How to resign

The resignation discussion is awful, we know. Even if you hate your job, your manager, and the company, resigning is not a comfortable situation for anybody. However, there are good ways of doing it, and bad. Unfortunately, too many people go for the bad one exactly because they hate their job at that moment.

But, however angry you are, it’s going to be better for you in the long run to handle your resignation with dignity and grace.

At Ambitions Travel Recruitment we would encourage you to keep your resignation simple. Remember that there is a human being on the receiving side of the resignation. You want to avoid conflict and leave with your head held high and your nose not cut off to spite your face. Your boss, or your HR specialists doesn’t exist in a vacuum, they know other people in the industry. It only takes a bit of gossip for your reputation to be on the line (even it you’re in the right).

Don’t fling accusations around at your resignation

It’s just not worth spilling the beans on why you have grievances with your current company at the point of resignation. If you want to address any issues while you still work there, that may well be valid – but again, should be done with grace and dignity.

At the point of resignation, it is often better simply to say that you have a new job with someone else. You’re under no obligation to tell the full truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in this instance. This is particularly true if the person who you can’t stand working with is the boss!

Of course, if there has been misconduct at work, you should address this in a professional way, preferably with advice from a legal source.

Being respectful during your resignation is a no-brainer. Always resign in person, keep your statement factual and ideally only state the main reason for your decision to leave. Don't enmesh your resignation with trivialities as this will cause conflict. Commit to your notice period if that has been requested and don't burn any bridges.

However, much you want to get your own back, telling the full truth (as you see it) during a resignation is likely to harm you more than it will harm anyone else.

On the verge of resigning and need a new job? Check out our travel and hospitality vacancies here >