How to Quit Your Job

You prayed to your ancestors. You sacrificed two goats, used every brand of annointing oil available on the market and followed all tips and tricks offered by YouTubers, bloggers and the many motivational speakers whose conferences you attended expecting that you would get a job after listening to their “life changing” advice. You probably even took it a step further and decided to have your CV written by a professional CV writing academy. You found another job advert in one of the many WhatsApp groups you are in. You apply and sigh, expecting them to ignore you like the other 296 jobs you applied for. You go to bed and sleep.

A Pleasant Surprise

You wake up and see that you got the job. You think maybe its a wicked dream – wicked because when you wake up there won’t be anything. You actually see that you got the job. You thank whatever got you the job and get ready for your new job. You are ready to offer great value to the company and dream about becoming the star employee for the next few years. You get an offer letter and enjoy the first week at your company – then something both bad and good happens to you. You get another offer.

Where Were You?

You ask yourself “Where were you when I was unemployed?” Why did you only choose to give me a job now that I found another one. Companies can be quite strange and this is one of the example of it. The second company is offering you 10 times than what the first company offered you PLUS generous benefits. It’s a no brainer. Your mind is already made up. You will go for the second, new job. This brings a new dillema – how do i quit my job? You go on Google and search for how to resign from a job. Google gives you hundreds of resignation letter templates. You look at them all then you just exit the browser. You can’t. There is this feeling of guilt – kinda like when your crush asks you out soon after settling for a mediocre partner. You can’t stay, but you feel pity for the process of breaking up. You go to bed with a strange combination of excitement and deep sadness.

What Should You Do?

You don’t know what you should do. You think of going to work and finishing the month. But no, that’s impossible as your new job needs you to start ASAP. You then think of going to the managers to tell them that you are resigning. No. That’s too unbearable. It’s kind of like telling your parents that you do not want to be their child anymore. You do not know what to do at all. So what do I suggest you do? Well, I can only share my story with you and tell you how it felt when I left my first job, what I went through and what I did.

My Story

I had finished “A” level and was waiting to get a university place. In the mean time, I chose to occupy myself with my computer. I used the time to learn stuff but as you probably know, spending months at home ends up getting boring. I was bored and very broke. By chance, I got a job at a remote place in the country and was super excited. I went there and worked for a couple of months. I really loved it there. One day, my parents called saying that my confirmation letter had come. I was to start my University classes in 3 weeks. It then hit me. My contract was a year long and this meant that I was going to have to terminate it. It would not have been feasible to work and go to school so the resignation part was definite. I felt horrible. I thought the interviewers who gave me the job were going to team up with policemen armed with rifles, machetes and very big dogs and then hunt for me for resigning. I remember spending a full week dreading to resign. I researched on how to resign on the internet. I found a few templates but never used them. I was too scared to do it.

One week. That was all the time left before my university opened its doors to new students. I knew it was time. I told my colleagues about it and they told me that there's absolutely nothing to worry about. I headed over to the Person In Charge and then she told me to write a letter. I finished my letter with speed and handed it over to her. I was going to leave the next day. I was very pleased to discover that no policemen came looking for me.

What I learnt about how to leave a job

• Have a look at your contract. See the exact terms and conditions present.

• Apart from death, everything is negotiable. Even if your terms and conditions are quite restricting, you can definitely negotiate with the HR guys and agree on something solid.

• The best way to resign is to write a resignation letter clearly stating the last day you will report for work.

• Make sure you include your signature in your letter.

• When you resign, make sure you hand over all the assets given to you – mice, keyboards, laptops and make sure you have a written document indicating that you did handover these assets to their respectful owners.

• Resigning is not scary at all. Not resigning and running away from work is what is scary.

So if you are lucky enough to have two job offers and need to resign for your first job, make sure you write a letter, sign it and send it to your employer. Don’t worry about having dogs chasing you as that rarely ever happens.

That’s it. Have a great week folks!

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