gee, what a shame. Aren’t we going to miss her?’ “
When Maribeth Rahe shocked the Chicago banking community by jumping from Harris Bank to U.S. Trust in New York recently, managing the grapevine became crucial. When word of her switch began to leak out, Rahe pushed up the timing of her public announcement with U.S. Trust, and both companies were given the opportunity to review each other’s statements in advance.
“Try . . .to keep a lid on the news until it’s official,” she says, “because people do gossip.”
From a practical standpoint, also remember to read again any pre-employment documents you signed, says Mark Shapiro, a partner with Chicago employment law firm Rosenthal and Schanfield.
Some companies even ask exiting employees to sign covenants as they leave restricting competitive work and tying continued benefits or reference letters to them, Shapiro says.
“Most people think trade secrets or confidential material applies to written records,” he says. “But it also covers things in your head,” and critical company information can generate a lawsuit depending on how you use it in your next job.
What about the telephone card file?
“It depends on what’s there,” says Shapiro. “Facts and numbers that are readily available in something like a telephone directory are not protectable. But if the information is crucial and unavailable, it could be.”
Even if your departure isn’t voluntary, keep a smile on your face, says Lorraine Cardwell, founder of the HR Group, a small Northbrook benefits consulting firm. When Cardwell was downsized out of her job with Blue Cross/Blue Shield five years ago, she was cooperative. The result? Blue Cross tossed her some assignments when she set up shop on her own.
