How to Quit a Job

Showing 23 articles

How to Write a Resignation Letter - Including Examples

By Jennifer Verta, Monster Contributor

Ready to leave your job? Check out our letter of resignation samples to help you find the right words. Great news, you found a new job and are super-thrilled — way to go! There's one order of business you need to take care of before you start mentally decorating your new desk. You need to resign from your current job. So, you need to learn how t...

Strategies to Help You Quit the Job You Hate

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

If you're giving off "I hate my job" vibes to the point where the phrase may as well be stamped on your forehead, you're probably counting down the seconds until you quit. After all, with so many job opportunities out there today, why stay put when you can be quitting a job you hate and moving on to greener pastures? While it's great that you're...

Pick One of These 7 Ways to Quit a Job

By Dominique Rodgers, Monster contributor

If you're wondering how to quit a job, think of it like dating. Quitting your job is like breaking up with a partner. Sometimes you feel terrible about it; other times you feel pretty darn elated to be moving on. Alternately, you could feel overwhelmingly neutral. Do you find yourself contemplating jumping ship? Listen up. Harvard Business Revie...

How to Quit a Job You Just Started

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Between a new boss, new co-workers, and new office culture, your first few weeks at a job should be an exciting period in your career. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. In fact, a Monster poll found that 54% of respondents had quit a job less than 6 months after they started. If you're only two weeks in, and a voice inside your head is ...

Tips to Write a Goodbye Email to Coworkers

By Patricia Scanlon, Monster contributor

You got a new job, congratulations! Before you leave your current position, you'll want to send one final goodbye email to coworkers. Make that your soon-to-be-former coworkers. "A goodbye email helps you close the loop and put a bow on your employment before you move on, so be sure you send one," says Monster Career Expert Vicki Salemi. "It's a mi...

Exit Interview Tips for Professionals

By Dawn Papandrea, Monster contributor

Leaving a job always comes with mixed emotions depending on the underlying reason that you’re moving on. In order to make a clean, healthy break, you will likely be asked to take part in an exit interview. While it might seem grueling if you’re itching to get out of there and start a new job, an exit interview can actually be cathartic and help the...

How to Quit a Job Gracefully: 9 Practical Tips

By Dillon Price, Monster Contributor

Thinking about quitting your job? You’re not alone. Millions of people quit their jobs each month due to lack of promotion or growth, toxic work environments, incompatible workplace culture, or for bigger and better opportunities. If you’re considering leaving a job—especially a job you hate—it might be tempting to quit on the spot and walk out. Bu...

How to Resign From a Job and Protect Your Future

By Kathleen Walder, Monster Contributor

Daydreaming about how to resign from a job? Since you're reading this article on Monster, the answer is probably yes. Maybe you're looking for more money, a new career path, or flexible hours. Or you're part of the 57% of employees who want to quit because of their boss. Whatever the reason you'd like to leave, the overriding truth is that you'r...

5 questions to ask yourself before you quit

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Have you ever said the words "I quit" and wished you could take them back? Since there’s no such thing as a time machine (yet), this mistake can cost you—literally. Granted, in the heat of the moment, you may be emotionally charged and therefore unable to see beyond the next three minutes, which is what makes this whole quitting thing so risky. Bef...

What should you do on your last day of work?

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

Your last day of work is just as important as your first. By leaving on good terms, you’ll cement the work relationships that you’ve built since you started, which can go a long way if you need your manager's or a co-worker’s buy-in for future job searches. Also, you never know where you career path will take you—there’s always a chance you coul...

Leaving a job? This is how to negotiate your exit

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

You’re familiar with negotiating the details when you’re offered a job, but how about when you lose a job? That’s right: If you get laid off or resign from a job, you shouldn’t sign your exit papers without taking time to carefully investigate what you can negotiate. In fact, you may have more leverage than you think. Read your employee handbook...

How to make the most out of your last two weeks on the job

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

You’ve heard it before: You only get one chance to make a great first impression on your boss. The same can be said about leaving a great final impression. Knowing how to put in two weeks' notice without upending your workplace and burning bridges is a big part of that. Unfortunately, “a lot of people think their final two weeks is a time to coa...

Ask Vicki: How do I quit a job when I have no idea what to do next?

By Vicki Salemi, Monster career expert

Each week, Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi—a former recruiter who utilizes 15-plus years of experience in recruiting and human resources to empower job seekers—answers user questions on Quora. We’ll be republishing the answers here. If you have a question for Vicki, send it to socialmedia@monster.com. Q. How do I quit a job when I have no i...

25 ways you might accidentally burn bridges when you quit a job

By Dominique Rodgers, Monster contributor

Trust us on this: You don’t ever want to be what the HR lady thinks of as “a good story.” Those “good stories” make for bad references, missed opportunities and denied requests for favors. And far too often those stories are about a worker burning bridges during his or her exit from the company. It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of get...

Is quitting your job via text taboo?

By Isabel Thottam

To: Boss. “I quit.” Send. Done. Quitting via text sounds a lot easier than having that awkward conversation about your two weeks’ notice, right? Or maybe you’re reading this going: “Are you serious?” Like it or not, millennials, dubbed the generation of quitters, are approaching office communication in a whole new way. They’re texting to communicat...

The 9-step exit strategy for quitting your first job

By Daniel Bortz

You’re nearing the end of your first job and things look great: Your co-workers adore you, you’ve honed your skills and the boss doesn’t want to see you go. Or, in a less ideal world, you hate the company or your boss. Regardless of your reasons for leaving, the way you resign can have a major impact on your reputation. In fact, a Robert Half su...

These managers share the worst ways employees quit their jobs

By Daniel Bortz

Breaking up with your boss via email or text message is one thing. (And, sadly, such methods have become commonplace.) But turning in your resignation in the form of a ransom letter, or trashing the office on your way out? Err…talk about making an exit. “People are all too quick to burn bridges,” says Amy Glaser, senior vice president at worldwi...

4 of the wildest quitting stories we've ever heard

By Brooke Zambroski and Sarah Haberman

It’s inevitable. At some point in your life you’ll leave that job you love—or loathe—and move on to bigger and better things. Maybe it’s for a pay increase, maybe it’s time for a change, or maybe you downright hate your job. Whatever your reasoning, at some point you’ll likely announce your resignation. How you do it, however, is up to you, and ...

7 mistakes to avoid when leaving a job

By Daniel Bortz, Monster contributor

If you’re thinking of leaving a job, you should also be planning how you’re going to make a clean exit. It’s important you leave on good terms with your boss and co-workers, as these people can serve as references for you in the future. Damaging any professional relationships on your way out the door could hurt you down the road. Don’t want that...

What to know before signing a nondisclosure or noncompete agreement

By Paul W. Barada, Monster Salary and Negotiation Expert

Despite the job market’s uncertainties and unpredictability, most experts say nondisclosure and noncompete agreements are becoming increasingly common. Why? As the economy becomes more technology-oriented, employers are more concerned about preventing the technical and intellectual property they’ve developed from being copied by others. Rick Lev...

Keep Your Cool in a Heated Resignation

By Susan Bryant, Monster Contributing Writer

It's the day you've been waiting for—the day you quit the job you really hate. If you loathe your boss, the work, or the whole package, you may be tempted to put into play that resignation fantasy you've been perfecting during your miserable hours on the job: giving your boss a PowerPoint presentation detailing his incompetence, telling coworkers w...

Benefits and Drawbacks of Phased Retirement

By John Rossheim, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

American workers of a certain age -- like you -- have strong notions about how they want the rest of their careers to go. Well past the halfway point of your working years, you want to make more room in your life for pursuits beyond gainful employment. But to avoid the psychological and financial shocks that prior generations of parents or grandpar...

Resign from a healthcare job the right way

By Megan Malugani, Monster contributor

Planning an escape from your current job? Everyone will face this task at least once -- or more likely several times -- over the course of a lifetime. You don't want to burn any bridges when you leave. After all, you may want to return to that employer someday, or you may cross paths with your soon-to-be ex-colleagues in another organization. "H...