From WSJ: 8 Tips for Leaving Your Job
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How to Quit Your Job Gracefully
You only get one chance at a last impression.
When you've given two weeks notice at your current job, you may think you can lay back and just coast before joining your next employer. Don't. Those last two weeks can be critical to ensuring you leave on good terms with your reputation intact.
Psychological studies suggest that the last impression you leave is more important than your entire body of work. This "recency effect," as it's known, means your last days on the job are critical to forging long term connections with colleagues who could help you later in your career. Current team members could be future employers, clients or references, so it's important to leave them thinking highly of you.
"Your tenure with your employer doesn't end until the very last minute of your very last day," said Alexandra Levitt, a workplace consultant and the author of several career books. "You absolutely want to leave a good impression."
Leaving a good impression is doubly important in an age when corporate turmoil means a merger, acquisition or sale could put you back at your old company, facing the same folks you just left.
Here's what you need to do while singing your swan song at your old job.
Take a Trip to Human Resources
A job departure leaves you with several human resources issues to take care of, like health insurance, your 401K and reviewing any agreements you may have signed that could affect your career after you've left.
After giving notice to your supervisor, alert HR that you're leaving, said Judith Gerberg, director of Gerberg & Co., a New York-based career-consulting firm.
Employers don't usually cover health benefits beyond the last month of your employment and you may have a lapse before health insurance coverage begins at your next job. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, known as COBRA, guarantees that you can continue to enjoy the same health benefits after you leave. However, you'll pay a fee that's usually higher than what you pay for health insurance through your company. HR will have the details.
HR will also review your 401K retirement savings plan. Funds paid into the 401K at the new job won't accrue into your old account, so you'll have to decide whether to consolidate the two accounts.
Get copies of any employment contracts you may have signed. They may have non-compete agreements buried within them that stipulate you can't work at a rival company or with the same clients for a certain period of time.
"If you signed any agreements, such as confidentiality, non-compete, non-solicitation, employment agreement, retention agreement, or even an acknowledgment at the end of your handbook, make sure you read and understand any post-employment restrictions," said Donna Ballman, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based employment attorney.
"You'd be surprised where employers sneak in non-competes saying you can't work for a competitor for a year or two after you leave. If you know you signed something and don't have a copy, ask HR for a copy. If you are in doubt about what your obligations are, have an employment lawyer in your state review it."
Make sure you do all this before your last day, while you still have the opportunity to speak with HR face-to-face.
"HR is going to be less responsive once you've left," said Levitt.
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