It’s your last day on the job. How do you handle it?
Here are some thoughts.
Unless you’re embezzling and folks don’t know it, make it easy to be found. While some people prefer a blast email to folks on the broader team, I’m a fan of sending individual notes (it can be the same template – just remember to change names) to thank people who have helped you along the way. Include an email and a phone number that you actually use in case someone wants to reach out. Word of mouth is underrated.
Folks outside the organization? Let them know you’ve moved on as well with a “I’m moving on” and best place to reach me note.. Let them know your next stop if you have one. Some people wait until they’re at a next stop and are feeling it will stick before they send this note out; either way you get the idea. A phone call to people with whom you’re close doesn’t hurt either.
Try to avoid burning bridges. It’s a small world; you need them.
Along with keeping bridges, it’s tempting to tell your Slytherin colleague – even in a great place like my last shop they sneak in – that they’re behaving like a snake. Skip the temptation. They already know it. And besides they don’t care. Candor when helpful is a really good motto; candor when people aren’t wiling or able to do anything with it is wasted air..
Clean up your work area. Yes, it’s somebody’s job most likely to tidy it up for the next person but like the adage “your mom/dad doesn’t work here,” show a little humility and generosity and clean up your own mess. You might earn a karma point or two for the next go around.
Think of the last day as a graduation, not goodbye. I’m blessed to be in active touch with a bevy of people from my first job out of grad school decades ago and a number of places along the way since then, all with people I miss.
Are there stops where I don’t miss anyone? Sure, but they’re the exception, not the rule.
Love the world you’re in. It will likely love back.
Life Back West is an occasional set of writings focused on ways people, teams and organizations can be both more effective (doing the right thing) and more efficient (doing the right thing well).