"Dear boss, I am outta here!"

You’ve made up your mind, you’re changing companies! It’s been several years that you’ve been the Office Manager in this company, and you feel like a change of scene, discovering new horizons and working with new people. You feel ready, except on one point: how to tell your boss. You anticipate his reactions and you’re not completely at ease with this idea.

Knowing how to tell your boss that you’re quitting is almost as important as getting hired. If your experience in the company turned out to be horrible and you thought several times about how you could kill your boss, you might feel like showing your hatred to your employer and letting off steam, while quitting. But careful, leaving your company in such a way could turn out to be dangerous, if a potential employer decides to call your old boss. If on the contrary, you were happy in your job, announcing that you’re leaving could be as difficult or even more. 

So, what is the right way of telling your boss you’re outta here? Here are few of our tips, to handle a rather delicate situation. 

Be elegant about it

Even if you couldn’t stand your boss or your superior and you hated the latter, you won’t gain much from being negative and spurting out all your hatred, while announcing that you’re quitting. If an employer checks your references, there isn’t much of a chance that your former boss gives a positive opinion about you: you might be in world of pain for this. Employers have the habit of taking sides with former managers rather than with the candidates, when it comes to checking references.  

The things you say when you leave a company, might be mentioned to your potential employers and negativity won’t lead to a positive recommendation. To calm down your nerves, do fighting sports, go to a shooting range or hit the first person you meet but please don’t cast off your hatred at this crucial moment. Be elegant while leaving your job, to the best of your ability.  

Thank your boss for the opportunity he gave you 

Your boss trusted you, so show your gratitude for your current job. Thank him for the new skills you were able to acquire during this job, for the rather fascinating tasks on which you worked, or even the opportunities for evolution, that you were given. 

Explain, at least briefly, why you are quitting

Give your boss an explanation as for the whys and wherefores. No need to go into detail and talk about the new job or activity you’re targeting but try to address the topic generally. If you’re an Office Manager, you can explain that during this experience, you developed a taste for Human Resources and you decided to head towards a position, which is completely based on HR. Several reasons can explain changing jobs: your partner got a transfer, resuming studies, choosing to live in a town where the weather is less crappy…If you’re leaving your company, just because you couldn’t stand your boss’s face, avoid giving this as the explanation and invent a believable lie. 

Offer your help for the transition period

An Office Manager knows the company inside out, so if you were to tell your boss that you’re abandoning the ship, the latter might panic a little: will his company collapse if the replacement doesn’t measure up? Try to reassure your boss on this point and offer your help during the transition period. You can take part while hiring the new person and select the CV’s yourself and why not even attend hiring interviews, along with your boss. Try to train the new person for at least two weeks, so that the latter gets used to the company and the procedures. Last but not least, you can mention that you don’t mind responding to your replacement’s questions by mail or telephone for a while (if the replacement calls you 15 minutes after you leave, well there is a problem). 

Give the date on which you wish to quit

To avoid any misunderstandings, give your boss the date on which you would like to quit. If you’re working on a big task currently and it is going to be tough to pass it on to a new person, make sure you finish the task before you leave. If you don’t agree on the date when you should quit, try to be diplomatic and find a compromise, which suits both sides.

More informations here 14 ideas to make your company more eco-friendly