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Ask HN: How much to put in a resignation letter?
37 points by outthedoor on March 17, 2015 | hide | past | favorite | 69 comments
I'm resigning from my job today because, despite exceeding our sales quota for last year by 25%, senior management informed our team that no one would be receiving any increase in compensation, a bonus, or a promotion. Obviously this has had a negative affect on morale.

How much of that should I include in my resignation letter?




Put the bare minimum, and do not say anything about compensation, etc. As a3n says, just say you are leaving, and when your last day will be.

When it comes to the exit interview, DO NOT SAY ANYTHING EITHER. It all goes into your employment record. You don't owe them any honesty, so just leave quietly and don't burn any bridges.


I would hesitate to deviate from this advice.

Think of it this way, what do you have to gain by being honest? What do you have to lose? I think you'll see being anything other than polite and positive in your resignation letter offers nothing but downside.


To back this up with an anecdote:

I had one experience where I submitted a resignation (two weeks' notice) the same day as someone else in the company.

I said the bare minimum in my letter. When questioned by the CEO, division lead, and co-workers, I also said the bare minimum and kept it very neutral. The other person, on the other hand, decided this was their opportunity to express their anger and frustration.

As a result, their last two weeks were full of tense meetings, shouting matches, threats of lawsuit from both sides, and dirty things being said behind their back.

Meanwhile, my last two weeks were easy, stress-free, and nobody gave me a hard time. The CEO made me an offer to stay (which I declined), people were spreading positive things about me (I heard this through several trusted sources), and I generally left on a positive note.

The thing is, I felt the same anger and frustration as the other person. But as the parent said, I knew there was absolutely nothing to be gained by releasing any of it.


I've found the best way to do this is:

* Have a proper emergency fund (6-12 weeks). You should not be counting on any pay after you give notice.

* Have references outside of your immediate current manager

* On Friday, "today is my last day"

* Still be honest why you're leaving

Two weeks notice is a courtesy you're not required to extend to an employer (EDIT: This is US-centric advice, please verify this is true in your non-US jurisdiction), and you should only do so if you're on good terms.


> Two weeks notice is a courtesy you're not required to extend to an employer, and you should only do so if you're on good terms.

This is an international site, you should be careful giving out US "at will" state advice like it applies to everywhere.

In the UK for example, you can in theory be sued for failure to give a "reasonable" period of notice[0] (although in reality this nearly never happens).

[0] http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1650


Thank you! I do forget at times HackerNews receives international viewers. I have made edits to my posts to reflect that my advice is US-centric.


Why would you not give 2 weeks (or really any reasonable time) notice? What do you gain from not doing it? (especially compared to the hassle for your employer and the potential of it coming back to haunt you)


Over my 14 years of work experience, I have occasionally encountered work environments that have turned extremely hostile for my last two weeks, simply because I decided to leave (I was once told by my manager at a DOE energy lab when I was in my mid 20s that he should "slap the shit out of me" for leaving, but that is a tale for another post).

"Reasonable" is up to you. As I said, notice is not (EDIT: as asked by other posters, this is US-centric advice. Please verify this applies in your jurisdiction) required. An employer is not required to provide you with any notice to terminate you, and therefore I only provide notice if I believe the work relationship will be amiable for the duration after I give notice.

Sometimes, you gain nothing from giving notice, and I refuse to allow fear ("hassle for employer", "coming back to haunt you") to drive my decisions.


Interesting. Were these environments where you would have expected that bad of a reaction?

(Here in Germany these things are a bit different anyways, default period is a month and can be longer by individual contract. Sometimes it is matched to the notice times the employer has to give, which go up to 7 months(!) for people that have been employed for a long time)


Very interesting! I wasn't aware of that in Germany. Thank you for informing me!


Leaving immediately is also considered “burning bridges” and depending of how much you was needed it might be even worse than being honest.


As a result, their last two weeks were full of tense meetings, shouting matches, threats of lawsuit from both sides, and dirty things being said behind their back.

That employee was foolish to stick around. At the first sign of hassle from the employer you scoop up your things and walk out the door. Your local labor laws cover you as far as making sure your last paycheck is delivered within a certain amount of time.


Giving feedback when leaving depends very much on:

   * how much you care about improving the company 
   * your relationship with the person to whom you are giving the feedback
   * the interviewer's ability to effect change
However, put no advice for the company in your resignation letter. As stated elsewhere in the comments, keep it to a minimum to keep things simple.

But, if you trust the exit interviewer to both listen and possibly act on your feedback, feel free to give honest feedback during an interview. It's better to give constructive criticism ('the company could do better about communicating business challenges affecting comp') than to complain ('I'm leaving because even though we exceeded quota, my team didn't get any comp increases'). Just remember that because you aren't part of the team anymore, you have much less credibility than before.

I recently left a job and had an exit interview with the CEO (small company). I knew he could effect change, if convinced, and was trustworthy, so I offered some suggestions. I've left jobs with larger companies where the trust wasn't there, and didn't say much in the exit interview.


Agreed, the only thing the employer needs is that you are leaving voluntarily and that means that you cannot sue them later because you lost your job. In some states it will also prevent you from collecting unemployment.

So your name, the fact that you are resigning, and your proposal for your last day.

And as others have said, when you submit that understand that your employer may ask you to leave immediately, so be ready to collect your stuff and walk out the door.


This advice is solid if you're leaving because you have grievances.

Maybe it should go without saying, but if you're leaving on good terms, it can't hurt to say nice things in your exit interview.


Go a little above the bare minimum when it builds up bridges. But leave out anything that burns bridges.


This is the body of a boilerplate template that I've used the last two times I've changed jobs:

Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am leaving my position with [company name] on [full date of departure]. After much consideration I have decided to accept another job offer. My new position will enhance my career growth and will expose me to challenges and opportunities that I believe are in my best interest.

I value the professional relationships I have made with my coworkers, as well as yourself. Because of this, if there is anything I can do in my last days of employment to help transition my work, please let me know.


That's a good professional resignation letter - keep those bridges unburnt and leave on a positive note.


This is all you need to say.

If you are pressed on your reasons in a meeting or otherwise, make it clear that it was a hard choice and that you thought through it very well so that they don't counter the offer.

Keep it professional. It's all upside if you do.


This is perfect and provides the exact amount of detail that you should offer in your exit interview or when pressed in person.


I am resigning my position with $EMPLOYER.

My last day will be date(today + 14) % weekend.


Don't give your company anything more than this, they don't deserve any more and anything else you volunteer can ONLY hurt you (Anything you say can and will be held against you....) also you risk burning bridges. While you may never want to work for the company ever again you might want them as a reference down the line.

I tried telling the truth in my first exit interview and all it did was burn bridges and make people mad. I wasn't even pulling skeletons out, I just stated the facts for why I was leaving and when they tried to counter (Another thing, NEVER accept a counter offer) and I refused they got all mad because they thought they were addressing all my reasons for leaving but I was still leaving. Don't give them that chance, you already know you want to leave, don't waste yours or their time trying to convince you otherwise.


"(Another thing, NEVER accept a counter offer)"

Over the years, I've heard this advice repeatedly, but with often wildly different reasons. I'm genuinely curious what your rationale for this advice is.


You already don't like working there. You may be able to identify one or two reasons, but in reality it's the whole mix. The only thing they can offer as a counter is money and a promotion. The promotion is just deck chair movement, and they can't possibly offer you enough money to make you insanely happy; even with the money, your future raises will very possibly be flattened until you're back where you were, relative to the market. And the people and policies and every other undefinable thing that went into your decision are still there.

The managers may also be resentful and suspicious of you.

Lose/lose.


a3n pretty much said everything I was going to. I heard it from my dad originally and his reasoning was that if you aren't happy then a title change/money isn't going to fix that long-term. Also most people, myself included, are bad about letting that shit stew until it bubbles over and in my experience there is nothing that can be done to reverse that. Normally the trust is lost and can't be gained back and even it could your life will be magnitudes of times better to just move on from a toxic environment instead of trying to change the company you are currently at.

The future consequences are also huge, you may no longer be seen as "team player" which can slow or halt your career, better to not take the chance and move on.


>Don't give your company anything more than this, they don't deserve any more and anything else you volunteer can ONLY hurt you

I'd have to disagree. Don't say anything negative. Don't talk about why you are leaving. But you can say some positive things. How you had a great time working with $team. How you hope that $project will be a success. How you will miss $company_gathering.


I can agree with that, I really meant negative things only as the OP mentioned his discontent with working there but yes, always good to score a few more points on your way out even if you don't think you will need them.


When people resign right after an announcement like that, no one needs to ask why. They are factoring in some attrition -- perhaps they might even want some.


Get a new job first. Then quit.

Downside: You're in a sucky environment for 1-6 months longer.

Upside: You have a LOT more negotiating leverage for your next job.


You might also temporarily benefit if others on your team start quitting before you.

Management might throw some short-term things your way if you smile politely and play along until you have the next position lined up. The trick is to NOT LET THEM KNOW you're looking. Don't take recruiter/interview calls during work hours. Don't use company computers to scrub job boards and handle applications.

Your impulse is to walk away, and that's a hard impulse to fight, but believe me it will look better during interviews when you don't have a gap on your resume.

How will you answer questions about that? "Oh, I walked away in a huff when I didn't get a raise" signals that you could be a potential problem if/when problems arise at your new employer as well.

Every company has financial hiccups. Even if you aced your work every single quarter there are going to be cashflow problems somewhere else. Dig in, put your ear to the ground, and find out what is really happening in your company.


It depends. If you're "hot" in the market and/or if you have a big emergency fund, consider having a 1-2 month mini-sabbatical between jobs (you can even ask the new employer to postpone the starting date).

You will never get a chance like that. Of course, it doesn't always work, it really depends on the situation.


The problem with quitting before getting a new job is:

There's no guarantee you can find a new job right away, no matter how hot your skills are or how brilliant you are.

Also, you have less negotiating leverage when you're unemployed. If you are currently making $X and you get an offer for $X, you probably could negotiate for $X+10 or $X+20. If you're unemployed, and have been on the market awhile, you might get lowballed into taking $X or $X-10.

That actually happened for my current job. The boss was considering initially offering me my current salary, but I honestly said "I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll just keep looking instead." Then he wound up offering a 30% rate increase.


Except that if you quit and they offer to boost your pay, it's hard to take that offer if you've already (or nearly) accepted another job.

It might help to use a reference from the current employer too which is possible if you quit first.


None of it. A resignation letter exists only to resign:

    $TODAY

    To Whom it May Concern: 
    
    I would like to inform you that I am resigning 
    from my position here at $EMPLOYER, effective $DATE. 
    
    Sincerely,
   
    
    $ME
edit: be prepared, depending on the employer and the nature of the work, to be asked to leave immediately.


There is absolutely no harm in putting in a polite sentence expressing your gratitude for being given the opportunity to work at $COMPANY, and expressing your best wishes for their continued success. But perhaps I'm just an overly polite Englishman...


I tried to give notice at AOL once. HR rejected the letter due to some expletives, and asked for a revised version. I then submitted a 1-sentence notice.

Lesson learned; don't swear in notices, but also keep it simple. Even if you tried to offer them your honest view of how things were, chances are they'd get filed in a drawer and stuck away.

It took a number of people handing notices day-by-day at AOL before HR clicked that something was wrong, so at that point they invited the Sales team to the NY office (the sales team hadn't been on an overseas trip before). It was a nice gesture of the company; shame that the people got food poisoning on the first night.


What does it even mean for them to reject a notice? Were they going to insist on paying you even after you stopped showing up, otherwise?


They did him a favor, and helped him not look like an ass in his file. He'll exist as data for the life of the company, it may as well be neutral data.


Good point. We hear "HR's there for the company's sake, not yours" repeated so often (with good cause), that it's easy to forget that individual actors can still act with above average altruism.


True. My notice wasn't accepted until the 2nd version a few days later. Because of that delay, my leaving date moved to the 2nd February, which meant that I received the company's annual bonus payment as I was still on the books in February.

In some ways, you could say that swearing got me my bonus.


I wouldn't assume they had actually considered that.


Only tell them you are leaving and if they ask you why just say something about a better opportunity and/or you were made an offer that was too good to pass up. If you HAVE to give a reason make it about how great of an opportunity the new job is instead of talking about why you want you don't like about the company you are leaving. You gain nothing from being honest and you can potentially burn bridges and/or ruin them as a reference in the future.


You should include the fact that you're leaving, when your last day will be, and (optionally) a sentence about your willingness to "help to make the transition as smooth as possible".

Keep it concise.


Never burn bridges.

Keep it as formal as possible and be polite. If you have an exit interview, don't complain about former peers or managers.


you do not, you never put something like this in writing. it can and will come back to hurt you.

what a3n said.


Given the overwhelming majority view here, I'm going to do the opposite and write a spectacular bridge burning letter and post it publicly. No one will forget me.

Seriously -- thanks for the input, everyone. I'll keep it short, simple, and professional.


Keep it minimal. Resignation letters serve one purpose: a formal way to end your contract.

You can tell them that yu are giving them whoever much notice you're required to give; yu can tell them what you think your last working day is; you can ask them if there's anything they want you to focus on before you leave.

Raising the problem of mot being rewarded for work done is done through other measures, before you resign. You can mention it carefully during an exit interview - "I worked hard, my team beat expectations, I felt devalued when we didn't get the bonus." But it's probably best not to.


As others have stated: Have a new job lined up before submitting this letter. Make the letter neutral, and keep the frustrations to yourself.

You may be able to use your current employment as leverage as you locate this new job. I was personally in a very similar situation, the end result was that the new company wanted to hire me ASAP and offered a decent pay raise over my current job; I put in my two weeks notice and revealed nothing. In the end, I was offered a raise at my old job (turned down); months later they wanted to contract me for some work on the weekend, and they've made it clear there's an open door if I ever want to return. Requesting two weeks before you can begin work (for time to put in your two weeks notice) to your new employer also demonstrates your loyalty and stability, something a good employer will recognize & respect.

edit: My resignation also marked the first of my team's mass exodus. 6 months later, everyone I worked with has left, and they've got a completely new team. A word of warning (at least in the US), you don't want to be caught trying to get your coworkers to leave, and especially not to get them to follow you to a new employer.


Not sure if this is relevant in your situation, but you say this "obviously had a negative affect on morale".

Sometimes tough decisions must be made, so before resigning (possibly out of frustration/disappointment) get the facts and the actual reason - and base your decision on that instead.

(of course, if senior management actually didn't inform about the reason - that might be reason itself to leave anyway...)


Lack of transparency is IMO an even bigger problem than lack of acknowledgement.

It could be argued that there would have been other ways to acknowledge the success in sales than handing out money (though depending on how this has been handled before, that could still have come across as trying to be "cheap" and have the opposite effect).

But if it's not possible to determine whether the increase in sale had any effect on the overall finances of the company or whether the company was all-in-all doing better or worse, that's a huge problem IMO.

I've seen business owners try to shield the actual finances of their company from their employees to siphon more money out of it far too often to see financial intransparency as anything other than a huge warning sign.

Note I'm not talking about the exact numbers. But if the company is doing badly when every metric accessible to the employees indicates otherwise, something is definitely amiss.


"To <Manager>,

I've decided to resign my position as <position> at <company>.

My last day of work will be <2 weeks from today>.

Sincerely, <name>"

During the exit interview your reason for leaving is "decided it was time to leave to pursue other opportunities."

Public leaving letter you send out to coworkers: "Hi guys, it's been awesome working with you. I've met some truly exceptional people and you all have lots to be proud of.

I've decided to move on and pursue other things, but I truly wish everybody here the best and continued success and good luck!

Feel free to reach out to me at <personal email address>"

Your employers aren't stupid and people leaving right after they decided to do this will be an obvious cause and effect. Bonus, if they're contacted later on by a future employer for a reference, your outgoing personnel file won't be filled with bridge burning that could harm you later.

Everybody gets dissatisfied with their job at some point and leaves, it's part of being a working professional. Learning how to do it in a professional way is an important skill to develop.


This, this, this!

Even if you're very friendly with the C-team at your company, DO NOT GIVE HONEST FEEDBACK. It can only hurt you in the future. I, myself, made this mistake a few years ago, and now I'm always worried a potential employer will ask for a reference from that particular employer.


OP, i'm going to add another comment here to what i said earlier. before you quit, go in and talk to someone in senior management.

ask for a meeting with someone senior, let them knows it's important. when you get the fifteen minutes you asked for, raise you concern. it undermines trust between sales and senior management, it's a big stress, etc. give them a chance to respond. there may be a perfectly sound reason for it - the money may piss you off but it may also mean the business can stay around longer for everyone.

if you don't like what you hear, pull out your short letter of resignation, sign it, and hand it over. don't make a stink, just say, "i'm sorry, i don't think i can do this. i have to resign."

but you gave them a chance, you were heard, and you made an opportunity. they'll connect the dots, but no harsh words should be spoken (no "get bent you jerk!"). don't burn any bridges, but this will be a way to be clear about what happened, and it may create an opportunity, in fact (who knows).

i hope that helps.


Ask yourself what purpose you wish to achieve? Do you want them to change their decision? Are you concerned that they might want to accuse you of leaving for some other reason, and you want to document it?

Keep it short unless you want to achieve something specific, and then include only the verbiage relevant to that purpose.


What I'd like to achieve is an improved environment for the people I work with. The company is based in another country and the entire senior management are natives of that country, despite over 50% of the revenue being generated in my office. The lack of reward for exceeding quota is just the latest in a line of disrespectful behaviors.

I have a better offer for a job I'm looking forward to starting, so there's nothing I can do that will help me personally. It feels more honest to me to be upfront and, who knows, it might help my colleagues.

I don't think being frank will affect my ability to get references from the people here. Aside from that, are there any other risks?


Keep in mind that an enormous amount of business is done through personal relationships. Future job offers, sales, and other opportunities will come from people you have worked with in the past and who respect you. So, focus on that.

Keep the formal resignation letter short. It's perfectly fine to include a few pleasantries (unless you plan to sue them for something in the future.)

Then, if you wish, have some private conversations with management and give them an honest assessment of how they could better achieve their own purposes. Keep the focus on helping them. Take your former bosses out for coffee they next time they visit. Give them insights that they would not other get. Keep up your relationships with your former colleagues as well.

That's the purpose you should keep in mind. It's more than not burning bridges. It's about creating future opportunities for yourself. Create lemonade from today's lemons.

Edit: do this even if they're all evil bastards. You never know what will come of it in the future.


> I don't think being frank will affect my ability to get references from the people here.

That's a mistake. You may see it as frank and constructive feedback, but they may see it as complaining and acting unprofessional. Is it really worth risking it?


Don't put it in the resignation letter.

If you really want to let them know why, tell them in the exit interview.

If they don't perform an exit interview, well that tells you they give no fucks about what you think anyways, so you'd be wasting your breathe.


Couple of anecdotal factoids for you from a career veteran.

#1 The tech industry is small. #2 The circles you move in are smaller.

Keep it professional, keep it simple, and always resign with decorum.

Many others have stated here the purpose of a resignation letter, but I would add that I extend it to verbal too.


Don't judge for this decision because of the sales. Probably they have more spendings this year, or other capital investments.

No one is happy with such news, as others said - start searching for a new job and once you find, then quit.


You only include more stuff in your resignation letter if you think that you need to cover your butt from something going on in the organization. If there is some unethical, illegal or other bad conduct, it's your venue to put on the record your concerns and your disconnect from the situation.

Once you do this, you're setting the bridges on fire when you leave, so only do it to protect yourself.

Otherwise, say something like "Dear Boss, I'm resigning my position, effective xx/yy/zz. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute and I'm happy to assist in the transitioning my work."


I'd make my resignation letter quite minimal. It will likely go in a file that will outlast the context of your time at the company and reason for leaving. Thus whatever you say there will have an increasing chance of coming back to bite you later. Your exit interview may or may not become part of your permanent record but you can convey better context in the interview. I'd still be careful to think about how your statements would be viewed in 1 to 5 years after they are given. I think it's better to err on the side of discretion.


> I'm resigning from my job today because...

Is the lack of increased compensation/bonus/promotion truly the deciding factor to resign? or were there other issues?

Especially in early-stage companies with ambitious growth plans it's easy to promise these things. But it can be very hard to actually deliver on cash-flow, in spite of achieving managements projected targets. You may for example, negotiate a differed comp/bonus plan if you decide to stay.


Follow the advice in the rest of this thread: keep it neutral or positive. Maybe things turn around for you, and although you now think that you will never return at this company, in five or ten years time you might think differently. Your situation may have changed, the economy may have changed, the company may have changed, and either of these may make it totally different.


Doesn't get much simpler than Richard Nixon's:

http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/hi...


Get out and say as little as possible, be respectful.


I once resigned from a job because of bad management and a toxic environment (high employee turnover, employees were strong-armed into agreeing to unrealistic deadlines then held accountable, every failure always meant someone would have to take the blame and be scolded for it, etc). Because of false loyalty and a nurtured feeling of guilt, I waited too long and only resigned when it had already begun affecting my health (physically and mentally).

I made the mistake of trying to be honest. I explained why I felt that the work environment needed to be improved. I tried not to come across as accusatory and didn't blame anyone, just stating that the environment negatively affected my health and that it was likely the reason for other systemic problems (e.g. the high turnover) the company was facing and should be addressed.

Big mistake.

To keep a long story short, I ended up suing the company because they withheld payments arguing I owed them work (and in fact threatened to sue me over that). I would have likely won, but agreed to a settlement (that mostly consisted of them giving me money and me signing a statement that I had already turned in all property of theirs before quitting -- which wasn't really contested to begin with).

All in all, it wasn't worth it. I lost a budding friendship with a colleague who stayed with the company (and likely had to bear the fallout from my resignation) and the first couple of weeks after the resignation (before I decided to sue and was able to hand it all over to a lawyer) were a complete nightmare, even though I didn't spend a single day of it at the company.

Now there is a company out there where employees think badly of me because they were either hired during the fallout or were told stories about it if they joined after the fact. There's an employer who hates my guts and may have told others to avoid me. And there's a company I'll have to avoid working with (directly or not) in the future.

I'm sure there was no possibility of a "good" ending at the point I quit to begin with because my biggest mistake was holding out until I was too broken to leave gracefully. But I'm also pretty sure a simple "I'm leaving for greener pastures" type resignation could have at least avoided fuelling the fire.

Don't ever go into the details about why you're leaving. If anyone depends on you, make sure to find a graceful transition for them (if only by informing them well in advance), but don't ever say anything that implies they should have done things differently.

Despite what people say, most of them don't want your honest opinion. They just want to hear they've done nothing wrong. You're already causing a disruption for them by leaving, don't allow them to spin it into an attack. You're far more likely to make them think if you don't give them an opportunity to think of you as an aggressor (and if they will do so anyway, you have lost nothing).

On the flip side, the right time to bring up problems is while you are still intent on working there. If delivering outstanding work is not acknowledged, address it before you have decided to leave. As an employee, your opinion holds weight (because ignoring it may result in your resignation). If you've already resigned, you've already played your hand.

(If you do, however, maintain a friendship with your former employer, you may be able to talk to him about the reasons why you left, but not as an ex-employee at work, but as a friend -- preferably in a different environment altogether.)


My advice: Keep your resignation letter very short and sweet. The purpose of a letter of resignation is really just to formalize your decision to leave so there's a document that can be used to manage that process. All it really needs to say is that you've decided to leave, when your last day will be (I strongly recommend giving two weeks' notice), and something like, "I appreciate the great opportunity I had to work here, and I wish you all the best in the future".

I'm writing a career management guide, and one of my chapters ("How to leave a job on the best possible terms") is exactly about this. You may also have an exit interview coming up, and that situation is similar (my chapter covers exit interviews in detail as well).

Here's the summary section from that chapter—maybe there are some things here that could help you make sure you leave on the best possible terms :)

— Leave on the best possible terms, even if you feel slighted — It’s always difficult to put on a happy face when things aren’t going well, but this is a time when you can really boost your reputation.

— Ask your manager and co-workers what you can help with before you go — Do this and you will make a lasting impression on your co-workers.

— Document the projects you’re working on so your successor is prepared — Your successor will have a much easier time absorbing your work, and they’ll thank you for it.

— Bundle up relevant documentation, emails, etc., and make sure they’re saved somewhere that others can get to them — Most companies are moving to cloud-based storage, so it may all be out there anyway. Even so, put together a master document that points to everything they’ll need.

— Make sure to return all your equipment in good shape, and do it quickly — Most of the time, you are just borrowing company property. You should return it in good shape, just like you would want your own property returned if you lent it out.

— Reach out to your closest co-workers to make sure they’re part of your network before you go — Your network is one your most valuable assets for finding future career opportunities.

— Reach out to your colleagues to say goodbye and share your contact information — If you’ve done all these things, you’ve left a great impression. Make sure your old co-workers know how to find you if they need someone like you in the future. And be sure to reach out to your closest co-workers to personally say goodbye whenever possible.

— Be vague and use positive language in your exit interview — It feels strange to advocate for being vague, but the exit interview is one of the times when it’s necessary. You won’t benefit by baring your soul on your way out, and the company isn’t going to change because of your feedback. Keep it short, sweet, and surface-level.

That's a one-page summary of the chapter, but the chapter itself goes into quite a bit more detail.

You can get the full chapter for free here: http://JoshDoody.com/leave?ref=hn6


It depends.

The advice you're getting, to say basically nothing, is sound under all circumstances. However...

If you don't need to work again { at this company, in your industry, in your city, at all }, you should feel free to say whatever you want. That freedom takes years or decades of hard work to earn, and once earned should be used! Just how willing you should be to burn bridges depends on your personal situation and the nature of your industry and profession; if these are not people you would ever work with or for again anyway, and you wouldn't want a job with someone else in the same city or industry who respects their opinion, then the advice to say nothing for your own sake does not apply.

All that said, what are you trying to accomplish? If you've decided to resign and that decision is final, you're not going to accrue any benefit yourself. If you're looking for a counteroffer, forget it; you likely won't get one, and you'll be a marked man if you do. If your motives are altruistic (either for the benefit of the shareholders or your peers), then you must be hopelessly naive. These people are corporate managers, and so are their superiors; they've been carefully selected for sociopathy, greed, and incompetence by a mature and very stable set of processes. They know morale is in the tank and they don't care. The company is probably in trouble owing to mismanagement and they're probably hoping a few people will leave on their own so they can save themselves not only the cost of pay rises but also of severance. Telling them what they already know will, at best, give them fodder for the jokes they'll tell at your expense in the executive washroom. If your goal is simply to go out in style, don't bother with the letter; no one will read it anyway. Instead, write a public article (carefully avoiding the use of confidential information!) or invite all your peers out to a giant party at which you roast management ruthlessly. The leadership principle is to criticize in private and praise in public, but the opposite applies when dealing with corporate management: anything negative you want to say has to be said in public. Private criticism of corporate managers only gives them an opportunity to get ahead of you, whether by having Security remove you from the premises immediately, by slandering you among your peers, or by suing you. Why? Because when you tell them something you're not telling everyone, you give them information, and they will always use that information to their advantage and your injury. Unfortunately, if you have something negative to say about your employer, the only effective place to do so is in the press.

So while I disagree that one should never provide one's reasons out of self-preservation, I also don't see much point in using the letter of resignation as the means of doing so. Whatever your goals, there are better ways to achieve them.




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