Keeping favour as you wave goodbye
After the euphoria of landing a job it's easy to forget that you still have to resign from your current one. Colin Oliver, director of recruitment firm Manpower, says it's important to plan ahead to make sure your current employer isn't left feeling resentful.
"What you're trying to do is not burn a bridge in going," Oliver says. "You have to keep those networks open. You have to make sure you can possibly go back."
When quitting it's best to schedule a face-to-face meeting with your direct supervisor.
"Have a letter of resignation ready and be prepared to speak about a couple of the key reasons why you are leaving," Oliver says.
"You should also have a transition plan prepared for the manager about what you are going to do between now and when you leave the job."
By outlining what work you will have done by the time you leave and who will take on your responsibilities, you will reduce the burden on your manager, Oliver says. It will also provide you with a focus and motivation during the notice period.
"If the individual has done all that work for them then they're finishing off with a positive and that's where you can ask for the reference in the future," he says.
It's easy to become unmotivated once your resignation has become official.
"Even when people move internally within an organisation, once they get that new job they start thinking about it instead of the old one,'' he says. ``That's why the transition plan is exceptionally important."
Resignation letters should be no more than a couple of paragraphs and contain a few dot points on the reasons you are leaving the company, Oliver says.
It is important that these reasons are not petty and unreasonable.
"You should keep it quite brief. You just need to make it official that you are leaving the company," he says.
It's always good to take a break between leaving the job and starting the next one.
"It gives you an opportunity to refresh and reflect," Oliver says.
"If you are moving into another job you are going to have to start accumulating leave from scratch. You're looking at probably six months before you can start to take a week or two off."
Oliver also says it is foolish to use the threat of resignation to barter for a pay rise.
"You may be disappointed that they don't offer you anything," he says. "Or chances are they'll take you up on the offer and you won't have anywhere to turn."
A lot of people think the grass is greener on the other side, he says.
"They get there and they find it's not.
"It also means that further down your career you'll come across people you have worked with or for and you want to make sure that it's still a positive experience."
Many big firms try to keep in contact with former employees through alumni networks. PricewaterhouseCoopers runs an alumni program which has more than 100,000 members worldwide, including 8500 in Australia.
National lead partner for the program, Peter Mastos, says it offers former employees the chance to network and draw on PWC training programs. The network also works as a talent pool for the company to draw on.
"It's a big asset for us when someone rejoins the firm," he says.
By Henry Budd, The Daily Telegraph, August 25, 2007.
