By John Eckberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Looking back, Allen Singer figures he probably could have resigned from the on-the-road management position in a way that would not have aggravated his boss. But at the time Singer was pretty annoyed himself.

He wasn't the one who had reneged on a deal that was to have kept him on a Florida assignment and in a company-owned apartment only two months. Nor did he seek a management position in the first place.

"They said I had to do it anyway," said Singer, who now runs Allen's Edge Copywriting, a Covington-based home business he founded in August. "I was tired of being on the road, so I requested that I not be on the site for over two months. They said fine."

When Singer flew back to Cincinnati - at company expense - he found a new job at a radio station and gave his boss a two-week notice. As Singer expected, the guy was irate.

"At first he offered more money. But where was the money before? Then he wouldn't even fly me back to clean out my apartment," Singer said. "He said they'd just have somebody else do it and ship it home. Then he said I shouldn't be burning bridges."

If the economy is on the way to becoming a job-generating rebound, many companies are preparing for a stream of departures.

But experts caution there is a wrong way and a right way to quit, and while companies and executives are never keen about resignations, most remember workers not for why they left but for how they left. And workers should be mindful of how they might need past employers later in their career.

"Very often people who've done things that are particularly unprofessional or out of the box, they become like urban legends," said Allison Dubbs, director of public relations for Freedman, Gibson & White, a marketing communications company based downtown.

"People from other companies hear about them. Some industries, regardless of what market you are in, the word gets out."

When a worker uses a company as a steppingstone and leaves the "stone" a little wet but still stable, the employer usually understands. But if the worker's departure is messy or sudden, companies are less likely to forget or forgive.

Justin R. Beck, marketing director for Rippe & Kingston, an accounting and systems consulting firm based in Mount Adams, has worked for firms where employees are ushered out the door minutes after they give notice.

Other companies expect workers to hang around for at least two weeks to break in their replacements and alert clients that a new staffer will be assigned to accounts.

"When it's a sales type role or an external position, it's important to at least give the company time to recover," Beck said. "If you don't, there will be a black cloud over you for the rest of your life - at least in that company's eye."

Emotional fog

Workers who are headed to a new job should prepare themselves for a swirl of emotions between the time they decide to leave and the time they actually do leave, said Benjy Weisenburgh, executive recruiter/information technology with Messina Management Systems.

They are accustomed to being in a subservient role to a boss, and by quitting they will feel they are challenging authority.

"In reality, during a resignation you are on a peer level with your manager as you are stating that you will no longer work for him or her," Weisenburgh said.

Departing employees need to realize they are in an emotionally vulnerable state when they leave. Most counter-offers - which, incidentally, Weisenburgh says should be rejected out-of-hand - come four days before the departure date.

"That is when anxiety is very high and second thoughts can creep into reasoning," he said.

If the departing worker has taken at least three personal items home each day in the previous week, his workplace will seem bleaker and as a result, the worker is less likely to be attached to the space.

It's much easier to leave a sterile cubicle than a workstation where photos of loved ones, trinkets from travel or homilies are posted.

Singer's boss finally relented and let him clean out the apartment, but only after Singer protested. Also, Singer was quick to point out that by leaving with two weeks' notice, he was trying not to burn bridges.

His advice: "If a company says you are only going to be gone for two months, get it in writing."

The long goodbye

Messina Management Systems & Messina Staffing, a Symmes Township recruiting firm, gives clients a few key tips on leaving:

• Always give at least two weeks' notice.

• Resign as soon as you have accepted a new position.

• Do not give in to unrealistic requests by your soon-to-be old boss.

• Try to finish big projects.

• Talk with co-workers about what they need to know after you leave.

The toughest point of any resignation is actually resigning, experts say.

"We've seen people turn down jobs because they have a fear of resigning," said Benjy Weisenburgh, executive recruiter/information technology with Messina.

"We tell them that loyalty goes up from the worker to the company. It doesn't often go down. A manager is there for the sake of the manager. An employee is there for the sake of the manager, too."