Johnny Paycheck may have expressed how most people feel when they leave a job, with his hit song, “Take This Job and Shove It.” When you part ways with a company, it can be a bitter sweet experience. It can be tempting to tell that son of a gun you worked for, in no uncertain terms, just how you feel. It could feel really good, but the damage you leave with those freely vented emotions can cause you nothing but remorse in the future.
When you leave a company through your own volition or through circumstances beyond your control, don’t burn your bridges. That statement is easy to say and sometimes very hard to do. The danger of venting your feelings to your boss or co-employees is that it can leave your former employer with a bad impression of you. This type of impression will not do much to help you with your future job search. Since the chances of you working for the same employer for the next forty years are slim to none, you will invariably run into some of those people you have left at your former company in the path you take through your future career path. You want those people to have a positive impression of your final days with them.
An article from Ehow makes this point about keeping things in proper perspective. “Try to keep things in perspective. You may want to tell your jerk boss exactly what you think of him/her and the dump they run, but it won't do any good. A jerk is a jerk and a dump is a dump. Telling your boss off isn't going to change anything except the reference he/she might provide for you.”
I remember one job I left, because the owner of the company was such an incompetent and arrogant drone. My first thought was to tell him just how much of a narcissist and psychopath he really was. It would have been an easy thing to do, since so many people had left the company over the time that I worked there because of this individual’s sarcastic and manipulating demeanor. I remembered a saying I read in a book that went, “A little pot boils easily." Further contemplation on this approach revealed that it would not be the most intelligent thing for me to do. Fortunately I kept my senses, and left on diplomatic terms.
My point is, keep your image professional, even though the people you work for or with, don’t. You will thank yourself long after you have left that job, and following this recommendation will only help your professional reputation.
Tom Borg is a consultant in leadership management, team building and customer service.
When you leave a company through your own volition or through circumstances beyond your control, don’t burn your bridges. That statement is easy to say and sometimes very hard to do. The danger of venting your feelings to your boss or co-employees is that it can leave your former employer with a bad impression of you. This type of impression will not do much to help you with your future job search. Since the chances of you working for the same employer for the next forty years are slim to none, you will invariably run into some of those people you have left at your former company in the path you take through your future career path. You want those people to have a positive impression of your final days with them.
An article from Ehow makes this point about keeping things in proper perspective. “Try to keep things in perspective. You may want to tell your jerk boss exactly what you think of him/her and the dump they run, but it won't do any good. A jerk is a jerk and a dump is a dump. Telling your boss off isn't going to change anything except the reference he/she might provide for you.”
I remember one job I left, because the owner of the company was such an incompetent and arrogant drone. My first thought was to tell him just how much of a narcissist and psychopath he really was. It would have been an easy thing to do, since so many people had left the company over the time that I worked there because of this individual’s sarcastic and manipulating demeanor. I remembered a saying I read in a book that went, “A little pot boils easily." Further contemplation on this approach revealed that it would not be the most intelligent thing for me to do. Fortunately I kept my senses, and left on diplomatic terms.
My point is, keep your image professional, even though the people you work for or with, don’t. You will thank yourself long after you have left that job, and following this recommendation will only help your professional reputation.
Tom Borg is a consultant in leadership management, team building and customer service.
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