Unit 9. Resigning a Position.

Read the focus question below and watch the videos to learn how to get a high band score. You can practice similar tasks and send your writing for correction and feedback.

Focus Question 9. Resigning for a Better Job.

Dear Mr Parrish,

I am writing to inform you that I have decided to leave the company as I have been offered an exciting new position with another leading company in our industry. 

Specifically, with regard to the notification period required under the terms and conditions of my contract of employment, I am formally declaring that I intend to leave the company in four weeks time, which commences from the date of this letter. 

In spite of my intention to leave Liberty Life Insurance, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the years of valuable experience I have gained from working with a leading insurance company. As well as gaining knowledge and certification of key pensions and investment products, I have also acquired essential people skills, which are crucial to being successful in the financial services sector.

Indeed, although I have decided the time is right for a new challenge, Liberty Life will always be the special company where my career really took off. Finally, Mr Parrish, I would really appreciate it if you could write a letter of reference for my new employer, A&B Finance Group.

Thank you for your kind attention. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Tony Reeves

Video Lessons.

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Practice Task 1. Resigning a Job You Dislike. 

Dear Mr. Knights,

I am writing to inform you that I am formally resigning from my position as researcher at the Financial Services Research Centre (F.S.R.C) effective one month from today.

The reasons why I am leaving are two-fold: First of all, I believe that in spite of the valuable contributions I have made in researching innovation in virtual banking, I have not received the professional recognition that I deserve. Secondly, although I have a stable position at the F.S.R.C. a new opportunity has arisen in international advertising, which has better prospects for career advancement, albeit on a lower starting salary.

Nevertheless, despite my decision to make a career switch, I would like to thank everybody at the F.S.R.C, for the wonderful twelve months I have had working in banking research. Not only have I learned about financial systems, but I have been able to hone my research and writing skills, which I am confident will be valuable assets in the future.

Finally, I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a letter of recommendation reflecting my valuable contributions to banking research at your research centre.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Jackson.

Practice Task 2. Discontinuing an Education Course.

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Mae Sue Ping, and I am writing to inform you of my intention to leave my Bachelor of Education studies even though I only started studying two months ago. 

Please allow me to explain why I must leave prematurely: Although I am scheduled to study for four years here in Manchester, my mother, who lives back home in China, has fallen seriously ill, so I am required to return home in order to take care of my younger siblings for the rest of this academic year.

Unfortunately, this unexpected repatriation will make it difficult for me to cope financially. Given this situation, could you tell me whether I am entitled to a partial repayment of the full fees that I paid for the current year?

Also, I would like to formally request that I be allowed to defer my studies and return to continue my course next year. Moreover, could you advise me whether my unavoidable withdrawal will affect my academic record?  

Finally, I would like to thank you in advance for your understanding. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Mae Sue Ping.

Practice Task 3. Resigning as Chairperson.

Dear Dr. Brown,

I am writing this letter because I feel the time has finally arrived for me to stand down as chairperson of the students union. As you will be aware, I have now held the post for two years, but I am now approaching my final year with a heavy academic schedule to manage, so I am formally giving you one months notice of my resignation.

Despite my decision to step down, I feel compelled to express my deepest appreciation to you personally as the director of student affairs for all the support you have given me since I was given this privileged opportunity. Indeed, I have acquired so many new qualities as a person. I fervently believe that if I had not had this opportunity, I would not have grown in confidence or developed my people management skills, which will be great assets to me in the future.

Finally, as outgoing president, I would recommend Helen Smith as my replacement because as well as being integral to all ongoing projects, she is diligent, trustworthy, and extremely competent.

Once again, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude.for your leadership over the past two years.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Price.

President of The Student's Union.

Practice Task 4.  Resigning from Voluntary Community Work.

Dear Mr. Barnes,

I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign from the voluntary work I have been doing at South Bank Hospice as a community carer for the past six months. My reason for resigning is that I am starting a full time degree at university, so I simply will not have the time to continue.

Nevertheless, since I took up the position, I have benefitted from fulfilling a plethora of roles, which have given me so much experience in the field of community care. First of all, I have learned first hand how to communicate sensitively with not only terminal patients, but also their near and dear relatives. Furthermore, I developed my administrative and management skills. Naturally, I extend my deepest gratitude to you for providing me with this opportunity and take this opportunity to request a letter of reference describing my voluntary service.

With regards to the vacant position that my resignation creates, I thought I would suggest a conscientious replacement; my younger sister Elizabeth has attended the hospice with me on several occasions and would love to volunteer if you consider her suitable.

Finally, I really appreciate everything I have learned from volunteering at South Bank Hospice, and wish everybody all the best for the future. 

Yours sincerely,

Mathew Rigby.

Practice Test 5.  Letter of Complaint.

 Vocabulary · a recalled product: a defective product that is taken off the market ·malfunctions: failures in operation · faulty: defective · apology: an admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret e.g. public apology · annoyance: Being bothered by something or someone e.g. She expressed annoyance at the slow service ·dissatisfaction: a feeling of unhappiness or disapproval, e.g. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the service Letters of Complaint Useful Phrases and Vocabulary · satisfaction: a happy or pleased feeling because of something that you did or something that happened to you ·attitude: the way you think and feel about someone or something · quality: how good or bad something is · to portray: to describe (someone or something) in a particular way ·incompetence: lack of the ability to do something well · to attend to: to give needed help or attention to (someone or something) · severe: very bad, serious, or unpleasant · to compensate: to give money or something else of value to (someone) in return for something ·to demand: to require (something) · hazardous: dangerous · a lawn mower: a machine used for cutting the grass on lawns · assembly: the act of connecting together the parts of something (such as a machine) · to chuckle: to laugh in a quiet way · a welded edge: to join pieces of metal together by heating the edges until they begin to melt and then pressing them together · a coupler: something combined with something else · to misuse: to use (something) incorrectly · hassle: to bother or annoy (someone) constantly or repeatedly

Common Expressions.

Opening a letter of complaint.

Introducing your complaint.

- I am writing this letter to protest about the plan to ...

- I am writing this letter to express my disappointment in relation to the proposal to ...

- I am sorry to have to inform you of the following unfortunate situation:  Last week when I visited your ...

- I am writing to express my unhappiness about your decision / plans to ...

- I am writing to make clear / to lodge my displeasure (show my irritation / frustration)  at your plans to ...

- I am sorry to have to complain in relation to the following unfortunate situation, which occurred at your ...

- I am writing in connection with an unfortunate experience I had when I visited your store / business etc...

- I am writing this letter to bring to your attention my disapproval of  your decision / proposal to ...

- I am writing this letter to complain about an incident that happened on (date) at (time) at (place)

- I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction with the poor service I experienced when I ...

- I am writing in connection with ...

Developing your complaint.

- The reasons for my complaint / objections are three-fold: First of all, ... Also, ... In addition, ...

- Unfortunately, I found the standard of professionalism and workmanship to fall well below what I had come to consider to be an acceptable level in regard to ...

- I am very disappointed with the poor standard(s) of service / workmanship / professionalism I encountered when I visited your ...

- Something that I feel particularly aggrieved about is that ...

- Another source of real dissatisfaction is that ...

- This was not what I had expected.  In fact, it is quite the opposite; 

- Although, according to your staff, I should have got / the product should have / the service should have included, in fact it fell short of this expectation...

- Notwithstanding the fact that I was assured by your sales assistant / employee that ...

- On using your service / product, I was quite surprised to discover that, despite being assured by your company employees that it would work perfectly, when I got it home, in fact the product failed to ...

Asking the recipient to take action:

- I sincerely hope that you will take my complaint seriously

- I trust you will take appropriate action to remedy this situation in the immediate future so that we can put this unfortunate incident / event(s) behind us.

- I am fully confident that we can overcome this unfortunate situation and come to a mutually agreeable resolution.  I trust it would not be inconvenient for you to now act to redress this problem by ...

- I would be sincerely grateful if you could ...

- I hope you will give your immediate attention to this matter...

- I fully anticipate that you will take remedial steps to resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction.  I therefore expect you to ...

- In view of these circumstances, I trust you will see that it would be unfair if I were not given some kind of compensation for my loss / inconvenience ... Therefore, it only seems fair that you provide me with ...

- As a valued customer, I fully expect that you will provide me with ...

- In order to satisfactorily address my grievance, I feel that what would be fair (what would suit me best) would be if you were to ...  

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