How to write a resignation letter.
A resignation letter is a short, formal note, not a farewell. It needs six things:
- The date you hand it over.
- Who it is addressed to.
- One sentence: that you are resigning, and your last working day.
- One line of thanks.
- An offer to hand over your work.
- Your name.
Your last working day is not a free choice. It is set by the notice period in your contract, usually one to three months in India, counted from the day you resign. Keep the letter brief and unemotional. It goes in your file, and a manager may be asked for a reference long after you have gone. Fill in the fields below and the letter, with the date worked out for you, appears on the right.
You never have to give a reason. If you do, keep it to one neutral line.
Your letter
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Six parts, and only six.
A resignation letter that is longer than this is a resignation letter working against you. Each part does one job; nothing else earns a place.
The date
The day you hand the letter over. It is what your notice period is counted from, so it is not a formality. It fixes your last working day.
Who it is to
Your manager by name if you have it, or “The Manager”, and the company. On an email this is the To line; in the body it is the salutation.
The resignation, in one sentence
That you are resigning from your role, and the last working day you will serve. This is the only sentence the letter truly needs; everything else is courtesy.
One line of thanks
A single sentence for the time and the people. It costs nothing, it is remembered, and it is what a reference is written from later.
An offer to hand over
That you will help pass on your work before you go. It is the line that makes a resignation read as considerate rather than a door closing.
Your name
Signed off plainly. No case for a long paragraph after it, and no place for what went wrong.
Your notice period decides your last working day.
It is the one part people get wrong, because it is the one part that is not up to you.
The last working day on your letter is the day you hand it over plus your notice period. Your notice period is whatever your employment contract says, commonly one to three months in India, and longer for senior roles. Count it from the date on the letter, not from when you would like to leave. If your company puts you on garden leave you still serve the notice, just away from your desk. If you want to leave sooner, that is a notice buyout to agree with your employer, not a date you can simply write in. The tool above adds your notice period to today for you, and lets you set an exact last working day once it has been agreed.
Email it, and keep the letter.
A resignation is usually an email now, with the letter as the message or a short attachment.
Email is normal
Send it to your manager, and copy HR if your company expects it. The subject line names it: “Resignation, [your name]”.
Keep a copy
Save the sent mail and the letter. The date you resigned is what your notice is counted from, and it is worth being able to show.
Tell people before they read it
Where you can, say it to your manager first and send the letter after. The letter is the record, not the news.
Four things that do not belong in it.
Most of what goes wrong in a resignation letter is not bad writing. It is the right feeling written in the wrong document.
Grievances
Whatever made you leave, the resignation letter is not where it goes. It is filed, it is forwarded, and it outlives the moment. Raise problems in an exit conversation or a separate note, not here.
A long reason
You do not owe an explanation, and a paragraph defending your decision invites a negotiation you have already finished having. One neutral line, or none.
Emotion, in either direction
Not anger, and not a farewell speech. The letter is a formal record; the warm goodbyes belong in person and in the messages you send your team.
An ultimatum
“Unless things change…” is a counter-offer, not a resignation. If you mean to leave, resign; if you mean to negotiate, that is a different conversation and a different letter.
The letter closes a job. The resume opens the next.
A clean exit is worth doing. What decides where you go next is the document you apply with.
When the notice is served and you are applying again, the free resume review reads your whole file and tells you what a recruiter and an ATS will see, and the cover letter generator writes the note that goes with it. Both are free to start, and neither asks for an account to show you something real.
Common questions.
What should a resignation letter say?
How much notice do I have to give in India?
Can I resign with immediate effect?
Do I have to give a reason for resigning?
Should I send it by email or as a printed letter?
Does this generator use AI, or store what I type?
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