10 Mistakes People Make When Quitting

10 Mistakes People Make When Quitting

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

You’ve interviewed for a while and now it’s time to give notice because you found a new position. Don’t make any of these ten mistakes.

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Hi, I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m called the Big Game Hunter. . . It started to happen when I worked in recruiting. I would hunt down leaders and staff for organizations and did that for a long time. Now I provide no BS career advice to people globally. That can relate to anything ranging from a job search, to resolving workplace issues, to a lot of things in the middle. Holistically, think of your career, and I’m someone who supports people with being better at it.

Today, I’m going to talk with you about 10 mistakes people make when it comes time to quit their job. And the first one is the obvious one– burning their bridges. You don’t want to be critical of people, the organization, or your manager on the way out the door. Why? Because you never know when these were these folks are going to wind up next. And you’re hypercriticism because you’re feeling good and you’re angry, can wind up hurting you at the next organization you go to, because you’re not going to be at this firm for the next 30 years of your life. Right? So don’t burn your bridges. When asked about why you left,’I got approached about an opportunity that was really exciting to me. And I’m being paid more, but it’s really about the opportunity. No criticism about anything going around here. This is about a better opportunity elsewhere.’ That’s the simplest way to deal with it.

Number two is telling people too soon before the the offer, before your next job is completely secure. Often people don’t read offer letters carefully enough to notice that the offer is “contingent upon completion of background checks” and until that’s completed, you don’t have an offer, because the word ‘contingent’ is one of those legalese terms, basically saying we’re making you an offer provided that you do something or we do something. And without a successful background check, without a successful reference check, for example, you don’t have an offer. They may look at credit history, do drug testing, or anything that they provide or indicate your offer is contingent upon, then you have to not resign until such time as those have been satisfied and they tell you that.

A third is giving too much notice. We all know that two weeks’ notice is standard. You don’t want to blow a job because they want you there in two weeks, not for you to give two weeks’ notice. Apologize to your firm, apologize to your manager, ‘I need to start my new position within two weeks. So I can give a week’s notice and start and leave the following. I leave at the end of that week. I’ll do any sort of knowledge transfer that’s necessary. I apologize. They just need me there. ‘So I need you here.’ ‘I understand, but I’m going to be leaving so if you could arrange for anything that you need me to do before my departure, I’m happy to do it even if that means working overtime.

Fourth is getting histrionic about something. People get angry. They get wild. They act out badly when it comes time to quit. Histrionics are never a good thing. Going crazy about something is never a good thing. Don’t do that. People remember. It will hurt you going forward.

Next is working too hard or too little after you quit. Too little basically means that people see you sitting back, not caring. Too hard is you overwork and you’re going ballistic here trying to get so much done, and you’re on people’s cases way too much. And I know this is all about a sense of guilt that you may feel. But you’re moving on. You made a decision. It serves you and your professional interests. Yes, you’ve had personal relationships. Yes, you’re going to network with people going forward, and they with you. Don’t be a jerk. Don’t work too hard to the point where you’re obnoxious to people don’t work too little to the point where people become resentful of your behavior.

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Next is resigning at the wrong time and thus losing out on benefits or restricted stock units or some vesting period that you might have earned if only you’d stayed a little bit longer. I’m working with someone now. He resigned a position and he lost out on vesting for a portion of his stock, which wound up being worth a significant amount of money. When I asked him to look into it prior, he told me, ‘this won’t be a problem,’ and it was because we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars involved, and firms don’t feel compelled to be nice to people who are leaving.

Seven. It should go without saying you still don’t steal or damage property. That can include data, laptops, and office equipment of any sort. Desks– I’ve seen people at firms I’ve worked at, they’ve set fire in the bathroom that’s how much they acted out at the time of their departure. I know you’re not that way but people do crazy stuff. Don’t do it.

Ideally, give yourself a little bit of time off between jobs to decompress. So if you can give two weeks’ notice and start after one week, where you give yourself a little bit of downtime so this way, you’re not jumping from a frying pan into the next hot pan, without a little bit of time to decompress.

You’re not prepared on the day that you give notice. That can be just for the conversation and what you say. It could be for the fact that you may be told to leave then and there, and then how to do that and do it well. So I’ve seen managers, I’ve heard of managers just go crazy at the time someone quits and say, ‘Get out of here. This is your last day. I don’t need you,’ and throw you out  and won’t let you take your personal property out and much more. So mentally be prepared that on the day you give notice, it could be your last day with the firm. Don’t be surprised by that.

Lastly, number 10 is discussing your future employer with people at your existing organization. There is nothing good that comes out of that. What starts to happen is that people get resentful. They start thinking that maybe just maybe now you’re gloating, or you’re bragging, or you’re sticking them, sticking it in their face, that ‘I’m going to such and such firm, and I’m gonna be doing such and such . . .  and you aren’t. They get annoyed because you’re bragging, you’re boasting. So I’ll just simply say, really don’t discuss the next organization and just move on. Get yourself out of there and do it as soon as you can.

Hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. I hope you don’t make these mistakes. But if you do, stop it! Don’t. Don’t do this kind of stuff. Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us There’s a ton in the blog that’ll help you. Plus, you can schedule time for a free discovery call, a coaching session, and find out about my courses, books, and guides. There’s a lot there that will help you.

You can also schedule time for a free discovery call or a coaching session at the site so that this way I can help you. The discovery call is designed to determine whether you’d like to work with me as a coach. I don’t actually coach but you’ll have an opportunity to figure out whether you think it would be worthwhile. Lastly, connect with me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter.

Have a terrific day and be great.

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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us

He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.

I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.

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