Resignation Letter Due to a Better Opportunity — Examples

People leave jobs for many different reasons. One of those reasons may be when a better opportunity comes along.

That better opportunity could mean that the new job will help you progress in your career, or it could mean that you are getting paid more.

It might simply be a job that fits in better with your schedule or lifestyle.

Whatever the specific reason, you need to write a resignation letter as a courtesy, even if you have already verbally given notice.

In this post, you’ll learn how to write an effective resignation letter due to a better opportunity.
 

Things to keep in mind when writing a resignation letter due to a better opportunity

How you approach this letter will vary somewhat depending on the situation and your relationship with your boss.

For example, if you have a good relationship with a very supportive boss who was aware that you were looking for a new job, your letter might include more details than if you didn’t have such a good relationship.

However, regardless of how you feel about the job that you are leaving, you should be professional and courteous in the letter.

It is important that you don’t burn any bridges.

You never know when you might need to work with your current employers in some kind of capacity again, even if you never ask them for a reference.

As is the case with all business correspondence, you should strive to be concise.

A resignation is usually a formality. Most of the time, you will have already discussed your intention to leave with your supervisor ahead of time.

This is particularly true if you get along well with your supervisor.

However, there may be situations in which this is not the case.

In fact, if you really dislike your job and prefer to limit your interactions with your supervisor as much as possible, your written resignation may also be your initial notification that you intend to leave.

There is nothing wrong with doing it this way. Just be sure that you are professional and that you don’t allow of your personal feelings to leak into the letter you are writing.

If you really must, write another, angry letter than says exactly what you are thinking, on your home computer or somewhere else far away from your workplace where no one can see it!

The last thing that you want to do is end up having to write an apology letter for being disrespectful.

Then get rid of it, and with that off your chest, write the formal business letter that is required in this situation.
 

Heading and introduction of your resignation letter due to a better opportunity

How you format the letter varies based on whether you are sending an email or a physical letter.

If you are sending the resignation letter as an email attachment, you would format it like a physical letter.

A physical letter needs a heading that starts with your address.

If you have letterhead, you can just use that. If you don’t have letterhead, put your name and address against the left-hand margin followed by the name and address of the person you are writing to and the date.

Who you need to address this letter to will vary based on the convention at your company.

For example, at some companies, you might need to address this to your direct supervisor while at others, you may need to direct the letter to human resources.

In the greeting, you should address the person you are writing to the same way you normally do.

In other words, use their first name if you customarily call them that and “Mr. Smith” or “Ms. Jones” if you normally use their last name.

Get right to the point in the first sentence and say that you are resigning and give the date of your last day at work.

If you have already talked to the person you are writing to about it, you can reference this, saying something like, “As we discussed on [date], Friday, March 3 will be my last day at XYZ Corporation.”

What to put in the body of your resignation letter

While you do not have to indicate why you are leaving a job, it is courteous to do so.

However, you do need to be tactful.

If the “better opportunity” is that you will no longer have to work with a supervisor or coworkers you dislike or you believe you will be treated better at the new job, this is not the place to express that.

In a case like that, you can simply say something like “I feel this new position will be a better fit professionally.”

“A better fit” is a good generic phrase to pull out when you do not want to go into details or list grievances in a business environment.

You should also include an expression of gratitude, something along the lines of “I am grateful for the learning opportunities I had at Company X.”

Again, this is something that may seem much easier to write if you genuinely liked things about the job than if you hated it.

However, you can learn things at a job you dislike too–even if all that you learned was what to avoid in a future workplace!

You may also get some ideas about how to express your gratitude by reviewing “It has been a pleasure working with you and 8 alternatives.”
 

How to end your resignation letter due to a better opportunity

At the end of your resignation letter, you should include something referring to the transition.

Depending on the circumstances, this might be specific, such as saying when you will wrap up a particular project and what you will delegate to colleagues or that you will document certain processes before you go.

It could also be more vague or could be phrased in the form of an offer, such as “Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help with the transition to my replacement.”

You then need a professional way to sign off.

“Yours truly” in business correspondence is acceptable as are words such as “Best” and “Sincerely.”

In a printed letter, leave a space in between the sign off and your printed name for your signature.

If you are sending the letter as an email attachment, you may want to use an electronic signature, or you can simply type your name.

In an email resignation, putting your name on the next line after the sign-off as you would with any other type of email is fine.
 

Sample resignation letter due to a better opportunity (Example 1)

In the resignation letter below, you can see that the author appears to have a good relationship with their supervisor, who was aware that the author was looking for a position that better suited his career vision.

Sample Resignation Letter due to a better opportunity (Example 2)

You might notice that this letter is not quite as warmly written as the previous one.

The employee probably had a chillier relationship with her supervisor and is glad to be moving on, but the letter is still professional.

Example: Simple Resignation Letter for Better Opportunity