advice for leaving a job

[chopstick]

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I'm giving my 2 weeks tomorrow for a company I've been at 3 years, they bought my old company so I've never actually quit a white collar job before. aside from the standard 2 weeks, anyone have any good advice? dos/don'ts?

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Leave on good terms. You never know when you'll be working with someone again, perhaps at a completely different place. Do not burn any bridges if you can avoid it.

Do all your work. Don't slack off. Be professional about the transition. Make a special effort to advise your boss of the status of any projects that you won't have resolved by the time you are scheduled to leave, along with a recommendation for how they should be handled, or who they should be given to.

It doesn't hurt to send thank you notes, either. That may seem weird, but people really dig that kind of thing. Just a "I enjoyed working with you over the last 3 years, I hope our paths cross again in the future, etc". Takes you little time for potentially a great upside if you do meet again later.

Also, remove most of your personal items from your desk the day before, so that if they immediately escort you out (becoming more and more common in IT field, not sure about yours) of the building, you don't have to be concerned about getting your stuff later. That way you can just pick up the leftover items and vamoose.

Good luck!

[jackflashdrive]

I strongly disagree with those of you saying to leave on good terms.

It is much more emotionally satisfying to tell an evil and despised boss what you really think of him or her. If you have balls you will put these thoughts in your letter of resignation so that maybe your bosses boss will see it (my particular letter was as funny-nasty as I could make it). For a good week you will be glowing and showing your marvelous letter around to jealous friends and colleagues.

On the other hand I'll have a very hard time doing anything other than playing poker for a living now that I cannot obtain a reference from my longtime employer -- and of course professional online poker might last a few more years at most. Hmmm, maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut.

[Emperor]

I always gave written notice. At which time I would say, "Here is my two weeks, but do you really want the security risk of me staying the next two weeks?"

I was escorted out immediately. :P