Matthew Gates 7m 1,747 #quitting
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Quitting Your Company
You are happy to be employed and receiving a paycheck, but the job might be unsatisfying, not necessarily fulfilling, and you just tend to show up to work each day and tolerate being there. You may have asked for a raise but never received one; there may be no employee perks or benefits, or nothing to really keep you interested in doing your job for a company that just sees you as a means to an end, without taking your needs into account, such as a 401k, a health benefits plan, or even generous vacation time or paid time off (PTO).
You have thought about quitting on several occasions, applied to several other jobs, and even received a few interviews. One of those interviews happened to stick and they felt you were the right person for the job. Now it is time for the hard part: Telling your boss that you are quitting the job.
Knowing that you do serve a purpose, it is not commendable to just quit on the spot, leaving your position unfulfilled and empty for the remainder of the day and possibly longer. There are appropriate and generous actions you should consider before you quit the job cold-turkey.
When thinking about or even approaching your boss, you will probably feel nervous, anxious, and scared. These are completely normal feelings, especially if you have held the job for months to years at a time. New and exciting things are coming your way and you don’t know what’s going to happen. You are leaving for a new job, leaving all the people you know, the work you are used to, the company you have grown loyal to and have spent a few months or years at is now no longer going to be a part of your life.
You will be starting a new company, a new job, getting to know new people, dealing with new clients, and a new supervisor or boss. There is a lot to be nervous about but also excited at the same time. During these times, you should remain calm and understand that everything you are going through is a process that will eventually settle once you get used to everything.
Here are several things to consider:
Know what you want to do. You either want to leave the job or you don’t. If you are willing to negotiate a pay raise, as some companies want to negotiate and renew a salary increase with you in order to keep you around and not lose you, you will want to have a price in mind, or just know that you are leaving the company.
I originally began looking for a new job with the intention of using it to bargain and negotiate a new salary. What I did not realize was that I ended up liking the new company I would potentially be working for, and despite the fact that my boss offered me double my salary, the stress and nonsense I would have had to deal with for maintaining that doubled salary were not worth the slight increase of my pay raise by switching jobs. I ended up telling that boss that he was too late in noticing all my hard work and efforts, and that I was no longer interested in any salary negotiations with him, and would just be putting in my two weeks.
Approach your boss as a professional. Tell your boss or supervisor that you have found a new opportunity elsewhere and generously giving your two weeks notice. Inform your company that you have the best intentions for them and will assist in updating them or any new potential hire with the knowledge and information you have.
Do not feel guilty about leaving. Opportunity is everywhere and risks must be taken. If you are unhappy about anything in your current workplace, including your pay, and no action was taken to accommodate you, than you are right for looking to work for a company that respects you and wants to give you what you deserve.
Do not leave on harsh terms. Remain as professional as you can. Depending on the length of time you worked for your company, you will still want to use them as a reference for your work, your experience, and your skills. You also may want to keep in touch with former bosses or supervisors, who you can contact to help you out with networking and professional references.
Clean up after yourself. Clean out your desk, clean your desk area, and remove all personal belongings immediately. The last thing you want to look like is a slob who leaves your workplace a mess, because it looks like you never did care, nor do you care what happens to the company after you leave.
Respect the company you are leaving. As with cleaning up after yourself, this company did hire you, pay you, and gave you a professional experience. You want to know that this company is going to do well after you leave. Just because you left doesn’t mean business will stop. Wish the company and all those working for it the best of luck.
Respect and understand the privacy and data concerns. When working for any company, you are exposed to secrets and data that belong to the company. This information is not for stealing, to borrow, to sell, or to feel that it is yours to take. If you used a company computer, anything on that computer including the computer itself belongs to the company. You have no rights to keep that information, delete it, or destroy it in any way. Make sure you log out of all your personal accounts, clear your cache, and cookies and all information that is rightfully yours, such as your personal email and social media accounts. If you left memes or cat photos in the download folder, you can delete those, but don’t worry too much if you forgot. Your company will likely wipe the hard drive anyway.
Accept company estrangement and dissociation. During your last days, the company may treat you like a stranger and monitor you closely, as they are looking for suspicious activity and no longer trust you like they once did. This is completely normal, as the company’s interests are in protecting themselves from you, even though they may need you to finish up any of the task you are working on. Respect the fact that they are upset they are losing you, but business must go on as usual.
Accept co-worker estrangement and dissociation. Your co-workers, who were once joyful and happy to talk with you seem distant lately. They, in fact, were never really your friends, but your co-workers, and they are upset you are leaving them as well, but hopefully they do understand your reasons for leaving. However, they are not there to be your buddy, and they do not want to make things worse than they actually are, so they have accepted the fact that you are leaving, and you need to respect the fact that life and business will go on as usual, without you there.
Avoid sharing information about your other job. Your current company, boss, and co-workers do not need to know anything about your future plans. If you want to share the information, you are welcome to do so, but it is probably best for you to avoid sharing information.
Be an adult. No matter what you want to say or do, please do not take a shit on your boss’ desk, even if you think you can convince yourself that it’s a good idea, or just don’t care. Yes, you may think its funny and it could be a good confession to write about, but I assure you, the law and all the police officers involved, even if it may be a story for them to tell and have a good laugh about, still have to ensure the law is invoked due to your illegal actions. The closest my co-workers and I came to doing this was that my boss had his own bathroom in his office, so when he went out to lunch, we all happily went in there and dropped our S-bombs.
Whatever you do, you need to be the bigger and better person, keep your humanity and sanity going, and be an adult about the whole situation. You are not married to your job. You need your job as much as your job needs you, but in time, you both learn to live without each other. Lower paid / minimum wage jobs are places where you can easily be replaced, while salaried to more full-time jobs need more notice to replace you, as they may need to train your replacements.
Know this is the right decision you are making. Move on. Never look back. Look forward. Figure out what you’re going to do with whatever you have in front of you. Focus on keeping your job, moving up, figuring out how to use this job to your advantage, either to advance yourself, but hopefully to help advance the human race in some way. You’ll be alright. You’re an adult.
Stay Professional. You may need a reference, a network, or a friend. In most cases, you likely won’t. But there’s always that possibility that you do. Similar to being an adult, there are things that you can do and that you cannot do, legally or illegally, officially or unofficially, you must maintain yourself as a functioning human being in society. You may hug or ignore whoever you wish to, but leave with dignity intact, so that your dignity follows you to the next place of employment.
Pick a date to start your other job. Before you even quit or give your two weeks notice, be sure that you have a date of arrival or a hire date in which you will be going to your other job. There is nothing worse than telling everyone you are giving in your two weeks notice, only to find out you didn’t actually get the job.
Leave with a smile and a positive attitude. Life goes on and so shall you. You had a great experience, you acquired new skills, learned new things, and met new people, and you got to work for your now-former company. Respect your former company and all they have done for you. It is time to move on and advance to the next chapter of your life.
(
