How to Quit Your Job Like a Boss
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This video is about how to quit your job like a boss.
As fun and exciting as it may feel or you imagine to be like, mic drop, be like, "I'm out of here. Peace out." Flip a table like, freak out, don't do that.
It is really important to be professional, no matter what. The truth is that people are watching you. You don't know down the road, the coworkers, the people around you are watching and in terms of your reputation, for you to be professional no matter what is really, really important for yourself, your own integrity.
Tip: Don’t treat other people based on who they are. Treat other people based on who you are.
This brings to mind this idea that I really like, which is don't treat other people based on who they are. Treat other people based on who you are.
Be wholly professional, even if you're in a toxic job, the culture is terrible, or you hate your boss. You need to walk out with head held high and integrity. Your reputation is at stake. You never know what opportunities you'll miss out on if you try to get famous on TikTok by recording yourself doing something crazy, it's not a good look professionally.
When leaving a job, it's important to keep your contacts and reputation intact.
Which brings me to the second element of this.
Tip: Don’t burn bridges.
The colleagues, coworkers, other bosses, other leaders in the organization that aren't your direct leader. You never know when that person leaves a company and they're thinking, “Who should I hire?” And they remember you with this positive attitude, somebody who was awesome, who left with integrity.
Even with the people that you hate the most, treating your employer and people around you as customers, even the ones that you hate, even when you're firing a customer, you do it with grace. Do it with professionalism every single time.
You don't know what opportunities you will miss out on by doing it poorly or gain by doing it with your head up and doing it the right way.
Tip: Leaving a job is transition - which means loss, even when that’s welcomed.
Another element of that is that even if you're quitting, leaving a job is loss. And there's grief. It's important that, no matter what, even if you hate that company, there's a fair amount of emotion that comes along with that.
Remembering that the people that you work with, your peers, you still have to interact with these people and run into them in the business world, in your sphere of influence, you see them at conferences, etc. Remember that these people stay in your network, they're your contacts. They're your colleagues in the business universe. It doesn't hurt you to keep those relationships and bridges open, as opposed to burning them on the way out.
Tip: Plan for 0 days left.
Another tip here is with giving notice and being on the way out: I would always plan for zero days.
Plan for the second that you give notice that they could be like, “All right, you need to leave right now.”
And when it comes to providing notice, two weeks is the standard thing, depending on your position and the context and how difficult it's going to be filling your position, but it's nice to give as much notice as possible. If you can, if you're not already starting another job, give four weeks notice, help offer to train your replacement, go the extra mile.
Again, even if you hate this company and your boss, doing right by them is good for your reputation, colleagues, other people around you.
They see that and share that at job interviews and this company that I hated but I left, and I did this thing because making sure that that company was intact, that I didn't leave a huge hole.
It's a good look for you to do that. Give as much notice as you possibly can.
Some final thoughts
Another couple of things I want to say about this depending on context and situation.
A lot of people can't just storm out and quit their job, even though it sucks. I'm a huge proponent of breaking up if you're in a relationship that doesn't work for you. If you hate your job, it's toxic, your boss is terrible, leave as soon as possible, but also be proactive, network.
Tap into your network, tap into people that you know, look around for a job before you leave so that you're safe.
I think it's really important to be proactive about that, but I'm always a proponent of employees that don't want to be in a company, both of them should be actively leaving. If you hate your job, get out. If you have an employee who's a real challenge and a problem, they have to go.
It's good to end relationships that are bad.
Finally, consider bringing your boss onboard proactively.
Last thing I want to say is this. I know this isn't done very often, and it's risky. So really using discretion and context matters here. Depending on your relationship with your boss, I think it's also okay to not make it a secret.
I think a lot of times we think, "If my boss knows I'm looking around or I'm planning on leaving, I'll get fired or get in trouble." You're already checked out, you're already way out the door. If you have a healthy relationship with your boss and they're a reasonable person, I don't necessarily think there's a reason to hide that, because if you have your boss in your corner, they know that you're looking around, they might extend you a little bit of grace to go for interviews or help you and give you a good testimonial on the way out kind of thing.
A lot of times it's taboo, we're afraid to let the company know, “Hey, I'm planning on being out the door,” but that could turn into a big raise for you, which might might not make any difference to your decision. But bringing your boss along earlier in the process, I think, is good.
Sometimes people are upset about their job for whatever reason, and they just choose to look around or leave before saying, “Hey, I'm unhappy, and I'm going to start looking around.” That could lead to a conversation around what could change to make things dramatically better.
So just a couple of thoughts in that space:
Avoid the mic drop, even though that sounds fun.
Always stay professional.
Keep your head up.
High integrity behavior, your reputation is on the line.
Plan for 0 days left at the company
Think about your contacts, don't burn bridges. You don't need to.
Consider bringing your boss on board proactively
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop