Leave a company can be as difficult as easy. The reasons that push to change can be various: new challenges on the horizon, discontent, needs related to the personal sphere or whatever. Giving the resignation, however, is not the only thing that you have to: You have to say goodby to your colleagues!
We should have time to say goodbye to all colleagues and especially thanks to the people with whom we worked and from which we have learned. But sometimes you can not do that then a letter, a message or a call can help.
My first resignation message that I sent years ago had the title of the article that you are readin: “Hey how’s it going? I’m leaving…”. After years my old colleagues are still laughing thinking at the message and everytime I meet them they don’t miss a chance to remind me that the message was a real thunderbolt.
Since then many years have passed and my message has gradually changing becoming more “mature.” Despite that something remained the same:
- gratitude for what I have learned and done;
- greetings to all colleagues who have supported and enjoyed the time spent together;
- a look to the future and to the new challenges.
Below I leave you an example of a generic letter that you can reuse, change only the following tags as needed:
[COMPANY] = the name of the company you are leaving
[COLLEAGUE] = fellow of the name that you want to thank
[P01] = the first project that you remember
[NEW TEAM] = the new team or your new location
I’m leaving the company and is not easy, I have an incredible team who did a great performance in 2016 and there are all the prerequisites for a strong 2017. However, this is for me the perfect time to change and move on. The last 5 years in [COMPANY] have been an extraordinary personal growth and learning experience, with ups and downs, new friends and a lot of fun.
The opportunity to change the world inside and the possibility to have an impact on the people who work in a large company was great. In return, all the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet, and the people from whom I could learn, have impacted positively in me and are my most treasured memories.
I have too many people to thank to list them all, but the biggest thanks go to [COLLEAGUE] and the team with whom I had the pleasure of working over the years. [COLLEAGUE] and I started from scratch in our industry (perhaps the first intake for this project have been I in April 2012) and we did our best for it. I had the opportunity to be part of building a new line of business and the changes that followed. We started with the [P01] project and from there we never stopped reaching new heights and important goals. The initial team of two people has grown and expanded with the arrival of new colleagues and also through the help of other teams. We have helped shape the solution, the strategies and the “thought” inside the company. Just this truly was the experience that I have always appreciated.
Now I will enter the team [NEW TEAM] in another company with new challenges ahead of me. Do not wait to experiment with a new opportunity to give my support and help building a new organization.
Thank you all, and really try to stay in touch!
Now the message is yours: use it as you want and always remember to greet ex-colleagues and friends because you may find them in another company in the future: Better to leave a beautiful memory of us!