How do I tell my boss I want to study instead of work?

Hi Aunty, 

I am currently in a fantastic job, with a great team and awesome bosses. I just received a raise about three months ago and I have strong prospects for further study and progression.

The thing is, I don’t want it! I feel awful that I am leaving this great job, letting down the business and their future plans for me.

I have applied for study next year and I want to tell them ASAP. How do I do this in an amicable way? I want to keep them as friends and business contacts into the future.

Any advice you can give would be wonderful!

From the Studious Employee

Dear Studious Employee,

Heavens! You prefer to study full-time and to forgo an income rather than work at a great job, with great people and do training on the side? Are you nuts? And amicable? There is no amicable way to drive a stake through the heart of your bosses.

Look. This is like breaking up. There are no magical lines, no easy way to do it. You can blather on about it and tell them it is you not them, but it comes down to the same thing – YOU ARE LEAVING! So just come out and say it.

What you can control is the timing. Not when you leave but when you tell your boss. If you have to do it, make sure you do it at the end of the day so your bosses can stagger off to the pub to drown their sorrows or go home for a good cry under the doona (it’s that time of year).

It sounds like you have made your decision. But can I talk you out of it? Great jobs don’t grow on trees. Why don’t you ask for unpaid leave to study? The understanding is that you will return and with your new skills you may well be able to rise up the ranks and get a new job at the same place!

If I can’t change your mind, then take a deep breath and do it now so at least they have lots of notice and might think more fondly of you for a second or two.

Be smart,
Your Aunty B

To read more Aunty B advice, click here.

Email your questions, problems and issues to auntyb@smartcompany.com.au right now!