How to Write a Resignation Letter

Keep it simple, courteous and to the point.
by Updated January 29, 2009

When it comes to giving your resignation you should always try and do the courteous thing. When you are quitting a job, don't go out with a bang, but rather try and slowly fade away. You need to be nice, appreciative, and have a clear point. Writing your resignation letter should be like writing almost any other letter. Here are some common techniques to use for writing a resignation letter.

Getting started
You should begin an inch down from your header; look at your status bar in Microsoft Word to tell.  You begin the letter by writing your full address and then the date. After the date, you need to space four times. Then write the name of the contact, their title, department, company name, and then the full address.  Double space after the address and write your greeting: Dear____:

If you have several bosses, you will want to let each of them know that you would like to quit. You can do this by sending copies out of the original letter (change the Name) and then stating on the bottom of the original that all got a copy.

The body of the resignation letter
After the greeting, you should double space and write your body. The body should state your name, title, the organization, and the date that you were hired in the first paragraph.  Then you should state your plan to resign along with your last full day. The second paragraph should be respectable. This is where you can explain how the company allowed you to grow and how you have been positively affected by the company. The third paragraph is where you express your sincerity. Tell them that you appreciate everything and everyone. Then you will double space and provide your closing. The closing should always be: Sincerely, then press enter four times and then type your name. After the letter prints out make sure that, you sign it.

When you are writing your letter, you should stick to the point and not go off into a story. You should try to cut out any repetition or anything that makes your message sound dragged out. Some phrases you should try to avoid are along the lines of, all the times, by the means of, bad, awful. Replace these phrases with short one-word phrases such as, like, always, by, inexcusable, and terrifying.

Avoid being too detailed
Just make short and simple sentences which are direct and to the point.  You also want to think about the reader and their feelings, so that you can make it a little bit more personal. The word 'you' is perfectly acceptable in the letter.  Instead of just saying "thank you", you should say "I want to thank you." That way they can feel that it was written to them.

One of the key points that everyone learns sometime or another is not to burn bridges. You never know when things will fall through and you may need to go back to a person in your past. Thats why you should be considerate of the reader and constructive, so the letter has a mutual or positive feeling.

Delivery of your resignation letter
Put your letter of resignation in an envelope folded in threes and hand it to the boss's secretary, to be put in the boss's mailbox or handed to him or her directly.  When you go to hand the resignation letter in, don't make it a big deal. Try your hardest to downplay the news (unless of course you are retiring). Your transition from one job to the next should be smooth and without any confrontations. When asked where you are going, don't boast. In most cases you will just want to say that you are moving on in search of new opportunities.

 


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