Free resignation letter generator
Short, warm, and impossible to misread. You may need the reference.
Free. No account. We do not save your message.
A resignation letter has one job and one risk. The job: state that you are leaving and when. The risk: everything else you might be tempted to add. Whatever went wrong, this document tends to outlive your feelings about it — and it is often the thing HR reads back years later.
Give us your notice period and your last day if you know it. We keep the letter short, professional and free of the argument. Grievances belong in a conversation, not in your file.
An example
Four years in role, one month notice, last day 30 June, good terms, wants to help hand over.
Dear Sarah, I am writing to give notice of my resignation. In line with my one-month notice period, my last working day will be 30 June. Thank you for the past four years — I have learned a great deal here, and I have valued working with you and the team. I would like to leave things in good order, so please let me know how you would like to handle the handover and I will make sure everything is documented before I go. With best wishes,
Tell them before the letter arrives
Say it in person or on a call first, then send the letter the same day as the written record. Finding out by email is the part people remember years later, and it costs you the reference you may well need.
The letter itself is a record, not a conversation. It exists so that the date and the notice period are unambiguous, which is exactly what you want six months later if anything about your leaving is queried.
Leave the grievances out
Whatever happened, the letter outlives your feelings about it. It goes in a file that HR can reopen years later, sometimes in front of people who were not there and will read a paragraph of frustration as the whole story.
If there is something that genuinely should be said, the exit interview is where it can be discussed and responded to. The letter is where it can only be filed.
The handover is the part people remember
Offering to document what you do, and then doing it, is the cheapest reputation you will ever buy. It costs a few hours and it is what colleagues describe when someone rings them about you in three years.
Keep the offer concrete: a written handover, a list of what is unfinished, an hour with whoever takes over. Vague goodwill gets forgotten; a document with your name on it does not.
Common questions
+Should I say why I am leaving?
You do not have to, and in the letter it is usually better not to. Save it for the conversation or the exit interview, where it can be discussed rather than filed.
+Email or printed letter?
Email is normal almost everywhere now, but tell your manager in person or on a call first. Finding out by email is the part people remember.
+Can I resign with immediate effect?
That depends on your contract and local employment rules, which we will not guess at. You can ask whether an earlier date is possible — that is a request, not a claim about your rights.