Advice on Resigning from a Job

[Academicat]

I'm in the final stages of selecting a PhD program. For the past three years, I've been working as NTT faculty and an administrator at a university, so once I select a program, I plan to resign from my job so that they can begin the time-consuming process of finding my replacement. Everyone knows I'm leaving unofficially, and it's not official until I send the letter.

 

Here's my quandry. Our department's administrative assistant requested that I send an official letter soon (now?) so that she can start moving on the search. It takes months to get everything approved, so it would help her out to have the resignation sooner, but I'm hesitant to resign until I sign a contract that guarantees my funding for graduate school (and I'm not even decided yet on the program).

 

I get that resigning to get a PhD is not the same as resigning to take another professional position. I'm not sure what best practice is in this case. Advice?

[milkman2500]

I would approach it the same way I would when considering another job opportunity. Don't resign from your current job until you've officially accepted the other. Try being honest with the administrative assistant and let her know that you technically aren't going yet and once you've made it official you will provide the letter.