

Jason Calacanis on how to resign. - TheBurningOr
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/27/jason-calacanis-six-handy-tips-on-how-to-resign/
Step number 6 is the most important. Don't plaster your email correspondence all over the web, even if your boss is a bit of a mini celebrity.
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tptacek
Or, you can ignore all of these tips, give 2 weeks notice, send a nice note to
the team, and trust that no matter what happens afterwards, you're not going
to look bad.

~~~
elblanco
Yup, it's about that easy. Most of the time you don't even have to finish out
your 2-weeks.

~~~
Andys
Eg. when your immature boss takes it personally and tells you not to come to
work tomorrow?

~~~
elblanco
That, or there's good reason for outgoing employees not to have unfettered
access to the company IP.

~~~
pstuart
Any employee intent on stealing company IP would likely do so before giving
notice.

~~~
elblanco
You would be very surprised at how common it is. It's a pretty big problem
with new companies started by people who've never been burnt by that.

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credo
Rather than hand out tips on how to resign, imo, he'll be better off asking
for tips on how to accept a resignation gracefully or at least on how not to
respond to a resignation letter

~~~
btilly
Given past behavior, I suspect he knows more about how someone resigning can
avoid causing him to overreact than how he can avoid overreacting.

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markbao
How not to act as a CEO with a sour reputation of a company with a sour
reputation

0\. upon receiving an email from someone resigning, disrespectfully tell them
to fuck off, insult their new employer, delete their account, then instead of
apologizing, make up a list of 6 rules telling other people how they should
resign to post to TechCrunch and try to regain reputation.

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slantyyz
About the only thing Calacanis got right is that resigning by e-mail is a
chump way to quit.

I love how he thinks the company is owed 3 years of your service. I mean
really?

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tptacek
Resigning by email is not a "chump way to quit". It's a very final and low-
drama way to quit (if you are friendly and upbeat in your mail, which you
always should be).

Every employer, myself very much included, would be very happy to get
personal, private, advance notice that you're thinking of leaving. If you want
to do us a favor, do that. Give us a private heads-up. But you don't _owe it
to us_.

~~~
thinkzig
_It's a very final and low-drama way to quit_

Perhaps, but it's also a cowardly and unprofessional way to quit. Every job I
have ever left I have had the decency to sit down in person and explain to my
boss that I was leaving and the reasons for my departure.

My feeling is that if this person was respectful enough of my capabilities to
give me a job that allowed me to provide for myself and my family, the very
least I could do as a common courtesy and sign of respect would be to sit down
with them and explain why I have decided to leave.

Put another way: would you consider your boss firing you via email a "chump
way to fire an employee"? It's simply a matter of giving your superior the
same courtesy that you would expect if the roles were reversed.

~~~
izak30
Presumably an exit interview is standard practice? I've had them at almost
every job I've left. I love e-mails, because they set the tone and expectation
for what you're going to talk about.

I had a friend who thought he was getting a pay cut Friday (like everybody
else, who got theirs Thursday, but he was working from home) and he was let go
without notice.

~~~
tptacek
Except there was no exit interview possible here, because as soon as he gave
notice, Calacanis told him to pack his stuff up and get out. I don't feel
comfortable calling someone a "coward" in a situation like this.

~~~
izak30
Agreed.

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moe
So, either Calacanis seriously thinks he's in a position to give "resignation
tips" now (lost touch with reality?) or this is just a calculated attempt to
spin the news coverage.

Strange guy.

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grellas
There are no rules for how to resign, or for how to accept a resignation,
except that of treating the other person as you yourself would expect to be
treated in like circumstances. Both parties here went out of their way to
provoke and then needlessly made a public issue of it.

~~~
jgg
I haven't really been following this entire storyline, because quite frankly,
it seems trivial and unimportant to me. So please forgive my ignorance when I
ask, how did the employee's original e-mail come off as provocative?

~~~
grellas
Not the email itself - the posting on the web, with some gratuitous
commentary, was unnecessarily provocative (I have not followed this closely
either, for the same reasons you mention, and so I hope I have this fact
right).

~~~
hga
I suspect he wouldn't have published the exchanges if Calacanis hadn't blown
up so severely.

For that matter, if Calacanis had been nice and professional about it no one
would care about the employee posting it on the web (it would, after all, show
him being nice and professional...).

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dminor
> If you would rather stay at your company, but need to make more money, be
> straight with your boss and let them know you would like them to match, or
> come closer to a competing offer.

I think this is bad advice. Even if they don't want to keep you, employers are
likely to match just to keep you around until your current project is
complete.

Your best bet in this situation is to simply ask for a raise without
mentioning your other offer, and leave if the answer is no.

~~~
hga
Stunningly bad advice; I'm told that most often the ending is ugly as you
note.

Your alternative of simply asking for a raise sounds like the best approach
... but of course these situations are seldom about money....

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dmlorenzetti
_If things are going well at the company, and you’re learning and developing,
you should stay three years–at least. There is no reason to jump ship if
you’re learning and enjoying your time at a company._

This arbitrary three-year mark seems a little one-sided. A lot can happen in
three years. You can get married, have a kid. Your parents can get sick and
ask you come home. You can stumble on a better opportunity. You can get bit by
a travel bug. Your spouse may want to move for his/her career. None of these
have anything to do with learning and enjoying your time at the company.

~~~
tptacek
It's one-sided because it's nonsense. There's a million reasons why you might
leave in 2 years, 1, or even less, even if things are going well for you at
the company. _You don't owe them your employment._

~~~
elblanco
I think 2 years is pretty much okay. The first 6 months is learning the
organization, the second 6 is putting that into action and trying to make it
work. If it's working stay another year and see. If not, move along.

~~~
nanijoe
Even one week is ok..if the employer thinks its not working out after one
week, he/she will usually not hesitate to fire you

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joelhaus
Some of Warren Buffett's wisdom might be relevant here:

 _I want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any
contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper,
to be read by their spouses, children, and friends, with the reporting done by
an informed and critical reporter._

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markbao
>6\. Don’t post correspondence of any private discussions with your boss on
the Web. That’s not good for anyone–even though it’s highly entertaining for
many.

    
    
      s/your boss/Sam Odio
    

Hey, that sounds familiar!

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patgarner
Both this list, particularly #1, and his email response to the guy who
resigned reek of resentment to me. Jason Calacanis doesn't present himself as
someone who is truly comfortable and happy, in my opinion, which seems ironic
given the level of success he appears to have achieved.

The great people I have worked for, one of whom I still work for, would never
react that way. I admire those people, but I could never admire someone who
acts like Jason Calacanis and I go out of my way never to work for people like
him.

At it's most cut and dried a job is an agreement between you and someone: you
give them your work, they give you money. They don't own you and beyond your
obligation to fullfil your side of the work/money bargain you don't owe them
anything in my opinion.

That being said, however, I do think it's important to do work that fullfils
and inspires you and benefits you in more ways than just getting money for
work you do.

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mootothemax
Isn't Calacanis' basic script pretty much well what the guy in question
emailed to him?

~~~
btilly
No.

The guy stayed 1 year, not Jason's 3-year minimum for a place you're learning
at. The guy didn't do it face to face. And the guy didn't offer unlimited
transition time.

He pretty much didn't do anything Jason wanted him to do.

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Tichy
If your boss is on Twitter, you could also do it on there.

~~~
ElbertF
Just like how you break up with your girlfriend over SMS because she has a
cellphone, or a Post-it because she has a desk.

~~~
Tichy
Love the post-it idea, hadn't heard of that before.

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foink
I'll echo the comment on the post. Stop giving him attention. Calacanis is the
Sarah Palin of the tech industry.

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mcantelon
>6\. Don’t post correspondence of any private discussions with your boss on
the Web

Priceless.

~~~
slantyyz
I'm no big fan of Calacanis, but broadcasting a private discussion with your
soon to be former employer isn't necessarily going to work in your favor the
next time you're looking for work. When I recruit people, I do the standard
Google, Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter searches.

If a candidate had no problems revealing information about his/her previous
employer, whether justified or not, I'd be wondering about what else that
person would be willing to reveal. There's a permanence to publishing this
kind of information on the Interwebs, and it's not always going to work in
your favor unless you're at the rock-star level of talent.

~~~
hga
Revealing the information that he's a jerk is not quite what is normally meant
by "revealing information" and I'm sure many will say the employee did a
public service.

As for what you find in those searches, if you're not a jerk what do you have
to fear?

