In the business world, it’s important that you remember not to burn any bridges. Even if you absolutely HATE your job, where you work, your co-workers, or your boss, you should still conduct yourself in a professional manner when you leave. Doing so will show everyone how much class and integrity you have and it will be remembered!

When you leave your job, your emotions may be running high, especially if you are leaving on bad terms. You may want to tell your boss or co-workers what you really think of them. Don’t do it, even if they truly deserve it. You never know who you will meet down the road and who you may have to work with one day.

Don’t damage company property or steal something when you leave. You may feel you were mistreated by your employer and you may be really angry. However, vandalism and theft are criminal offenses. Not only will your professional reputation be damaged by your actions, you could end up in jail.

Be sure to ask for a reference or a letter of recommendation. This may sound like an odd thing to consider if you are leaving your job on unfavorable terms. However, you will have to include this job on your resume, so you should try to make sure you get either a good or, at least, a neutral reference.

If you’ve been fired because of some horrible offense, this may be a moot point. However if your parting is due to something less serious, you may be able to ask your boss for a reference, in spite of the fact that “things didn’t work out as expected.”

If your company has hired a replacement for your job and you have the opportunity to be around him or her, do not badmouth your boss, your co-workers, or the company in general. First of all, it will only look like sour grapes, so there’s nothing to gain here. Second, your successor will figure things out for himself or herself.

Third, it may have been bad chemistry, and your co-worker will have a totally different experience than you did.

When you are ready to start interviewing, it’s also important to remember the above suggestion: don’t bad mouth the company or your boss. The only person who this will make look bad is you. Your prospective boss will wonder what caused your relationship with your prior employer to sour and will suspect that you could have been at fault.

Once you’ve decided to leave, you’ll want to put your intentions in writing so that it can go into your personnel file. This is good manners as well and let’s you tell your boss exactly what your reasons and intentions are. This letter should be typewritten and written in business language.

The standard time frame to give notice is a minimum of two weeks prior to your intended quit date. However, it’s often nice to give your employer as much time as possible to find a replacement for you. If you signed a contract with your employer, check the terms to see if you are required to give notice for a specific time frame. Otherwise, two weeks is the norm.

If your employer asks you stay longer than two weeks (or the time period in your contract) you have no obligation to stay. Your new employer will be expecting you to start as scheduled, and in a timely manner. What you could do, is offer to help your previous employer, if necessary, after hours, via email or on the phone.

Don’t say much more than you are leaving. Emphasize the positive and talk about how the company has benefited you, but, mention that it’s time to move on. You can offer to help during the transition and afterwards. Don’t be negative. There’s no point – you’re leaving and you want to leave on good terms.

You may want to tell your co-workers that you’re leaving – especially if you’ve made friends there. But, don’t tell anyone else until you’ve told your boss. You don’t want the news to leak out before you’re ready and it’s just in poor form for your boss to find out from someone other than you.

Another huge part of making a career change is finding a new job once you’ve satisfied educational requirements and how to land that job.