5 Tips Before Quitting a Job (or Breaking Up With It)

5 Tips Before Quitting  a Job (or Breaking Up With It)


It’s just before the holidays, so break-ups are in high gear. It usually ends up like this: Someone breaks someone else’s heart, that someone else is devastated but quickly finds a new love, the heart breaker is confused. People spend a lot of time feeling sorry for the person who is left alone, but consider the person doing the heart-breaking.

In most cases, this isn’t the easiest decision, and once the decision is made, deciding how to break the news is no less than stressful. It’s very difficult to leave something you once loved behind, and then expect to suddenly feel confident and relaxed. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the heart breaker’s troubles do not stop at his/her love life—this nervous feeling unfortunately also occurs during a business break-up.

Quitting your job (whether it was an easy decision or not) is never fun. You are likely to leave for one of two reasons:

1. You got a better job offer and are hoping to further your career. You feel excited, but nervous about whether or not you’re making the right decision. What if your old company was better than your new company?

2. You can’t stand your boss or your co-workers and you dislike the job. In these situations, you can’t wait to get out of there. You feel excited, but nervous about what the future now holds. What if you can’t find another job with equal pay?

5 Must-Know Tips for Quitting Your Job

In both situations, leaving a job is bound to make you just as nervous as if you were leaving your boyfriend or girlfriend. Consider a few of these tips to help prepare you and give you confidence you’ll need when quitting a job:

Write Your Resignation Letter

This is the first thing you need to do if you’re quitting a job. A resignation letter is usually very short, and it does not need to specify exactly why you are leaving the company; just that you are. You will likely have a period of notice in the contract you signed when you first became an employee of the company, and this is something you must adhere to unless your boss says otherwise. Usually, a notice period is around two weeks.

Spread the Word

If you want to tell your co-workers you are leaving informally, this is usually accepted. However, it is never a good idea to tell a co-worker before you hand your boss the resignation letter. If rumors start to spread that you’re leaving and your boss gets wind, you will not look good in the eyes of your boss.

Continue Working

Many employees check-out once they’ve decided they’re going to quit their job. After all, what does it matter anymore? Believe it or not, this will matter a lot. Bosses admit that they pay special attention to the work an employee does after receiving a resignation letter. You will likely need your employer’s recommendation sometime in your future, so you want to do everything you can to stay in his/her good graces.

Get Feedback

This is a good note to end on when leaving a company. Chances are your boss will be happy to give you feedback about what you need to work on for your next company and what you do well. If you’re leaving because you do not get along with your boss, still consider asking for feedback. Although negative, it might help smooth things over.

Stay Positive

The important thing to remember is that you need to remain positive. You always want to leave on good terms because you never know whether or not your current company will be able to help you in the future. Believe it or not, some companies have been known to take back employees who quit in the past.

With careful thought, quitting your job will likely open up your career to bigger and better things. The nervousness will last for a little while, but eventually you will move on, and you will be glad you did so while still staying “friends” with your company.

What steps would you follow before quitting a job? 

Photo by Neal.


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Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer for an online resource that gives inbound call center and telephone answering service advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

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