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Essentially, I am planning on resigning from my graduate scheme as I want to focus more on my masters which can be done on a part-time basis. Ultimately, I want to pursue a career in a different field. I also want a job which is more part-time to accommodate my studying in the mean-time. If you don't know what a graduate scheme is, then think of graduate schemes like 'trainees' if you will. There's a related question on graduate schemes here

As graduates/trainees are expected to join the company at the end of the trainee scheme, I got a question about this in an interview and I had a hard time answering it. Therefore, I ask, how can I minimize the impact of leaving a graduate scheme early in my career and how do I tell future employers about this resignation when asked?

AnUnknownStudent
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    Thanks for your attempt to improve your question. In doing so however it seems you've removed the actual question from the post. I think your question is still how to explain your reasons for leaving your graduate scheme in interviews for other jobs? Is that the case? And are you indeed planning to go from a (more or less) full time graduate scheme role to applying for a part-time job? As Joe mentioned, it would still be helpful for us if you were to mention how you're answering this question now, if you can. – Lilienthal Feb 18 '23 at 22:10
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    The original version of your question talked about ways to "resign" without impacting your career but there's no real way to do that. It'll be a bridge your burning and could leave a gap in your resume or a potential red flag for some. If you want a good way to word leaving that graduate scheme in interviews for other jobs, that we can help with. I've gone ahead and edited your question to combine your previous post and what I believe your key question might be, but please edit it again if I missed anything. – Lilienthal Feb 18 '23 at 22:12
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    @Lilienthal "If you want a good way to word leaving that graduate scheme in interviews for other jobs, that we can help with. " - that's exactly it, thanks for edit – AnUnknownStudent Feb 18 '23 at 22:24
  • @Lilienthal But I do also want a career change and that might require a career break as I will need to polish up on some skills. But from what I've been told is that you need to have a job lined up before resigning generally – AnUnknownStudent Feb 18 '23 at 22:33
  • Well, you don't need to have the new job lined up if you prefer to, and are able to, live off your savings until you find and start the new job. Most people prefer to minimize periods without income, especially early in their careers. It can also be hard to explain a gap unless you are clearly doing something productive with the time. That ties back to having a Good Answer for why you are trying to change careers before having one. – keshlam Feb 19 '23 at 01:39
  • @keshlam The other reason for the career break is that I am extremely tired and at risk of burn-out. I do not have the literal energy to apply for other jobs while I am working and doing my masters at the moment. Currently, I just work on my masters , go to work and sleep. If I add applying to jobs to my schedule, I actually believe I will become seriously ill. – AnUnknownStudent Feb 19 '23 at 01:51
  • I would simplify it to "I need to focus on my studies." That's an entirely reasonable reason to drop a term-time job. – keshlam Feb 19 '23 at 03:16
  • Thanks for clarifying @AnUnknownStudent, the topic of resigning without a new job is covered in Is it really that bad to leave my job as a software engineer before I have an offer? and its related questions. You might also want to read up on the questions on this site that cover resume gaps. More generally you'd also do well to look up the value of extra education compared to work experience for your career, but we can't help you in making the actual decision there as that's really down to you. Good luck! – Lilienthal Feb 19 '23 at 09:48
  • @Lilienthal " More generally you'd also do well to look up the value of extra education compared to work experience for your career," - What does that mean? Reading up about resume gaps I guess I technically want to take a sabbatical? Is that going to make me look bad? – AnUnknownStudent Feb 19 '23 at 14:56
  • If I understand you correctly you are going to grad school right now part time as a trainee for A Company. Before you resign, I would take a look at your contract.

    Is the company you are working for paying for your school? You might be on the hook for every single dollar that they have spent on you so far. That's been the case for every single company that I have worked for/looked at that pay for their employees to finish a masters. They also often require you to stay with them for a couple of years after you have finished your masters.

     – Questor Feb 20 '23 at 16:49

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"Thank you for your time and the opportunity, in the course of the training, it has made me realise that I want to take my Career in a different direction. I'm resigning from this program so as to not waste your time or to take up space that could be occupied by someone who wants to pursue this as a career"

There you go.

TheDemonLord
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  • Thanks!! Really helpful – AnUnknownStudent Feb 18 '23 at 19:03
  • How do I explain this sort of career direction when I apply for different jobs in the future? I might take a career break to brush up on some skills but not so sure yet or just go straight to a part-time role. – AnUnknownStudent Feb 18 '23 at 19:15
  • Can you give a good explanation of why you originally thought committing to that particular program was a good idea, and why it turned out not to be, that makes both sound reasonable and doesn't give the impression that they should expect to to give up again? If so, that's your answer. If not, you probably need to fix that. – keshlam Feb 18 '23 at 22:58