With the huge skills shortage that currently exists in construction, many senior professions that may not have considered a move are being approached with enticing offers. They may be quite happy where they’re working, yet an opportunity may be too good to turn down. As a result, tendering a resignation may be hard. Here a few simple tips to make the process easier and ensure that you can move on with industry relationships intact.
Be Decisive
Before handing in your resignation, check your motives for doing so. If you don’t really want to move on, but want to leverage the opportunity to get a pay increase or better benefits, resigning is not the best way to go about it. Motives have a way of floating to the surface and eroding trust. If you do end up staying and opportunities for internal promotion come up, it’s unlikely you’ll be considered as management may feel it’s too great a risk.
Be Transparent
When handing in your resignation, ask for a meeting with your superior so that you have an opportunity to explain the reasons for moving on. Be honest and focus on framing the reasons in a positive way. For example: The new role may be an opportunity to work with emerging technology that isn’t in place at your existing firm. Or it could be an opportunity to work on a major project. Senior management will respect your decision more if it’s handled with greater transparency.
Be Considerate
As exciting as the new opportunity may be, understand the impact your leaving will have on the company. Be willing to work out your notice period, taking the time to do a proper handover. If you interface with clients or suppliers, this may require introducing the person who will be taking over from you so that those relationships can be maintained. Additionally, don’t discuss your new role with colleagues. This can cause uncertainty and you don’t want to be seen to be encouraging others to leave too, as this will have an adverse impact on the organisation. It also places existing good business relationships you may have with management at risk.
When resigning keep the importance of industry relationships in mind. You may be leaving a company, but the construction industry is still relatively small. You could need to work with the same people in future, perhaps even asking them to make decisions in your favour, so maintaining good business relationships is essential.