How to Quit Your Job - Resignation Letter

Approximate reading time: 4m 6s

If it is time to change jobs and you are leaving your company, you need to submit a resignation request or notice of termination of an employment contract to your direct supervisor. In Bulgaria, you submit a "Request for Termination of an Employment Contract", which is provided to the direct supervisor or to the Human Resources department.

Although millions of people leave their jobs, when it is personal, we know firsthand that it is quite unpleasant to tell your boss that you are leaving the company. In such a moment, it is always good to mobilize yourself and follow the steps that will allow you to maintain good relations with management and colleagues, comply with legal deadlines, and spare yourself emotional distress and unpleasant experiences during and after leaving your current job.

Up to now, you have held a certain position and performed tasks that contributed to the functioning of the company, and therefore it is good to give the company time to find your replacement. There are different options for leaving employment. Depending on the case, it is possible to be released immediately, for example in the event of termination by mutual consent, but for that to happen immediately you will need to have solid arguments or agree on the terms and possibilities with your manager. By law, in Bulgaria, the notice period for termination of an employment contract in the case of an open-ended employment contract is one month, but your contract may specify another notice period. Check in advance what is written in your contract with the company or in the appendices to it, and then prepare your "Resignation Request". If immediate release is not possible, you will have to continue diligently fulfilling your duties until the notice period expires.

We recommend that you do your work with the necessary diligence and do not leave your colleagues with the impression that you are passing some of the work to them or are just waiting for the notice period for termination of the employment contract to expire. You know the world is small, don't you? And today, when almost everyone has a LinkedIn account, your future employers can easily check and may ask colleagues or your former employer for their opinion of you. By the way, this is not allowed, but it is hard to prevent.

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The resignation request is submitted in free text, and this one in the attached file here is by mutual consent. It is mandatory to include your names, position, department, and the company where you work. It is good to specify from when you would like to be released from the position you currently hold. An important date is also the date on which you submitted the "Request for Termination of an Employment Contract" to the attention of your direct supervisor or the department that handles this. Make sure to obtain an incoming number or have proof that you presented it to the person responsible for your resignation.

• The employer has 7 days to accept the received resignation request;
• If the request is not accepted in writing within 7 days, it is considered not accepted.

There are also other legal deadlines that both the employer and the employee will need to monitor depending on the options for leaving employment, but that is not the purpose of this article. 

That is only the formal side of things.

To preserve human relationships and your good name in the days when you will work after giving notice of resignation, it is good to make the following additional efforts:

- organize all the materials you have worked with so far;
- hand over the details of your work as well as you can to your replacement or colleagues;
- remain strict in observing the rules of the workplace;
- try in your conversations not to focus on how the company environment has become bad. Instead, stick to the positive, such as how your need to change jobs will be good for your career;
- do not boast about what a great place you are going to or how much higher a salary you will receive;
- offer the employer to train your replacement or one of your colleagues in the finer points of the job and the things you do;
- do not "take home" studies or "developments" that you created at the workplace, because they do not belong to you and may get you into trouble.

Your colleagues will appreciate this.

If you have accumulated negative experiences, do not "take revenge" by talking everywhere about how bad things are at the company. Think about it: you may need to return to work there again or need a recommendation from a colleague or manager.

Check what leave you have used and how many days of paid leave you still have available (if any remain). Keep in mind that leave for the last year is calculated based on the months worked up to the resignation. Check whether there are other administrative tasks you need to complete. For example: return tools, car keys, or keys to certain rooms you had access to.

If the company offers an "exit interview", do not refuse. It can be useful for you as well. You may answer questions you have not asked yourself before.

You can also write a personal letter to your manager. In it, you can be more informal and thank them for the opportunity the company has given you and for the important skills you have acquired in your work together. That is the place to ask for a "recommendation" or to maintain the relationship. In the letter, you can also address other aspects of the termination request, for example: seeking work-life balance, looking for faster career advancement, finding a job that is closer to home, etc.

It will be good for you, and for managers and colleagues, to be left with the impression that you are an organized professional and a reliable person.

Before you start looking for a new job, learn how much your work is worth and how you could negotiate a better salary at the new workplace.

All advice given in the article is a recommendation and should not be taken as legal advice.

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If necessary and you feel insecure about preparing the documents when leaving a job, it is good to consult a professional in the field and follow their professional advice.

Your good advisor can also be the Labor Code, where all rights and  obligations of both parties are specified: employee and employer.

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