How to Leave a Job
Learn how to leave a job and make the transition easy.
How to Graciously Leave a Job
Belinda writes in:
How do I graciously leave the job I have loved for 22 years? I have been recently downsized in my county government job.
Belinda! Soulmate! Today is my last day at my dream job at Babson College, the #1 college for entrepreneurship in the world since 1993. First impressions matter, and so do last impressions. Whether you’re quitting, being laid off, or retiring, you want people to remember you as a responsible businessperson. You don’t want their last memory of you to involve security guards with trained attack dogs. It looks bad when your next employer calls for references. Don’t ask how I know this.
Organize your office and create a transition document the next person can use to sort through the stuff you leave and get up to speed quickly. I’m going to pack a lot into this episode, so the transcript will have a summary sheet you can print out for reference.
Record Your Projects
In the transition document, list your current projects, with a brief summary of each, and who your successor should contact to get quickly up-to-speed on the project. Even if your boss is clueless about what you actually did, some poor innocent won’t have to suffer for it. And if your boss was clueless, you really need to listen to my episode on self-promotion. There’s a link in this episode’s transcript.
Organize Your Files
Zip through your files. Toss or take any that aren’t relevant to the job. I like to clip articles and file them neatly in my filing cabinet until I read them. No one but me is going to be interested in an analysis of whether my aluminum foil hat protects me against the mind control rays, or actually makes it easier for the rays to enter my skull. They should care, but they don’t. So I’ll take that article with me.
The files that are left are, of course, neatly arranged in alphabetical order so you can find them easily. Your successor doesn’t know what the files are likely to be called. So group together files related to the same project or client, and use a sticky label to label the whole pile. Use the same project names you listed in your transition document to make it easy to match files to projects. If you don’t like the person who will be replacing you, label the piles incorrectly. You can always claim the sticky labels fell off and got switched around. I have a Quick Tip for keeping important information during job transitions right here.
If you have files related to old projects, send them off to whoever might need the materials for reference. If it’s your successor who will need them, list the projects they were related to in your transition document and why someone might need them. Remember you have computer files, too. Arrange those in folders by project or client and again, use the same names as you use in your transition document.
Whatever’s left, toss. Unless your company has archives. Then, send your stuff there. Babson’s archives includes Sir Isaac Newton’s fore-parlour. The actual fore-parlour itself. In case I don’t feel inferior enough compared to the undergrads who are running $30,000/month businesses from their dorm rooms in “e-tower” (that’s e for entrepreneurship), I can always hang out by Newton’s fireplace, and remember he invented calculus at age 19 to help him invent physics, and all I did at age 19 was fail physics.
Gather Your Junk
We’ve all got our junk. And my junk is … whew! Books and staplers and pens and sticky pads. Junk that belongs to work, I leave. My personal stuff, I take with me. If you need a caffeine fix, make sure you take the coffee pot. That sucker is mine.
Deliver the News
Deliver the news in person. Don’t take the easy route and email your resignation. No one enjoys the human element of human resources. But even if it stinks, it’s part of the process. You should ideally have something planned before you deliver your news, even if it’s just a date when you will finish your work and your transition document. And you want to make sure that the whole team knows you’re leaving, so you don’t wind up missing people when you gather for your final goodbye.
Be Gracious
Whatever the reason you’re leaving, acknowledge the contributions of your colleagues, supervisors, and direct reports. You may have differences of opinion with some. It doesn’t matter. There’s a human being on the other end of that table, and their respect and support are important now. If you can build a bridge and make your exit smooth, who knows when your paths may cross again? Be generous with your thanks and acknowledgments.
Leave Well
Give a little thought to how you want your last few days to go. If you’re leaving for a better opportunity, maybe you want to stay connected with colleagues. Or if you’re being laid off, you probably just want to keep your head down. There are advantages to leaving quietly, too. There’s no need to engage in drama and negativity in your last few days at work. No matter how you feel about your departure, do your best to leave with grace and dignity.
For more on this topic, listen to my podcast episode on graciously leaving a job.
How Do You Leave Your Job?
If you’ve had a transition out of a job, what did you do? Comment below, and let me know!