How I quit my job

At around 9am I spoke with HR at The Hospital. I accepted their offer and set a start date of October 25th, which they accepted.

The next minute, I locked myself in a conference room with the phone numbers of: my manager, my second manager, HR, and my VIP leader.

I called my manager first and told him the news. He was bummed that this was happening, but after I explained to him the opportunity, he was more understanding. He wished he had heard about this before, though.

Next I talked to my second manager, who I bet almost had an aneurysm, because our team has been having some bandwidth issues, and she must have gone into emergency mode trying to figure out where the work was going to go. She was supportive, though, said she was going to miss me. Awww.

Next, I called HR. She is on vacation until Tuesday, so I left her a voicemail on her cellphone with the news, and moved on. I would have preferred to talk to her, but our interactions have never been very “personal” so I didn’t really care about tact at this point, it was all business, so I gave her the information she needed to get started on paperwork as soon as possible.

Next, I called my VIP’s desk. The admin told me he was in a meeting and not available for the next 2 hours. I followed up then, but the VIP was busy with an issue. It wasn’t until 3pm that I noticed that neither were online anymore (the VIP or the admin), so I proceeded to pick up the phone and call the VIP’s cellphone directly.

The VIP picked up, and had a few minutes to chat with me. I told him what was happening, and he was speechless. It’s worth mentioning that the VIP has been a fatherly figure throughout my career at this company, and I have always felt an emotional connection to him, somehow. I told him a little bit about the position, and he was shocked. Then I started to cry. He laughed a couple of times, which made things a little easier. It was not a good conversation to have, but he wasn’t judgmental and made it as easy for me as possible. I’m going to miss him the most. Again, he wished he had heard sooner.

The hardest part of the day, ready for the shocker? Was telling The Corporation that I was turning down the job. They were notably upset and did not let me off without a major guilt trip. They didn’t think it was cool that I didn’t tell them I was interviewing in other places, otherwise they would have sped up the process. Again again, they wish they had known sooner.

For all those who are curious, here is what my resignation letter looked like:

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Dear [Manager’s Name],

I am writing to submit my notice of resignation to My Company, effective two weeks from October 1st, 2010. My last day will be Friday, October 15th, 2010.

I am very grateful for all that My Company has done for me throughout my career. My Company gave me the opportunity to see new places, and supported me in my decision to move to Boston to be close to my family. Everything I know about corporate living, information technology, and customer service, I have learned from great managers and coworkers at My Company. Most importantly, I have learned the meaning of what an inclusive and diverse culture can mean for someone’s feeling of belonging in a company.

I would like to thank My Company through you for all the opportunities I have had here. I would also like to extend a personal and warm thanks to you and My Second Manager for giving me such challenging opportunities, and trusting me with complex projects. Your support has made this job a very rewarding ride, and I have learned a lot from watching you be the best managers you can be.

I will work hard over the next 2 weeks to transition my activities on. Please do not hesitate to ask me for anything you need me to pay particular focus to during this transition.

I hope to stay in touch with the amazing network at My Company, and I look forward to our next encounter.

Thank you again,

Abigail Boston
Personal Phone Number
Personal Email Address

The scary part: The Hospital doesn’t give a formal letter until 1 week before starting the job. So, technically, I just quit my job without having anything in writing. Once I realized this, at 5pm on Friday, I called The Hospital’s HRM and left a voicemail asking her to send me an email with the start date, just to have.

What’s done is done. Deep breaths.

abi