Formal Resignation Letter

When planning to resign from a position, it's always a good idea to send a formal resignation letter, the letter will provide official notice that you are leaving your job, including the last date of employment. This letter will be your guide for writing your own formal letter.

How do you write a formal resignation letter?

Since resignation letters are now usually written and read in email form, consequently handwritten or hand-typed letters are now a rare phenomenon and they are therefore not sent by postal service, this allows for some automatically attached contact information, which eliminates some of the typical elements of a written letter, they still contain important features of professional business culture and etiquette.

There are a couple of best practices to remember when writing formal resignation letters via email:

• Define your audience: Before you start to write, consider who will read your letter and what is the relationship you wish to build with the recipient.
• Make appealing and informing subject line: "Resignation letter" or "Resigning from job title/position"
• Use proper salutation: Start your letter by addressing the supervisor specifically. Start with the following conventional and respectful salutation. “Dears,” or “To Whom It May Concern,” when you are unsure of the recipient's name or it’s a broader audience and you don’t want to mention one specific name.
• Maintain a conservative structure and formal tone: Although resignation letters are usually formal and considerate tone, that might not always be necessary. However, always consider the letter might be shared and read by others than the initial receiver. If you write an informal sales proposal to the receiver, but he shares it with his management, you might not get the deal. This is not a time to use slang or abbreviations, write it the same was as you would for a traditional business letter.
• Proper Introduction: Conclude this first paragraph by plainly stating your reason for writing, ideally in one sentence.
• Concise letter body: The body of your letter contains of at least 1 paragraph or more to explain the reason for your resignation in detail. Notify the information about your preparation to leave, include the proper notice period and inform also the employer when is your last day
• Be clear and concise in your writing. To remain comprehensible and concise like traditional letters, business emails embrace directness and the use of brief paragraphs. Overthink the flow in your email and ensure that it’s clear structured and cut text that you consider as unnecessary. Limiting the content length of your letter allows the most important information to stand out and encourages recipients to read it in its entirety.
• Close with a call to action: The last part of your letter is probably one summarizing paragraph that also expresses your gratitude for the recipient's time and consideration and express your gratitude for the opportunity given to you, and ideally closes with a call to action, which is a question or statement that expresses your hopes for the next steps between you and your recipient. Depending on your purpose for writing, you might use calls to action, such as: “Hoping to discuss my leaving soon in person”, Looking forward to receiving your schedule/call”. “Looking forward to your feedback/response regarding my resignation at your nearest convenience”. Give the employer a thank you and express the desire to stay in touch
• Proper appearance and lay-out: make sure the email look professional by using a clear font and according to a business letter format. They usually use the same tone as traditional business letters as well, signaling respect and a desire to communicate professionally.
• Proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation: Make sure you prevent any grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes: There are a handful of free and premium solutions you can use, besides the standard spelling/grammar checkers that are available in the word processor that you use.
• Information complete and unambiguously: Double check always if all the relevant information is included in the email, such as contact information (signature), dates, and any other pertinent details.
• Proofread the business letter: Be sure to proofread the email letter before sending it off to ensure that everything is accurate and error-free. If you want some help finding errors, you can use one of the many free proofreading apps online.
• Professional email signature and disclaimer: Make sure you include a signature and disclaimer at the bottom of the email, which clearly states, preface your signature with a formal closing such as "Best regards," "Yours sincerely," or "Respectfully", a digital signature, your full legal name of the organization, logo, slogan, contact information, followed by a legal disclaimer if you consider the content confidential, GDPR compliant, other compliance references, virus transmission, non-binding clause, opinion statement, etc.

Guide for resignation letter:

Below is provided a sample resignation letter. You can download it and use it after making changes as per your requirements and criteria. We are not only providing you tips, but also a sample cover letter that you can use after certain edits. Here is a sample letter for your guidance:

Dear Sir/Madam {{Name}},

Kindly consider this letter as a formal/official notice of my resignation from my position as {{name of position}} for {{name of the company}}.

My resignation will be effective on {{effective date}}. This includes the notice period of {{number of weeks}} weeks.

As you probably already know the reason for my departure {{this is optional, you can either mention that you have received a new offer at {{Company}}, or that you are relocating, etc.}}.

{{Here you can thank your manager for help in getting the new position since you gained a great experience while working with him}} I would like to thank you for the many opportunities I have had with this organization.

I would especially like to thank {{names of colleagues}} for their support and guidance and {{mention positive experiences you have had at the workplace}}.

I wish you and {{company name}} the very best for the future. Kindly let me know if I can be of any help during the transition and help my replacement into his/her new role.

{{Mention that you will mentor the new person even after your last date}}. {{Ask how you can clean off loans or accruals of assets that you might have gained from the company}}.Thanks again for everything.

Yours sincerely,

Download this formal resignation letter template for free and modify the blank fields or content according to your preferences and send it directly to your manager or management team. Make changes to the document according to your preferences. If you like this letter, please give us a big thumbs up. Your valuable feedback matters a lot to us. Head towards our website for some useful content. For more resignation letters, or other useful content, please visit our website.