The best way to quit your PR job

 3rd March 2015    PR Guru 

I often fantasise about how I will hand in my notice when I get a better PR job. But as I haven’t been offered a new job this has to remain a daydream. You, however, may be lucky and land your perfect PR role, in which case, take my advice before you storm into your boss’s office and tell him where he can stick the crappy job you have been enduring for the last few years.

1. Don’t be personal. You may hate your bosses because they are lazy sociopaths who never do any work, but it’s best not to mention this when you hand in your notice. You may be tempted to list all their faults, from their lack of personal hygiene to their irritating habit of eating Aam ka achar in the office, but don’t. One day they could become best friends with your new employer.

2. Act. You may be convinced you will never work with anyone in your company ever again, but PR can be a small world sometimes. So pretend you will actually miss some of the dreadful people you are glad to see the back off.

3. Don’t put any details in your letter of resignation. Now is not the time to list all your grievances, from the terrible coffee to the awful selection of stationery on offer. Don’t give any reasons at all why you are leaving, make it impersonal. That’s my professional advice. Personally, I’d love you to write down every complaint you have and email it out to your friends and post it on Twitter too. This would be much more entertaining. But your new employer might not find it so funny.

4. Don’t hand in your notice until you have your new job offer in writing. Many things can go wrong, I have been promised several jobs that never actually materialised. Better to keep the crappy job you have than be unemployed. Or you will have to give up going to Wine Company.

5. Make sure you tell your boss you are leaving before anyone else does. At one company I worked for, the boss was on holiday when I landed my new job. She was not impressed to hear from a friend of hers that I was going before I had a chance to tell her. She stopped speaking to me, which made the last few weeks at work uncomfortable to say the least.