Q. You've decided to leave your job. How much care should you put into writing your letter of resignation?

A. Quite a lot, said Audrey Boone Tillman, senior vice president of human resources at Aflac, the life insurance company based in Columbus, Georgia. While it may be tempting to view your resignation letter as just another memo, it’s more important than that. “This letter memorialises your last communication with the company and becomes part of your permanent employee file,” she said. “Take the time to do it right.”

Q. What is the purpose of the letter?

A. Think of it as a formal message to inform your employer that you’ll be moving on. While most states don’t have laws that require written confirmation of plans to resign, Jon D. Meer, a partner at the Los Angeles law firm of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, said it was a good idea to create a document that could serve as a dated record in case of a dispute with your employer later on.

“There are sometimes issues involving liability on both sides as to the last day someone worked and the last day they had authority to act on behalf of the company,” Meer said. He added that the letter also helped clarify any potential salary disputes, as employers in several states are required to pay all accrued wages and expenses within three days of the last day of work.

Q. Is there a standard letter format?

A.There’s no formula for writing a resignation letter, but Dianna Booher, president of Booher Consultants in Grapevine, Texas, said it should contain three essential points: the fact that you’re resigning, the date upon which your resignation will be effective and your mailing address, so your employer knows where to send official correspondence after you leave.

A resignation letter can also incorporate a pinch of gratitude for the opportunities your employer has given you. Booher, the author of Great Personal Letters for Busy People: 501 Ready-to-Use Letters for Every Occasion (McGraw Hill, 2006), notes that the best resignation letters give brief kudos to people who served as mentors.

“Every job — even the worst of them — brings you training, experience and relationships,” she said. “So long as you don’t make the thank-you’s sound like an Academy Award speech, expressing appreciation for these things can be a nice gesture.”

But keep it short. Last year, when Sandra Day ’Connor resigned as associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, her letter consisted of three sentences. When Richard M. Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, his letter was 11 words. Liz Bywater, president of Bywater Consulting Group, a management consulting company in Yardley, Pennsylvania, said most resignation letters should be about a paragraph, and should never exceed one printed page. “The less you write, the better,” she said.

Q. Is it wise to outline why you’re leaving?

A.You’re not obligated to explain your departure, but if you’re leaving under good terms and have an open relationship with the boss, it’s perfectly acceptable to do so.

Employees get into trouble when they use the resignation letter to vent their frustrations. Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, president of AboutYou, a career consulting company in Atlanta, said this could be damaging if you listed your current employer as a reference.

“What if that next organisation checks up on you and your letter surfaces?” she asked. “Sure, it might feel good to write the letter at first, but there are endless possibilities for disaster.”

Charmaine McClarie, president of the McClarie Group, a management consulting firm in Los Angeles, added that if employees were determined to be critical, they should wait for the exit interview. Still, she said it was best to cast all comments as positively as possible. “The same way you seduced them to hire you, keep that romance going until you walk out the door,” she said.

Q. Should you disclose where you’re headed next?

A. Avoid direct mention of your next employer, your future salary and your prospective boss, McClarie said. Anything beyond the most basic facts about your resignation could come to hurt you, she said. “If you say, ‘You were a great boss, and I’m just sorry things didn’t work out,’ a year later you could be in a benefits dispute and this statement becomes evidence that you knew your performance didn’t meet expectations,” she said. “When it comes to writing these letters, what bosses don’t know won’t hurt them.”

Of course, employees who have healthy and nurturing relationships with their bosses may be exceptions to this rule. In these instances, an employee may want to write two resignation letters — a standard note for the file and a more personal one for the boss’s eyes only.

Q.To whom should you deliver the letter?

A. At some companies, employees are expected to submit resignations directly to their supervisors while at others they go to the human resources department. Consult your employee handbook; when in doubt, giving the letter to your boss is a safe bet.

But don’t just drop the letter on a desk. Be sure to hand it over to a living, breathing person, said Heather Galler, chief executive of JobKite, an online job service in Land ’Lakes, Florida. How an employee goes about delivering a resignation letter can make an impression. “People leave their jobs every day,” she said. “How you leave will be the last statement you make about your character.”

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