INTERVIEW RESOURCE GUIDE

Resignation

No matter how much you want to leave your current position, resigning can be a difficult and stressful task.  However, there are steps you can take to minimize the anxiety.  First and foremost, your resignation should come in the form of a letter.  Putting your thoughts in a letter will help reduce anxiety and is also the most professional way to handle the process.  Your resignation letter will become part of your personnel file.  The letter should be courteous, positive and decisive, leaving no room for counteroffer discussion.  (See example below.) Secondly, give a fair and professional notice.  Two weeks is typically an appropriate time frame for you to wrap up any loose ends and for the company to put a plan in place regarding your replacement.  Consulting with your Ambrion recruiter will help alleviate some of the stress associated with this process and assure the process is handled with the utmost professionalism.  At the end of the day we want to maintain positive relationships with all those we have worked with in the past.  You never know when one of these relationships will cycle back into your professional life.  It is imperative that they remember how professionally you handled yourself.  

 

Example Resignation Letter:

 

Date:  01/01/2020

 

Managers Name

Title

Company

 

Dear

 

Please accept this letter as my formal notice of resignation from XYZ Company, effective (2 weeks from the date above).  It has been a pleasure working with XYZ Company and the knowledge I have gained throughout the years has been invaluable.  This is an irrevocable decision that I have made based on the needs of my family and for my own reasons of professional growth.

 

In the next two weeks, I will work diligently to tie up any loose ends that may still be outstanding.

 

Sincere thanks and best wishes for continued success.

 

Sincerely,

 

John Smith

 

Counter Offers

 

One of the worst things you can do in the resignation process is to discuss counter offers.  Below is information as well as different perspectives of counter offers.  

 

• National statistics indicate that 89% of individuals who accept counter offers are gone within 6 months.
• Within eighteen months, 93% of those accepting counter left, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
• Your reasons for wanting to leave will still exist.  Your bad boss, bad coworkers, dull environment or limited advancement opportunities do not get corrected by a few more dollars.  Promises made along these lines are often broken, or are not even feasible over time.
• By having a counter offer discussion you ultimately raise the red flag that the only thing you care about is money.   If you accept the counter offer your employer will feel as soon as a better monetary offer surfaces you will be gone.
• Where is the money for the counter offer coming from?  In many instances you are simply receiving you next scheduled raise early?  (Companies have strict wage and salary guidelines which must be followed)
• Counter offers can be a stall device to give your employer time to get through a project or actually find a replacement for you.
• When promotion time comes around, will your employer gamble on someone who will leave for more money?   
• What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before a fair market value assessment of your skills is given?  Counter offers are only made in response to a threat to quit.  Why do you have to resign to receive an offer of better working conditions?  
• Your employer knows the statistics mentioned in the first two bullets above.  Do you think they will gamble on promoting you over someone that has been more loyal?  
• You have now made your employer perceive you as unhappy.  From this day on, your employer will perceive you as a possible disgruntled employee and your loyalty will always be in question.
• When times get tough, your employer may begin the cutback with you.
• Statistics show that if you accept a counter offer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months or being let go within one year is extremely high.
• Accepting a counter offer is an insult to your intelligence.   It makes you look wishy-washy and non-decisive.

 

The bottom line is that well-managed companies don’t make counter offers.  Their policies are to establish fair and equitable practices upfront so that both the employee and the company can maintain their professionalism throughout a resignation.  

 

Think about this:  While you are busy accepting the counter offer, the new company has already called a recruiter and they are busy filling the position you could have had with someone other than YOU!