It’s like a formal offer letter, “this is how much you will make and when you start” but just ending the job. I see no reason to be pissy and not write one.
Exactly. Curtesy costs nothing. I’d like my employer to go a little above the bare minimum legal requirement if they were terminating our relationship, so it seems only fair to treat others as I’d expect to be treated.
Yeah, this is remarkably bad advice. A letter is just plain polite, and it’s pretty much standard operating procedure in most any company. It’s a way of leaving a legacy for yourself - the last impression, which in many cases is very important.
Depending on your field and the town you’re in, you could be a member of a very small community. Your reputation as a professional, someone who’s easy to work with, and just plain not a jerk is an important asset to carry around as you move from company to company.
The best way to do it, as others have noted: go in to your boss and have a quiet word with him. Tell him you’re leaving for an opportunity you can’t pass up in good conscience. Odds are, that’s all he’ll need. Give him the letter for his files, and confirm the date of your leaving. Offer two weeks to wrap up. Then thank him for the opportunities you’ve had, and take your leave.
So, to sum up: a letter is polite, it’s professional. It’s what grown-ups do.
What I am getting at is avoiding a rambling letter that includes detailed information about anyone or anything that happened while you worked there. There isn’t a problem with just stating a simple fact or two like in the Nixon resignation cited above. However, if things go over 3 or 4 sentences, something has gone wrong.
Then we’re in agreement. My letters have tended toward:
*"Please accept my resignation as Chief Bloviator, effective March 25, 2008.
I have enjoyed my tenure at Amalgamated Magpies Inc., and I wish you the best of luck in the future.
Sincerely,
Genghis Bob, esq."*
Or something like that.
No advice, but I stopped in to wish you joy and luck in your new career! 
I’ve spent most of my professional life working for small companies that seem more like families, with bosses that are really mentors. It can be hard to leave such a situation, but sometimes it’s necessary, for instance when you can make 10k more a year.
A while ago I was listening to a conversation at a trade association gathering. Business Owner A said to Business owner B “I heard Tim left your place to go work for Bigger Biz C. That’s gotta hurt.” The response was “Sure I’ll miss him, Tim did great work but I’d be worried about him if his biggest ambition was to work for me.”
Your boss wants you to do well. I do agree that if money is the only variable you should give your current employer the chance to match the new salary, but if they can’t they’ll understand that as a valid reason to move on.
Yeah, whatever you do, don’t turn in a handwritten 5 page missive, detailing why this was such a difficult decision for you, because of all the love and fellowship you received from all your coworkers, but little Timmy needs braces, and your wife misses you because you spend so much time travelling, etc. etc. Because after you leave, your former coworkers will pass around copies of the letter, and laugh at you.
This is usually not a good idea. If she was that valuable to the company he should have been paying her that much already.
Matching an offer sets up a bad dynamic. Your boss feels often like he’s been blackmailed into paying more, which means that he’s less likely to give raises in the future. It also sours your relationship with the new company who will feel like they were just being used. Not a good plan if you ever want to work for them in the future. If you decide to quit, quit. Don’t change your mind and turn the new offer into a club to beat your boss with.
This was exactly me 10 years ago, (seriously! It was a bank!) except the raise was about $8k. I wrote the letter, explaining to my boss that I’d loved working there, and would really miss the everyone, but that I’d been offered an opportunity that I felt it would be a mistake to pass up. He was awesome about it.
The worst part was that I had to tell him over the phone while he was on vacation that I had applied for and was about to accept another job, but my future supervisor needed to speak to him before she could offer me the job officially. :smack: That sucked. I’d been there 11.5 years and he felt like an extra parent. 
How did it go?
Just wanted to say congrats on the new job. $10K more? You must know what you’re doing. 
Good luck with it.
TroubleAgain, that sounds horrible. I’d want to hide under my desk. I’ve never heard of a prospective employer requiring that before–although *maybe * I could see it if you didn’t have other references? Did it strike you as really odd at the time?
Yes, and it’s not how we do things now. Well, I don’t know for sure, because HR recruiting does all the reference checking now, but I think they’d probably just talk to HR at the prospect’s current job if their boss isn’t around for some reason.