Oprah Winfrey and her last day at work.

May 23, 2011 Oprah Winfrey just taped her last day at work and the final show will be shown over two days in two parts. Oprah has been producing her talk show since 1985 and enjoyed tremendous success. During her career she made many friends at work. Many guests, celebrities, fans, and co-workers attended Oprah's last day in order to wish her well.

While you will probably not leave your job in the same grand style that Oprah did, it is just as important to say goodbye to your friends and co-workers. Whether your last day is planned or not, it is a good opportunity to plant seeds of goodwill, remind people you appreciated them, and ensure you have a way of staying in touch. If you don't take a moment to say goodbye it could strain your relationship with someone. Today is very important to maintain a professional network. Wisely using your last day to remind friends you will miss them and to stay in touch is not only good for continuing a friendship with people you will see less often, but it is good for your career. There may come a time when you need to rely on your business network of friends for help finding new work opportunities.

Why you must say goodbye before you leave on your last day of work.
If you've been asked to leave unexpectedly, you should still be sure to say goodbye to your co-workers. If you don’t say goodbye, you will definitely hurt their feelings. After all we generally spend more waking time with our co-workers then our families. These people have become a pseudo family to you. Use this last opportunity to exchange current contact information if you haven’t already. Staying in touch with these people will prove to be important in the weeks and months to come, especially if you will be looking for work.

It is not uncommon to be asked to leave immediately. Some companies have explained this request as their attempt in minimizing what they feel will be a disruption caused by employees stopping their work in order to say goodbye. The company that would make such a demand from you after taking your job away isn’t showing much respect for you, so why would you honor that request? Don’t let that request stop you from saying good bye to your close friends. After all, they have been your second family.

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