Today I told my boss that I will be leaving Carden Jennings Publishing in mid-May, which will give me enough time to prepare for my June 2 departure to Guyana. It was a difficult conversation for me, but he took it rather well. This is the basics of what I told him:
Matt,
I have some disappointing news that I need to share with you. Nearly two weeks ago, I received an invitation to join the Peace Corps.
I began the application process to serve as a volunteer while I was still with WeAlumni.com. And when I lost my job in January of 2001, I naturally tried to speed up the application process for it was a great time for me to serve. After all, I was unemployed, I was single, and I didn’t own a house or anything.
In fact, it started to look like the Peace Corps was not interested in me and that I would never receive an invitation. After all, it is a rather competitive process.
And once I accepted your offer in May, I had little contact with them at all; that is until a few weeks ago when I received an official invitation to serve with them in Guyana, which is in S. America.
Needless to say, I have put a lot of thought and careful consideration into this decision. And I realize that by accepting this invitation, I will be disappointing you and Carden Jennings for I will have failed to make the Indianapolis office profitable.
Yet as I contemplated my options, I realized that my hesitation to become a Peace Corps volunteer was not due to a fear of catching malaria or yellow fever, or the fact that I will be leaving friends and family behind for two years.
Instead, the thing that troubled me the most was this phone call.
You put your trust and resources in me and by leaving, I will have let you down. I don’t like letting people down.
But once I realized that the main thing that was keeping me from accepting the invitation was my employment with you, I had no choice but to accept. For I would have been unhappy and regretful had I passed up this opportunity.
So this means that I will likely need to leave Carden Jennings by mid-May, for my Peace Corps service begins the first of June.
I am fortunate to have spent my last year under Matt’s guidance and management. This upcoming weekend, he and a coworker will be coming to Indianapolis for the three of us to hold a retreat to plan the future of our department’s business and services. I am glad that Matt is still interested in holding the retreat and seeks my involvement. While I will not be around to implement the plans that we will develop, I believe in CJP and hope that it will prosper after my departure.
Leaving a company that you care about and a job that you enjoy is no easy task. I am grateful that Matt took the news so well and considers my departure in good standing. It is a relief to have this discussion behind me, taking me one step closer to becoming a Peace Corps volunteer.