Hi! I’m Golden Goose Girl, Golden Goose Guy’s wife. You’ve probably seen my face on various blog thumbnails and brief mentions in Josh’s travel anecdotes, or maybe you’ve watched our vlogs on YouTube. I suppose this may be my first introduction to you, and if it is, hello friend!
So, while Josh is the logical, ever reliable, plan maker, I’m more of a go with the flow, free spirit. I never saw myself as a 9-5 office worker with a bustling, high pressured career, like Josh. Therefore I’ve never had to think about the ins and outs of office politics and formal procedures.
Running my own photography business and being a nanny means I am practically my own boss. Staff meetings are held at mid day, over a mug of hot chocolate on my sofa, with a snoozing baby in arms. So when I recently I had to make a couple of important career and finance decisions I felt extremely out of my depth, and turned to Mr. Google for some help.
You may have seen Golden Goose Guy’s most popular article take flight - scuse the pun - back in June around a multitude of forums, facebook groups and blogs (here is the link if you hadn’t read it - it’s titled, “Why I Left an Airline Pilot Career Worth $8.2 Million”).
But how do we leave our jobs?! Of course formal notice has to be given in writing, but what about the personal side? If the branches of your work life are laced with family, friends, bad vibes or tied heart strings?
Below I have created some resignation templates for you to download and use, should you wish. And a guide on how to resign personably. But hey, if you want to do a mic drop of all job resignations and drag out your boss’s dirty laundry in-front of the whole office, I’m not gonna stop ya! Read to the end to see my own mic drop resignation.
Let’s get started. Some sections may apply to you and some not, skip through as you wish. I’ve tried to write this advise to cover all jobs from Nanny to Data Analyst, Zookeeper to Mechanic.
Before you resign, here are some things to think about:
1) Could you speak to your manager and come to a different working arrangement to better suit you? More hours, less hours? A day working from home, or even a ballsy pay raise? (trust me - if you don’t ask you don’t get. Golden Goose Guy was allowed to work on the other side of the world!).
2) Check your contract to see the formal procedure. Usually you have to work 2-4 weeks from handing in your formal written notice.
3) Is your job making you sick? In the UK your GP Doctor can sign you off from work and you will still receive statutory sick pay. Ask to be signed off for your notice period and you won’t have to go back. Or maybe you just need a break.
4) If, like my job, it’s very personal, could you warn your employer about your plans first, a few weeks before handing in your formal notice, just to give them more time to find a replacement?
5) Do you want to find a new position first? This is quite normal for most jobs, but as above, it can be a little shocking for a close employer you have good relations with to hear that you’ve accepted a new position and you’re off, out of the blue.
6) So you know your formal procedure…but how personal is this? Should you quit in person? Gifts? Thank you notes?
7) Probably don’t advertise yourself as looking for work online, or tell colleagues about your plans for pastures new.
8) Try not to burn your bridges. As I said, if you’re doing the mic drop approach to your shitty manager, DO IT (and post about it on Reddit for us all to read). But if you’re on good terms with everyone and your new job doesn’t work out, you may want to return - which is pretty common by the way.
9) Oh the guilt…don’t worry. You can never be replaced, but they can find a replacement. You may even be able to help train your successor. But you are not obliged.
The Formal
This can be used if you’re on a fairly large team. You have a few work friends but overall, you’re pretty arms length from your management.
This letter is brief and formal. I’d advise to set up a meeting with your boss and hand them the letter personally, then you can always give an explanation if you’d like to. But again, sometimes this isn’t possible and it may be emailed straight to HR.
The Personal
This is for when you have a very 1 to 1 job, like a Nanny, or you’re part of a small business. You may be tied with family or friends and don’t want to ruin any relationships.
This letter is heartfelt, thankful and personal, but serves as formal notice. As we discussed above, you may want to notify (over the phone or in person) your employer that you will start looking for a new job soon. This eliminates the shock factor and is more courteous - especially important if you have a relationship outside of work that you want to keep. You can then hand in your formal resignation when you find a new position and have a start date. This gives your employer more time to fill the position, especially if it’s a 1 to 1 role. You could also buy keep sakes or gifts for the people/children you work with. There's lots of cute ideas out there!
The Mid Ground
This can be used when you are part of a team and have good friends at work, or are close to your management. It’s got a touch of both above approaches.
This letter is polite and coming from the angle that you’ve enjoyed your job. If this is not the case, take out the bits that don’t suit, but try to be as polite and brief as possible. In a formal job, as you will likely be handing in your resignation because you’ve found a new position, don’t mention this straight away. You never know if you’ll be offered a better deal from your current job to encourage you to stay.
I’d advise to set up a meeting with your boss and hand them the letter personally.
Sickness
Sometimes, we have to leave our jobs because we are unwell. You can look into taking paid leave or being signed off, but sometimes we just need to quit. Here is my letter when I resigned from a job a couple of years ago.
The ‘F*ck This’
If you’ve read this far, here’s a giggle for you. This is my job resignation from my horrid zero-hour contract job that I lost money working (shout out to all your carers for everything you do). I tried my hardest to help myself and my co-workers through meetings and letters to management, they did nothing. So when I was scheduled to work through the whole Christmas period, including Christmas Day, I snapped! Oops…
If you’ve taken any of these approaches or have one of your own, share below!
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- Belle x
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