Leaving a job is usually a difficult and stressful experience. If it’s a position you enjoy but you’re moving on to develop your career, then saying goodbye to your colleagues can be a wrench – but it’s tricky in a different way if you’ve not enjoyed your time at the company and you need to leave for the sake of your health.
Regardless of the circumstance, it’s worth taking the time to craft a professional letter to announce that you’re giving your two weeks’ notice and plan to leave.
If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to crafting the perfect resignation letter, then look no further – we’ve done the hard work to find five sites with top-tier two weeks’ notice letter templates alongside loads of advice for crafting the perfect document.
And if you’re still on the hunt for a new job, head here for our pick of the best US job sites, or discover our verdict on the best work-from-home opportunities.
The Balance Careers
This is one of the biggest and best sites around when it comes to career advice and job hunting, so it’s no wonder that The Balance has a great resource for writing a resignation letter.
The site’s samples cover a wide variety of situations. There’s a letter that expresses regret at a valued employee deciding to leave, a more professional template for a more formal and neutral resignation, and a couple of shorter examples that are ideal for emails rather than paper documents.
The examples on The Balance are easy to copy and paste into your word processor or email app of choice, and the app also has a list of excellent tips for writing a resignation letter, which is perfect if you want to customize your template with some added sentences or sentiment.
Betterteam
Betterteam is a hiring site that allows companies to post job listings to loads of different boards, but it also has an impressive array of recruitment resources – including an in-depth guide to writing a resignation letter.
The site’s template are available in Microsoft Word format, which is useful for most people, and they’re also available to be copied into other word processors. The site’s available letter sample is a straightforward, professional document that’s easy to modify to any situation, and Betterteam also goes into loads of detail about how to craft a resignation letter – perfect if you want to write your own from scratch.
ResumeGenius
Despite the name, this site doesn’t just concentrate on helping jobseekers produce the best resumes – it’s got information about cover letters and resignation documents too.
This site has four two weeks’ letter formats that are easy to access and modify for your own situation. The first template is a simple and straightforward letter that announces your resignation, thanks your manager and gets the job done quickly – ideal if you’d prefer a neutral tone or aren’t too friendly with your boss. The next sample is a more in-depth document that takes a professional tone, while the third is short and formal.
The site goes into some detail about how to write resignation letters, and ResumeGenius also asks important questions about how a resignation could affect your life and finances – pertinent issues that many sites don’t cover.
LawDistrict
A job resignation is a legal and contractual process between employee and employer, so it’s no wonder that the legal document experts at LawDistrict have got a handle on what’s needed in a resignation letter.
Head to the site and you’ll find a simple template that you can copy and paste for your own resignation. If you’d like to make something a little more detailed, LawDistrict has a smart wizard tool that asks you a series of questions and generates a personalized letter. Tell the site why you’re leaving, the company name and address, the details of the people involved and the date of your departure and you’ll be given a document you can download, edit and use.
Beyond this, LawDistrict offers advice about writing your own two weeks’ notice letter and answers frequently asked questions about the subject.
TemplateLab
As the name suggests, TemplateLab revolves around providing samples for all sorts of employment, legal and personal situations. It’s not a surprise that the site has forty different templates to help people create the perfect two weeks’ notice letter.
Each template is available as a Word document, so it’s easy to grab the letters and customize them for your own situation, and the site’s templates cover every eventuality, from friendly and detailed documents to shorter, formal notes and emails. Other templates are more suitable for emails, and you’ll even find some designed for smaller pieces of paper.
TemplateLab’s page also has loads of information about the information you should include in any two weeks’ notice letter, a step-by-step guide to writing your own, and some formatting notes that can help employees perfect their documents.