It’s often tough quitting a job, with all of the tedious responsibilities that this frequently has to encompass. Usually, one of the foremost requirements for leaving your place of employment is writing and delivering your letter of resignation.
This letter, generally considered to be essential with regards to the sole method of quitting your job politely, needs to be written with the utmost respect if you wish to leave on good terms. There are a few tips you can use to write a respectful and focused letter of resignation.
Some General Notes
Resignation letters are a form of formal and professional contact between you and your esteemed employer. This means that they have to be written with the greatest attention to respect in mind. Here are some ways to show respect in your resignation letter:
Use a Respectful/ Polite Tone
This is perhaps the most important thing with regards to showing respect. Choose words that are respectful and paint the situation positively. This should be fairly easy to do if you have an understandable reason for terminating your employment. Regardless of the reason, make sure to be polite and noninsulting throughout your resignation letter.
Use Formal Address
All letters should be written formally, with attention to the proper style of letter formatting. Make sure to put your name and contact information at the top of the letter. Start your letter with ‘Dear [name which your employer has asked you to call them by],’, and finish it off with ‘Sincerely, [your name]. Make sure that you address your employer by their chosen title or name of address throughout the letter.
Be Direct and Upfront
Make sure that your resignation letter makes it clear why you’re resigning, and how this will be occurring, according to your plans. Always make sure to state why and when you will be terminating your position of employment.
What to Include in Your Letter of Resignation (Who, What, Where, When and Why)
Writing a letter of resignation requires that you include a few things in the letter to clarify the situation. When drafting any kind of written document, you should always make sure to include the who, what where, when and why aspects pertaining to the situation, and resignation letters are no exception.
Make sure to include many of the following notes in your resignation letter. This article has these sentences listed in their most preferable order of listing, from an example resignation letter.
What You’re Doing and When You’re Quitting
Most companies regularly receive numerous letters from various sources on a daily basis. If you want your employer or hiring staff to recognize that the letter that you’ve submitted to them is your resignation letter, you have to state this within the first paragraph of your letter.
Ensure that you’ve stated that you would like to resign from your position and the date upon which you will be officially resigning. This date is your last day of work and usually will occur two or three weeks after the submission of your resignation letter. This part of the letter should look something like this:
I am writing now to confirm my resignation as of August 16, 2019, officially. I henceforth will resign from my position as a Dishwasher at the West Street Wilson Halibut House, three weeks from now.
Say ‘Why’ You’re Quitting
It is often also essential to say why you’re quitting your job, to give your employer some sense of clarity regarding your personal situation as well as the situation pertaining to the job itself.
It can often be hard to understand individual human motivation, and if you’re resigning solely based on your personal decisions, it’s likely that your employer had thought that you would stick around a little longer. Keep this part of the letter to the point, saying why you would like to resign, but don’t be too excessive.
I have made the decision to resign due to academic factors. I will be, as of September of 2019, be attending university overseas.
Thank Your Employer for the Job Opportunity
Let’s be clear. I never said that you had to like your job. Thanking your employer for the employment opportunity shows gratitude, and lets your employer know that you appreciate that they’ve trusted you with their business and its inflow of revenue. This section of the letter should look something like this:
I appreciate and would like to thank you for the opportunity that I have had as a Dishwasher at the West Street Wilson Halibut House. It had always been a personal aspiration of mine to work at a small startup such as this one. I want to thank you for providing me with the opportunity to work here.
Offer to help with any Resignation Requirements
Resigning from your job doesn’t always mean it’s over. There are occasionally times or moments wherein you’ll have to assist your employer in your resignation process. This can involve mundane and standardized tasks such as collecting tax return forms or cleaning out your personal workspace. Make sure that this has been clarified in your resignation letter at some point.
I would be happy to help with any additional requirements that precede my resignation.
Conclusion
Writing and submitting a resignation letter is just one of the many things that usually accompany quitting a job/ position of employment. If you’ve written your resignation letter respectfully and politely, you can usually expect that you will leave your job on good terms.
This can become difficult when considering all of the information regarding the job itself that must be included in the resignation letter. This means that the key to writing resignation letters lies not only in how polite you have worded the letter, but how well you can respectfully end the business relationship itself.
Despite just being tedious details, knowledge of your work and the requirements surrounding it can leave your employer with a sense of satisfaction, in knowing that they chose to hire the right person. When you leave your job on good terms, you improve your reputation in the community around you.
