career advice
BY YOJI COLE
don’t burn bridges
5 Ways to Resign
I quit!
So you’re ready to resign. Before you
hand in that letter, think VERY carefully
about how you resign. Burning bridges may feel good,
but it will have lasting repercussions on your future
employment, especially if you come from a traditionally underrepresented group.
For example, if you are a black executive or a woman
executive and you leave abruptly, you’ll never get an-
other chance. If you are a member of
the old-boy’s club, it might be chalked up
to a “bad day.”
“There are rules for resigning that
people have respected for a long time,
but it is rare that you see them written
down,” says Wendy Francis, development
officer, associate talent and employee
resources, JPMorgan Chase, No. 9 on The
2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for
Diversity® list and No. 6 in DiversityInc’s
Top 10 Companies for Recruitment &
Retention. “Even if you have a stellar
performance history, people tend to forget
the first things you did and remember the
last things you did. So it’s very important
to act with the same courtesy and verve
you started with.”
DiversityInc asked Francis and other
human-resources experts from Top
50 companies to give us their five rules
for resigning.
1DO NOT WALK OFF THE JOB.
No matter how angry or disgusted
you are, do not just get up and leave—
ever. And if your new employer wants you to
start “immediately,” do you really want to
work at a place that doesn’t value professional obligations?
“Don’t burn bridges because you never
know when you’ll need the reference,” says Henry
Hernandez, vice president, diversity and inclusion
at American Express, No. 23 in the Top 50. “The last
thing you want to do is alienate folks with whom
you’ve had a relationship.”
“Chances are they are not mad at the organiza-
tion but are mad at a person,” says Francis. “But they
forget the common courtesy to the organization, and
