You accept di other offer last night. Na di correct move, you think am well well, and dis morning you must waka enter one room go tell person wey go take am personal.
Make you sabi dis one before you do am. Dis two weeks worth pass almost any other two weeks wey you spend inside dis job. Di people wey you dey leave go turn your reference, your future colleague, your customer, and di people wey go recommend you for work wey you neva even hear about. Every industry small, and e dey smaller as you dey climb up. Wetin people remember about you dey come mostly from how you end am.
Na leverage be dat, and na cheap leverage, because almost nobody dey use notice period with sense. Two weeks of normal professionalism plus small handful of specific, generous act no go cost you plenty, but dem go land for di exact part of di story wey people dey keep.
Wetin I go talk wen I dey tell my oga say I dey resign?
Talk am face to face or for call, never make writing be di first place, and start with di date. Something like: I wan let you know say I dey leave, my last day go be di twenty fourth, and I get handover plan for di accounts wey I dey hold.
Give di date first because na di only thing wey your manager really need for di first minute, and because starting with am dey show say na decision, no be opening price. Everything else easy once di date don land for table.
Keep di reason to one short, true sentence. I take role wey get bigger scope. I dey move enter different industry. Na di correct next step for me. Nobody force you to justify di decision, and wen you talk too much e dey invite negotiation instead of understanding. No open your mouth with wetin bad for here, even if wetin bad for here na di whole reason.
Expect one of three reaction and decide your answer before time. Some managers go show grace immediately. Some go quiet and turn transactional, and dat one na shock most of di time, no be badmind. Some go bring counteroffer. If counteroffer land, thank dem, take twenty four hours out of respect, and remember say di reasons wey make you dey look outside go still be reasons for March. Then send di written note di same day, short and warm, so dat human resources get wetin dem need and nothing go hang for air.
How much I suppose explain about why I dey leave?
Explain less than wetin your mind wan talk. One sentence about di new opportunity, no comparison, no list. Di reason wey you dey leave na your own property, and di version wey you give for work na di version wey people go dey repeat after you don comot.
Strong pull dey to pour everything, especially if di last one year hard. E dey feel like honesty, and e dey feel overdue. But exit na very bad place for dat kind talk. You dey talk to people wey dey stay, wey no fit do anything about most of am, and wey go hear am as insult on di place wey dem still dey work. Di same words wey for land as useful feedback for normal quarter go land as parting shot for resignation day.
Keep one private version and one public version, and make dem different. Di public one short and true. Di private one enter your notes, for your own eye, because for eighteen months you go dey weigh another job and you go wan remember exactly wetin make dis one wrong.
Di only exception na real safety, harassment or legal matter, and even dat one no be exit interview material. Dat one dey go through di proper channel, for writing, whether you dey leave or you no dey leave.
Wetin I suppose talk for exit interview?
Talk wetin dey useful and keep di rest. Two or three specific thing wey dem fit fix, describe am as process no be as person, and nothing wey you no go fit talk to di person face for one year time.
Na person wey no get power to change di thing wey you dey describe dey usually run exit interview, and di notes dey live pass di interview. Dat no be reason to lie. Na reason to select. "Di handover of work dey complicated because of how dem dey assign accounts" dey useful. "My manager na impossible person" no dey useful, and e dey cost you pass as e dey cost dem.
One practical filter: you go fit talk dis sentence out loud for room wey di person wey e concern dey sidon? If yes, talk am. If no, e enter your private notes.
Good handover dey look like wetin?
Write am before you give notice, no be after, and write am like teaching document, no be like list of password. Person wey neva do your job before suppose fit pick am up and function, and dat na far higher standard than list of where things dey keep.
Structure am for four parts. Wetin I dey hold and wetin go happen if e stop. Di five things wey go first spoil and wetin to do about each one. Di people, by name, wey dem go call for wetin. And di judgment calls, di part wey nobody dey write down and na im get di real value: why we dey handle dis account differently, why dat step dey there, wetin happen di last time person jump am.
Then finish di work wey you promise. No be everything, dat one no possible, but di specific things wey you talk say you go do. If deadline land after your last day, talk am now and name who go carry am. Small things dey cost reputation pass person wey mentally comot three weeks before im body comot, and people dey notice.
Nielsen Norman Group summary of di peak end research na di useful frame here. People dey remember di most intense moment of experience and dem dey remember how e end, no be di average of di whole thing. Your handover na di ending, and na di cheapest thing for dis list to do well.
Wetin be di best thing to do for my last two weeks?
Spend di credit wey you no go ever collect. As you dey comot, you dey hold something wey no cost you anything but wey expensive to receive, and na praise plus introduction wey no get any hidden angle inside.
Do three specific things before dem switch off your access. First, write to di managers of three people wey make your work better, name di exact thing wey each person do and wetin e change, then send am. No be "she sweet to work with". "She rewrite di intake flow and cut our response time by half, and she do am inside one week wey nobody dey watch." Dat na career event for di person wey you write about, e go land inside file wey dem go read for di next calibration meeting, and e cost you one paragraph.
Second, do di introductions wey don dey your head dey wait. Di vendor wey suppose meet your colleague. Di person for two teams away wey dey solve problem wey somebody else don already solve. Introduction wey you for keep to yourself na wetin people dey remember for years.
Third, leave di teaching document behind for di person wey dem neva even hire yet.
None of dis one go come back to you on any schedule wey you fit plan, and na why e dey inside dis list. Na di version of generosity wey clearly get nothing inside for you, and na im dey make di rest of wetin you do for dis two weeks read as character instead of technique.
Di ending na di part wey dey travel
Two weeks short small to dey deliberate, and na exactly why few people dey do am. Show up, do di work, keep di reason short, hand over pass wetin dem ask you, and call three people name for way wey dem manager fit read.
One practical footnote dey worth knowing. ADP Research find say returning employees don make up about thirty one percent of new hires on average, and e reach thirty five percent for March 2025. Better than one out of three hires na person wey dey come back. Di door wey you dey waka comot today dey swing both ways pass wetin anybody expect, and e dey swing based on how you spend dis two weeks.
Before your access go, copy your own record comot. Di six best things wey you do here, wetin change because of dem, and who see am. Dem belong to you, dem go don disappear by Friday, and you go want dem for eighteen months wen person ask you question about your career and you no fit remember March. Then go and shine for di new thing.
Sources
- Nielsen Norman Group, The Peak-End Rule: How Impressions Become Memories
- ADP Research, Boomerang hiring makes a comeback
- Pew Research Center, Majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 cite low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected