If you have found a new job and signed the offer, all there is left to do is to resign from your current and soon to be old job, easy right? Well, it is not always so simple. Unless you hate your job and you think your boss is a jerk resigning can potentially be a stressful event.
If you are a good employee, have you considered that your manager may not want to let you go so easily and he might at the very least ask you to reconsider and remain where you are? Perhaps they might even attempt to entice you to stay with a counter-offer — and why not? Companies do not like to lose good and productive employees. Often it is harder and more expensive for companies to find a similarly qualified and effective replacement than it is to do what might be necessary to keep you.
What if you found a new opportunity that will advance your career and the same opportunity doesn’t exist at your current job? Imagine that you have a great relationship with your employer and the decision to make a change was a difficult one although you are looking forward to your new job. Now you just want to resign and get it over with so you can move on. There are other things you’d rather be doing but you say to yourself, “Let’s get this over with.” You attempt to resign and, surprise, they are reluctant to accept your departure plans and don’t want you to go. Furthermore, here in the Czech Republic we have the two-month resignation period. How smoothly will that process go? Or can you negotiate an earlier date? Consider this for a moment: if your boss had a new opportunity do you think he would think twice or let anyone hold him back?
I’ve witnessed many different reasons suggested to people about why they should reconsider or delay a decision to leave. Keep in mind you have likely caught your boss unprepared, so his first reaction might be to buy time and delay this conversation. Whether he really wants you to remain is not the issue at this moment: he or she needs to get their thoughts together and formulate a reaction – one that will best suit your boss and the company.
At the moment, you are a secondary concern in their mind. And if they do indeed want you to stay, they will possibly appeal to your emotions so by the time it’s over, even if you did not succumb to their appeals, you could be made to feel quite guilty. But consider this for a moment: if your boss had a new opportunity do you think he would think twice or let anyone hold him back? Could you convince him to delay his decision?
When you will go to the boss with the intent to resign, make an appointment to meet with him. Sure he might suspect there is a problem but he will have less of a reason to push you away with the excuse of “I’m busy can we talk about this later?,” thereby delaying the event. In the best case they will accept your decision, and both sides can shake hands and wish each other luck. But if not, be prepared to deal with counter-offers or other surprises.