Two Weeks Notice

It’s never easy leaving a job. No matter what the circumstances, having the dreaded “I’m giving you my two weeks notice” conversation with your superiors is not something anyone really looks forward to. For me it was especially hard because I was leaving a company that I had called home for a majority of my professional life. More importantly, I was leaving behind a group of coworkers and bosses who had been a constant system of support and leadership. However, I am a firm believer in stepping outside of my comfort zone whenever possible – it’s the only way to grow as a human being and as a professional - so, when an amazing opportunity to relocate and take on some new challenges presented itself, I jumped.

In September I was offered a position with the Saginaw County Community Mental Health Authority and Saginaw MAX System of Care to take over their Social Marketing and Communications efforts. When I say this is a dream opportunity for me, I mean it. I have a deep personal connection to mental health awareness and education, so to couple that with my love and passion for all things communication related, it was like the job offer jackpot. I couldn’t say no, and I didn’t.

I was so nervous to tell my then-current employer that I was taking an offer with another company that I spent the weekend before looking up articles on how to appropriately broach and handle the conversation. I respected these people and thought of them as friends, so I wanted to do this right.

To summarize how the conversation ended up going, I’ll say this – I couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. Everyone was very understanding of my choice to take this next step in my professional career and offered an amazing amount of support. I know that I am very lucky to have been blessed with such supportive bosses and that many people have a much different outcome in their “two-weeks notice” conversations. If I could offer a few pieces of advice for handling conversations like this, they would be:

• Be honest, but polite – I told my superiors up front whom I was taking the offer from and why it was the right choice for me. Don’t tell your employer that you’re leaving because they are awful people and you hope that you never have to interact with them again (even if that is exactly how you feel – which, for the record, was NOT how I felt towards my superiors). Despite the immensity of this planet, business worlds tend to be fairly small and you’ll be surprised the ways in which paths will cross again in the future.

• Don’t burn bridges – this coincides with my “be polite” statement above. Again, business worlds are remarkably small and I can almost guarantee you will cross paths with a former employer or coworker at some point in the future. Allies are powerful weapons in the cutthroat world of business, collect as many as possible.

• Ask for recommendations/references – If you’re in a position where your superiors valued your work and attitude, ask them to write that down for you before you leave. These recommendations can help catapult your career to the next level and it shows them that you valued the time you spent with them enough to share it with others. That’s huge.

• Be prepared for a counter offer – sometimes an employer will want to keep you so much that they propose a counter offer and you have to know where your line is. Before you sit down to have this conversation, think about what you would say if your boss offered you an incentive to stay on board. Are you willing to negotiate to stay with your current company or is this new position something you feel you need to do despite any counter offers your boss might make?

• Don’t be angry if there is no counter offer – sometimes businesses just can’t afford to compete with other offers. Sometimes they know that it is a healthy choice to let the employee move on. Whatever the reason, don’t be offended or hurt if your boss doesn’t make a counter offer. It doesn’t mean they value you any less or don’t like you, so don’t let it be an issue.

• Offer to stay at least two weeks – it’s just common courtesy. Don’t go into a meeting to tell them you are leaving at the end of the day, that gives them no time to prepare for your departure and will most definitely burn a bridge.  Be professional and prepare them for your absence as much as possible.