Resignation Letter – How to Write an Awesome One!

Write an Amazing Resignation Letter

In 2012, a privateer in the employ of a faceless organization quit in the most ubiquitous way possible- he wrote a resignation letter (in the form of an e-mail). While I copy the contents of their resignation here verbatim, you must remember that the copyright rests with the nigh respectable gentle-person: keep a weather eye out, if ye seek to employ his words. Arr…

From: xx

Sent: Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 11:01 AM

To: xx

Subject: To whom it may concern..

Dear xx,

After an appropriate period of deliberation, I have come to the decision to tender my resignation from xxxxx, effective immediately.

Please know that I still maintain a high level of respect for you as a manager and supervisor, and I thank you sincerely for the support and assistance you have offered me in each of those roles. I have been proud to work for xxxxx for the past year; it has been a journey that has provided me an unparalleled foundation to move forward to new and exciting opportunities.

As such, I have decided to become a professional pirate. It has always been a dream of mine to live the life of a swashbuckling corsair, beholden to none and master of all I survey. Once my crew of unabashed rogues is assembled, we shall take to the capacious expanse of the high seas to pursue fortune, fame, and hair-raising adventure.

Our path may not be filled with the porcine comforts and technological marvels that xxxxx provides, but we shall nonetheless move forward to carve a name for ourselves in the annals of bold insurgency and death-defying derring-do. Once I have a keen blade at my hip and the Jolly Roger is flapping high above me, I believe I will find my true calling.

Please note that I am currently accepting applications for First Officer, if you are at all interested in applying. I will provide a full medical and dental plan, which will offer immediate coverage of all maladies other than scurvy and the occasional bout of rickets.

Sincerely,

Xxx

Beautiful, Isn’t it? I wish I ever resigned in this manner. And I have resigned- 5 different times in my career of 8 years (so far), and each resignation was a different circumstance. Each one!  So, how do you begin writing a resignation letter?

But before we begin,

The Basics:

What is a resignation letter?

Simply put, a resignation letter is an official communication to your employer of your intent to leave your current employment – specifically human resources, your manager, and possibly your colleagues.  

What purpose does it serve?

Apart from slave or bonded labour, the free world grants all employees certain rights usually defined in the employment contract, signed between the employer and the employee at the time of commencement of said employment.

The resignation letter conforms to a pre-requisite of this contract- assigning notice upon the wish to terminate the contract.

In other words, you signed a piece of paper which defined how much money you make at the job. It’s time to dig it out and give it a read (next time probably read it well BEFORE you sign it). This document has a clause stating the minimum notice to be served to by either party if they decide to part ways.

Next, let’s get some simple stuff out of the way, about the formatting or who you write to, etc. This will let us dive deeper into solving our particular problem.

Writing Basics

 Who to address the letter to

Informing your employer of the decision to leave.

As sure as the sun, the first step in a corporate/ company environment is to inform your employer that you have made a decision to leave. Large companies are labyrinth organisations with accounts, finance, HR, and operations departments. Every department will probably need to know you are leaving, and you are probably not in the mood to run from pillar to post to inform everyone.

It is always better to inform your immediate supervisor of your decision face to face. It is the dignified way! But, circumstances might not allow you to do that.

Write a letter to your immediate supervisor, marking a copy to your HR manager (assigned to you).

Simple as rain? Incorrect.

First, I am sure you use e-mail- so do that. Second, if you are in a large company, which you are because that’s where everyone works, you have an employee services portal. Log on (with the single sign-on), look for admin related stuff (employee self-service or some version of it), and look for your HR manager.  You will find his name & Email ID there.

Variation: Don’t copy the HR manager {Tantrum variation}

Welcome to the complexities of the corporate world. Whether or why you CC somebody is as important as the person cc’d. Not the actual person, but the fact that you cc’d him. Senior people in a company are like SEO ranked pages with very high DA {Domain Authority}. They gather link juice (tons of people cc them).

Back to the point, if you just wish to throw a tantrum and attempt to scare your supervisor in order to test his/her resolve/your importance in the team or project, don’t copy the HR. Chance are that the move backfires and you actually do have to leave- so be prepared for that. Ideally, your boss should have a chat with you and discuss your issues, etc., and offer a raise/promotion or just say, “Finally! Bye bye!”.

Address:

“Dear Sir?” Thy shalt call your Manager by his first name- the 1st commandment of corporate life. So, make it personal- Dear <first name>, nothing else will do, okay?

How to close the letter-

Remember, there is just one way to close a formal letter. “Sincerely”. In the faux pas and verbose-without-saying-anything world of Indian corporate, “Yours Sincerely” works great. Use either of the two, put a comma at the end of it (don’t be a jungle boy/girl), and write your name below it. Nothing else needs to be done.

Should I include dates in a resignation letter-

As such, you wouldn’t find a lot of people writing a lot of dates in emails. That’s because they are mostly transactional, and don’t need to go beyond last week, today, tomorrow, yesterday, next week, Monday, etc. But, dates are pretty important in a resignation letter. So, do mention them as often as possible- use today (13-Jan-2018), tomorrow (14-jan-2018), etc. This ensures there is clarity and no problems of the when-exactly-is-the-last-working-day kind.

To PS or not to PS-

While ‘PS’ was used in the days of pen and paper, today the antiquated method is used to send ‘side messages’ by lazy people who wouldn’t write another e-mail. Or very senior people who actually want to reduce e-mail clutter for everyone. Think about it, if valuable information is really missing in the email text? Why was the e-mail closed before that information was included? Please put whatever you need to in the main body of your e-mail. If you missed some information in the first draft, add, re-write, edit.

Finally, let’s dive deeper into the actual writing of the resignation letter

Assessing the situation:

Well, you have decided to quit, and let’s begin with broadly classifying the situation:

Your organization gave up on you:

Colloquially called ‘being fired’, ‘laid off’, ‘let go’, or ‘handed the pink slip’. You are told to leave at the end of your notice period, or your salary in lieu of notice is handed/promised to you.

Your organization folds:

Runs out of funds/decides to fold/can’t pay you anymore- a bad situation to be in, but s*** happens. All the time.

Leave quickly:

You decide to say sayonara from your position, but can’t fulfil the terms of the contract, like notice period, bond, etc.

Leave ‘normally’:

You decided to say “Goodbye and thank you for all the fish (or melons)” to your employer, and are fine with complying with the terms of the contract.

For points 1& 2, you are essentially just writing a thank you letter {so we won’t talk about that}. Here, we will tackle points 3 & 4 to figure out what your resignation letter should like.

 Writing a Resignation Letter when you don’t wish to adhere by the agreed upon T&C

This is indeed a sticky situation, but one that we often come across in the Indian context. Companies, instead of giving the employees high quality work, growth, and learning opportunities, dump a 1,2 or 3-year sign-on bond on them. Talk about an ultra-lazy HR policy. Bit, instead of ranting about it, I’m going to offer a possible solution. The answer, mostly, is to plead: beg, borrow, steal, etc. Don’t go all ‘Rajaji Harishchandra’ on the situation- if you get my drift.

  • The Subject Line: Your subject line will have to be exceptionally clear, made ever difficult as you’re tackling 2 subjects. Let’s knock out a few:

    1. Intimation of resignation & Request for waiver of notice/bond.

    2. Request for (notice period/ financial bond) waiver upon resignation

    3. Plea to waive off the financial bond for termination of duties

    4. An appeal for financial bond waiver with resignation from assignment

As you notice, the subject line should be humble, bending over backwards to get something done.

  • First Para: the intention in the first para is to restate the purpose of the letter, making it as clear as possible. While you have many more words at your disposal than a subject line, don’t make it verbose, or stuff it with information. State your intention. Get out. (to the next para). Let’s get some done:

I wish to inform you of my decision to initiate the separation process from <company name>. I also would like to draw your attention to my desire to be {released earlier than the stated period of notice in my contract} {released without fulfilment of the financial bond which might be applicable in my case}.

After much deliberation, I have reached a decision to resign from my position at <company name>.  I would also wish to be released without the burden of the financial bond to which I might be subject OR I would also wish to request you to consider the notice period as stated in my employment contract in my particular case.

  • Second Para: Let’s follow this up with a stellar second paragraph- you must use all your creative and penmanship faculties to forge every solitary word of this paragraph with singular dedication. This is make or break:

While I have been a dedicated soldier under your Generalship the past xx months, I have befallen grave circumstances recently. My health has deteriorated at an escalating pace, and I have found myself unable to dispense of my duties responsibly. While I continue to make efforts to pull myself back from the abyss, I would be extremely grateful if you would consent to let me walk away with some semblance of my dignity and my health as a saving grace, intact. In the context of the situation, I take the liberty to plead with you to extenuate my circumstance with allowing me to withdraw my services {earlier than is expected by the organization. Without submitting to the inequity of the financial bond, which, in my present case, would ruin me.}

  • 3rd and Final Para: You have, hopefully, already laid the ground work. Now is the time to lay the final touches to your story. Bring your personality out on this one- request your boss (or your mentor in this case could be the boss’s boss) to help you out. Maybe you could appeal on a personal capacity, or you could recall (in an instance) how you are immensely dedicated to the company through thick and thin, etc.
  • Closing Line: This is just a line (10 or thereabouts words) which are sandwiched between the last para and the “Sincerely”. Take your time to craft it. Say – ‘hoping to hear back from you on a positive note’ or ‘I hope my appeal does not put you in much discomfort’, or something in that region. Don’t make this too pushy, or tread too far away from propriety. Otherwise, very difficult to get this one wrong.

Writing a Resignation Letter when you agree to adhere by the T&C:

This resignation letter is much easier for us to write, usually because you are tackling only one issue- that of intimating your employer officially about your impending departure. Still, you want to write the e-mail as professionally as you possibly can, while still letting your personality shine through. Your main objective of writing this is that you want to leave at the best possible footing with your boss, the department, and the organization. Life’s long and has many ups and downs- you need to be prepared for any eventuality- especially if all it takes is to leave good memories of your departure.

  • Subject Line: Right, diving right into it- this should be quite straight forward:

“Intimation of Resignation from my duties as ABC at XYZ Pvt. Ltd. “, “Requesting a release from my Duties at <company name>”, or the more ubiquitous “Letter of Resignation” {Damn that’s dull, though, what’s the fun in that?}. I could recommend saying something like, “<Boss’s name>, I had fun working with you, but I think I’ll go now”, but I fear it might cross a line with a few people, so yeah, be careful.

  • First Para.

I have always used this first para (in a situation like this) to enumerate the good the company has done, how the recipient of the e-mail is the best boss in the whole world, and the company is the best you have ever worked for. As a good segue into the second para, I would start moving the conversation towards myself, saying something like {My personal journey with the company has been very similar to the ebb and flow of <the company> the last xx years.} and so on. 

  • Second Para

This needs to be completely about you. Enumerate (more like remind) the boss/company the good that you have done while at the company. Some stellar achievements of yesteryear (not awards or anything) but hard numbers that you achieved. That will leave you with a sense of achievement at the end of the act of sending the letter out, and fill your supervisors with a sense of loss and (possibly) dread of your impending departure.

  • 3rd, Final Para & Closing Line:

Thank the boss, the company, and use this as the closing thoughts, looking towards the future. “I wish the best for you, and for <company name>, and I hope our paths cross in the future. Thank you for everything, <boss’s name>”.

As a spicy side, you could throw in a quotation here. I mean, why not? Don’t try to take swipes at people with this- use something genuinely nice and that motivates the reader and fills him with happy thoughts!

Final Word:

Wait a second- are you sure you want to send in your resignation? Have you thought this through? I mean, sure, you got some great advice, and your next step is clear (at least in your head) but are you really going to resign, and send the e-mail out? No second thoughts or cold feet maybe? Here’s a solution:

Hit the send button- but send it to yourself first. See it sitting in your mailbox. Notice it. See what you can read, and what you can’t. Open the email and read through. Does it still convey the same message as you thought it did when you wrote it? Don’t rush this- there is no need to rush. Sleep over it, and read the email the next day.

Still not sure? Send it to a friend/ confidant. Someone who you trust unequivocally. Ask him/her for feedback or advice. I have Dash for that, he reads all my e-mails (which are worth anything). He gives me feedback, and that’s how I get better. You should send this resignation letter to your friend for advice. Only good things can come from it.

Of course, you have us too. Feel free to send out your queries to cowabunga@marketersincubicles.com

Advice is free- any corrections/manual labour attracts a small dearness allowance. You know, for breakfast cereal. (I love cashews in my cereal).

What happens next:

Yea, what does happen next? Well, for one, you hit ‘send’ and reflect on your journey. You prepare for your impending exit (hopefully a happy & smooth one) and your next adventure. This is an exciting time. You are wrapping up anything you are doing, and probably (if you’re lucky) doing a KT (knowledge transfer) with someone who is going to be taking over your duties.

But, in terms of the exit process itself,

  1. Your Supervisor will have a chat with you: He will try to reason with you, tell you the positives or negatives of your choice (depending on whether he wants you in or out). Good time to have a straight forward discussion, and discuss everything you need to. You can take a call as per the outcome of your discussion.
  2. If needed, the HR will have a chat with you: depending on the outcome of your conversation (if the exit is confirmed by your RM), an HR might or might not have a chat with you. This is just an official close on the ‘chapter’ that was you, so don’t make this a forum to air any dirty laundry. What’s in and of the team/department, must stay there.
  3. Ask for a recommendation/ reference: Depending on what your plan is next, you should inform your RM and HR (in person) that you plan to give their contact info to the next company/school if they need it. You don’t have to dictate terms, just information is enough.
  4. Read more: In my research for writing this article, I came across some great articles on the topic we have covered here. While most of them are in a very different context, they might shed more light for your situation.

—-No articles were hared in the writing of the piece. If you are concerned, here is a list of references—-

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Resignation-Letter

https://www.thebalance.com/best-resignation-letter-examples-2063519

https://www.thebalance.com/resignation-letter-samples-and-writing-tips-2063051

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-write-a-resignation-letter-2063073

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Finally, thanks for reading! Share your thoughts and outcomes of the process you followed. Any tips for us? Or other readers? Feel free to add them here, or mail them to: ashish@marketersincubicles.com