resignation-letter

Resignation Letter Skill

A resignation letter has exactly one job: create a clean, dated record that you resigned, effective when. It is not the place for grievances, gratitude essays, or explanations — it goes in a permanent file, may be read by lawyers, and will outlive every feeling in it. This skill writes the three-sentence version that professionals use, plus the parts that actually matter and happen around the letter: the conversation before it, the timing, and the discipline about what stays verbal.

What This Skill Produces

• The letter — 3–5 sentences: resignation, effective date, transition willingness, one line of thanks; nothing else
• The manager conversation script — the letter is never how your manager finds out; the 5-minute verbal comes first
• The timing plan — notice period, when to tell whom in what order, and what to have done before the conversation
• The not-in-writing list — everything the person is tempted to include, with where each item actually belongs

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The basics — role, manager, intended last day, contractual/customary notice period
• The reason and the temperature — leaving happy, leaving burned, leaving for a rival? The letter stays identical; the conversation script changes
• What's at stake in the exit — unvested equity dates, bonus payment dates, non-compete concerns, references wanted — timing may need to move for these
• Any special context — remote manager (video call, not email ambush), toxic situation (shorter script, HR cc'd), or counteroffer expected (see counteroffer-decoder)

Framework: The Clean-Exit Rules

1. The letter is a record, not a message: every sentence beyond resignation + date + transition + thanks adds risk and zero benefit. Reasons, feedback, frustrations — all deliverable verbally or in the exit interview, never in the file.
2. Verbal first, always: manager hears it live (or video), letter follows within the hour "to make it official." A manager who learns from the letter — or the grapevine — is a reference lost.
3. Check the money dates before picking the date: a last day two weeks before a vesting cliff or bonus payment date is a very expensive piece of politeness. Verify vesting, bonus eligibility ("employed on payment date" clauses), and ESPP windows first.
4. Notice is the contract's number, not the guilt's: give what's contractual/customary; offering extra weeks to a company that walks resignees out same-day is a gift, not an obligation. Know which kind of company it is before the conversation.
5. Warmth costs nothing and buys references: one genuine thank-you line in the letter, real appreciation in the conversation. Even a bad chapter closes better warm — the industry is smaller than it looks.

Output Format

Resignation Package: [role] → last day [date]

The Letter

[Full text, ready to send — addressed, dated, 3–5 sentences]

The Conversation (before the letter)

[Opening line · the two sentences on why (verbal-only version) · transition offer · what to say if pressed on destination or counteroffered]

Timing Plan

[Money-date check results → chosen date · tell order: manager → manager's plan for team/peers → letter · same-day-walkout contingency: what's backed up and returned before the conversation]

Not In Writing

Tempted to include	Why not	Where it belongs

Quality Checks

• Letter is ≤5 sentences with zero reasons, grievances, or feedback
• Effective date is explicit and money-dates were checked before choosing it
• The verbal conversation is planned before the letter is sent
• Personal files/contacts handled before the conversation, employer property ready to return — nothing that violates policy
• Tone reads warm-neutral even for a burned exit

Anti-Patterns

• Do not put reasons in the letter — even good ones; they invite rebuttal and live forever
• Do not resign by letter/email alone when a live conversation is possible
• Do not vent — the toxic-job letter and the dream-job letter are the same letter
• Do not promise transition help you won't deliver — "available for questions through [date]" only if true
• Do not pick the last day before checking vesting and bonus dates — politeness is not worth a cliff