Resignation Email Examples: 9 Tips for a Professional Farewell

In this guest post, Guillaume Deschamps from Wordable offers advice on how to write a professional resignation letter. He provides resignation email examples to show the best way to communicate your decision and illustrates ways to make this tricky task a little bit easier.

Landing a new job is usually a very exciting process. Whether part of a career pivot or expansion, starting a new chapter in your professional life is worth celebrating. However, starting a new job means resigning from your old job. To maintain your professional relationships with your current employer, you should send a well-thought-out resignation email letting them know you’ll be leaving the company. In this article, we’ll discuss how to write a resignation email. We’ll start by covering some tips for a professional farewell from your current workplace. From there, we’ll review several resignation email examples you can easily customize and use.

9 Tips for a Professional Resignation Email

Following a resignation email example makes writing this sort of notice easy. However, it’s important to understand the basics of resignation emails so you can take a template and make it your own. With that said, here are some of the top tips for writing an effective resignation email.

1. Be professional

The number one tip for writing a resignation email, whether you are resigning as a contractor or employee, is to keep it professional. Keep the tone light and the language somewhat neutral for this formal notice.  

Depending on your perspective of your current job, writing a resignation email can come with a slew of emotions, ranging from relief to a bit of stress. Even though writing a resignation email can be an emotional experience, it’s important to put those feelings aside to maintain a sense of professionalism.

Keeping your negative thoughts out of this notice is important. If your experience was less than stellar, there’s no need to “have the last word” or take a final jab at the company. Again, keep it neutral or err on the side of positivity.

2. Provide ample notice

When resigning from a job, it’s important to give your employer an ample notice period. For most jobs, two weeks’ notice is standard. However, if you know that your role will come with some significant offboarding or onboarding training for your replacement, it’s courteous to give a bit more notice if you have the flexibility to do so. Your contract may also require a different length of notice, so be mindful of that. 

With that in mind, indicate your last day in your professional resignation letter. It may seem obvious, but your last day shouldn’t be the first day of your new job. If you start your new job on a Monday, the last day of your current job should be the previous Friday at the very latest.

3. Use a straightforward subject

An important part of the resignation email is the subject line. A straightforward subject helps avoid confusion and leaves no room for misinterpretation. 

You should use something as simple as “Resignation – [your name]” or “Notice of Resignation” as the subject line of your resignation email. You could also add the date of your resignation, as well. Either way, there’s no need for any frills in the subject.

4. Express your gratitude 

Another great practice when sending a resignation email is to express your gratitude and leave on a positive note. Thank your employer for providing the opportunity to work with them. 

If your experience was a particularly pivotal point in your career, feel free to call out some specific lessons or takeaways that propelled you forward. Think of specific skills you picked up, training you took, and so forth. If you happen to face probing questions about your reasons for leaving, handle them with grace, expressing your appreciation for the opportunities you were given.

Consider calling out other qualities that you appreciate about the workplace. For example, if the team was particularly supportive, you could mention how much you appreciated working in such an encouraging environment.

5. Include the appropriate recipients

You should send your resignation letter directly to the company’s HR department and to the person who manages you. If there are any issues with the person who manages you, don’t be afraid to copy their supervisor as well.

If you’re leaving on good terms and have a good relationship with your boss, you may want to tell your manager in person, too. It could be a casual conversation where you let them know that you’ll be pursuing a new opportunity. In this conversation, let them know that you’ll be following up with a formal resignation letter by email.

You’ll likely want to let your coworkers know you’ll be leaving, but it’s wise not to include them in the resignation email. You can inform them individually after you’ve notified HR and your boss.

6. Be intentional with details

Depending on your reason for resigning, you may want to share details about why you’re leaving or what sort of opportunity you’re pursuing to enhance your career path. 

For example, if you’re making a significant career move, including a sentence or two on your new opportunity could be nice. A healthy work environment will celebrate team members moving up in the professional world.

Again, keep this positive and lighthearted. If you’re quitting because you don’t like the company or you don’t get along with your boss, there’s no need to get into that in your resignation email.

7. Address the next steps

Another important part of your resignation email is addressing the next steps. Sometimes it’s a simple offboarding process with the HR manager for some roles, but for others, the process is a bit more complex. It could involve training your replacement, transferring ownership of accounts, and so forth. 

Either way, it’s important to bring up this transition so you and your boss are on the same page about what steps can streamline this process. Your current employer will appreciate this consideration.

8. Close with well wishes

Although you’re the one who is moving on to a new opportunity, it’s a nice gesture to wish your employer well. This simple statement lets your boss know you wish the best for the team and company as you part ways. 

Going out of your way to add this context is also nice because it indicates that, from your perspective, you’re parting on good terms. That way, you won’t burn any bridges, and the opportunity for future professional relationships with your boss or the company remains on the table.

9. Check for typos

Before you send your resignation email, review it to make sure it’s error-free. Read through it yourself, and have someone else give it a read-through. Free editing tools, like Grammarly, are also great for digital spell-checking.

Consider using an AI writing tool to spruce up your professional email after writing the first draft. These AI-powered tools can help polish the language and clean up any typos. If you use AI to write or rewrite your email, do a final pass to ensure it flows as intended and don’t forget to check for plagiarism.

Resignation Email Examples

You may have gathered from the tips we shared above that resignation emails aren’t a one-size-fits-all thing. Most resignation letters will stick to the same basic flow and language, but there are some situations where you’d use some more personalization. With that in mind, here are two resignation email examples you could use.

Example 1 – Simple

Hello [manager’s name],

I am writing to inform you that I’ll no longer be working at [company name] after [end date]. 

Thank you for all the opportunities for learning and professional growth over the past [amount of time with the company]. Please let me know how you’d like to proceed with the offboarding process.

I wish [company name] all the best and am grateful for my time with the organization.

Thank you,

[your name]

Example 2 – Detailed

Hello [manager’s name],

I hope this email finds you well! I am writing to let you know that I’ll no longer be working at [company name] after [end date]. I’m pursuing an opportunity with [new company] as a [new job title]. 

Thank you for all of the opportunities for learning and professional growth over the past [amount of time with the company]. I’m truly excited to take the skills I’ve learned during my time with [company name] as I enter a new chapter of my professional journey.

Please let me know how you’d like to proceed with offboarding and how I can help facilitate this process to make it a smooth transition. 

Thank you again for playing such a huge role in my career. I wish you and the rest of the [company name] team all the best.

Thank you,

[your name]

Example 3 – Powered by AI

If none of the above email resignation templates meet your fancy, you can always turn to AI-powered tools to help simplify this process.

All you have to do is fill in a few details about your company, current position, contact details, and future endeavors. Then hit generate, and you’re off to the races. A full-blown resignation email appears within seconds. 

Oh, and you can pick your desired tone, too. That way, you can come across as professional and friendly. After all, the last thing you want to do is burn bridges. 

Final thoughts

Writing a resignation email may seem daunting, but it’s‌ pretty straightforward. As long as you keep it professional, to the point, and provide ample notice, you should be good to go. Try out these email resignation examples to make your transition from one job to the next a little bit easier, whether you want to keep it short or provide more details about what the future holds.

Author Bio

Guillaume Deschamps is a digital marketer focused on handling content management at Wordable. Outside of work, he enjoys his expat life in sunny Mexico, reading books, wandering around and catching the latest shows on TV.