Monday, July 31st will mark my final day at my very first full-time job as a legal clerk.
Leaving is never easy, even when it is on your own terms. I love(d) my job at this law firm I’ve devoted the past two years of my life to. This particular job has given me so many life lessons including (but not limited to) how to multi-task, be self-sufficient, and prioritize; how to communicate effectively with coworkers and with clients that have debilitating mental/physical impairments trapped horrible situations like homelessness or living with a terminal diagnosis. I also developed a higher appreciation for TV shows like “The Office” & “Parks & Recreation” realizing office archetypes do exist in real-life (lol.)
Let’s be real– not many people stay at their very first job for the rest of their life, or their second, or even their third. Only the lucky ones do. It is only natural for someone to accept a better opportunity in their lifetime and move on. Sometimes people don’t even have the luxury of departing on their own terms and have to leave because of other external circumstances. Departure is simply unavoidable at times and the five stages of grief may be experienced by you, and your workplace. When facing departure, people often fall between two sides of a spectrum– anticipating the departure, or making the best of it.
In this blog, I will be speaking about my own personal experience which not everyone may agree with, but I believe is a right thing to do.
Anticipating the departure, in my opinion, is what most people default to. You’re excited to get out of your current job and move onto the next. You absolutely cannot wait because maybe your new job offers a lot of things your old job couldn’t satisfy. It could be more pay, more responsibility, or simply embody more personal interest. The downside of this mentality is that people most often “give up” or “stop caring” about their current job and scrape on by with minimal effort until their last day because what are they going to do? Fire you? You’re leaving anyway, who cares! There is nothing wrong with this mentality since I’ve stated before most people default to this. It is natural to just let go and make your old job responsibility your successor’s problem.
The issue with this way of thinking applies to the 80/20 rule or Pareto principle. Most people are familiar with the 80/20 rule as it applies to business/economics which states 80% of your outcomes comes from 20% of your input. As in 20% of product/hard work accounts for 80% of your financial gain. However, this blog isn’t about business or economics– it’s about personal life choices. Here’s how the pareto principle may apply to “anticipating departure”:
Perhaps you were initially unsatisfied with your current position which motivated you into finding a new opportunity in the first place. You were 80% satisfied with your current position but for some reason, the 20% of what you lacked shifted your priorities and motivation one day. So you began seeking the missing 20% in the form of a new job opportunity (i.e. pay, self-interest, etc.) Maybe this next opportunity is absolutely perfect and end up being your forever-job. That would be the absolute best case scenario. However, as with all unknowns– there’s a 50/50 chance that it might not be since nobody is a fortune teller. The 80/20 rule is a double-edged sword in the sense that what you gain from the 20% you initially seeked, you are now lacking in the 80% job satisfaction that you had with your previous job. That would be the absolute worst case scenario. (Click here to read “Change & How to Embrace it” where I mention evaluating best/worst case scenarios for new situations.)
It is no secret that I think too much and why I’m such an excellent tetris and chess player. I am constantly planning 10 steps ahead for every move I make because I’m a crazy person. Fun fact: my AIM username back in the day was ObsessiveFreak89 and I have been obsessively planning my life since the age of 5. Every plan has a back-up plan, and every back-up plan has a back-up, back-up plan. It is the sole reason I never burn bridges, I just temporarily close them. Always. This is a lesson I learned from working in entertainment because you just NEVER KNOW who you will run into and be working with next so, might as well always do your best so no one has a reason to hate you.
I chose to make the best of my departure.
I gave my job two months notice rather than a two week notice knowing full well that my job is very specialized, highly technical, and meticulous. It wasn’t like I was moving across the street, I am moving across the world so I felt a well-deserved heads up was warranted so they could find a suitable candidate to take over my position. I worked ahead so that the workflow for my successor would be light, giving them time to adjust and learn the job. (Three months to be exact…I mentioned I was a crazy person, right?!) I do law stuff so it’s downright next to impossible to get everything correct in a day (or two weeks) no matter how smart you are– that’s just reality. I created a detailed instruction manual with screenshots because I literally have four bosses/supervisors that all do things differently and it would be difficult for anyone to keep up with their individual wants/needs especially with two of them working remotely in another city. I came in early to double check my replacement’s work done the day before and reviewed any mistakes I caught with them once they came in, using that time to answer any questions they may have had. I also stayed late to finish any work my supervisors only entrusted to me because of its level of difficulty.
The best advice I ever received was to not worry about things I have absolutely no control over, so I recognized everything I did have control over, and tried to make things better and easier all in the interest of the company, unprompted.
Of course, I prefaced this blog by saying I’m speaking from my own personal experience that everyone may not agree with. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressing myself out with superfluous work during my last days in the office. Even still, I genuinely believe that this is the right thing to do if you want to leave gracefully. I’ve made jokes around the office that I might return from Taiwan wearing nothing but rags and soot all over my face groaning, “Please take me back…”— because anything is possible. I don’t know what will happen in the next stage of my life, but either way I’m excited! I made the best of my departure by making leaving on good terms my priority. This is in no way a #humblebrag though some may see it as such– I’ve been doing this with every single job I’ve had to leave in the past and I always heard the same thing from co-workers, “You’re leaving! Who cares!”
I care. Too much, sometimes. I wished others did as well because honestly, it is just good practice/great work ethic. Not only will you leave your company in good shape, you will have many people within the organization willing to vouch for your good work and want to be listed as a reference. Even without the potential of references, it should give you a peace of mind knowing you did all you could to do something good, especially if you were an integral part of the organization. The world is a small place, so make good where you can!
As long as you continually to do your best, you’ll never fail. Even if it doesn’t work out, always depart gracefully.