What to Say - Farewell Speech When Leaving a Job Script — Free Teleprompter

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Script text

Thanks, everyone, for coming — and for the [thing they did, e.g. card, cake, unreasonable quantity of crisps]. [Pause.] I've been here [Number] years. I joined as [Starting Role] when the team was [size or state then — e.g. four people and one very temperamental server], and I'm leaving [current state — e.g. a department of thirty]. I want to say something specific rather than general, because general goodbyes are forgettable. [Name 1] — you [specific thing — e.g. taught me how to run a project properly, mostly by letting me get it wrong first]. [Name 2] — [specific thing — e.g. you have talked me down from more bad decisions than either of us will admit]. [To the wider team.] The work I'm proudest of here is [specific project or outcome]. I didn't do that alone, and everyone in this room knows it. [Optional: one short, self-deprecating story.] I'm going to [new thing — e.g. join a smaller company doing something adjacent], and I'm genuinely excited about it. But leaving somewhere good is harder than leaving somewhere bad, and this has been a good one. Stay in touch — I mean that in the way people usually don't. [Contact detail, if you want to give one.] Thank you, all of you. It's been a pleasure.

What you'll need to fill in

This script has 11 details to fill in before you read it. Have these to hand — the customizer above updates the script as you type:

thing they did, e.g. card, cake, unreaso…
Number
Starting Role
size or state then
current state
Name 1
specific thing
Name 2
specific thing
specific project or outcome
new thing

It also contains 4 stage directions in grey. Those are instructions to you, not lines to say out loud — they mark where to pause, listen, or wait for a response.

216words

1 min 40 secread time

11to fill in

That timing assumes about 130 words a minute, which is a normal conversational pace. If you are presenting to a room you will likely go slower; if you are nervous you will go faster. Read it aloud once and time yourself before it matters.

When to use this script

Use this before a conversation where you know you will undersell yourself. Salary negotiations, resignations, and interview introductions all have the same problem: they are high-stakes, infrequent, and emotionally loaded, which is exactly the combination that makes people improvise badly and hedge their own case.

Writing it down does two things. It forces you to make the specific claim you are avoiding, and it gives you something to fall back on when the conversation gets uncomfortable and your instinct is to soften the ask.

Making it sound like you

Put a real number in. A negotiation script without a specific figure is a script that ends without one.
Replace hedging language with plain statements. "I was hoping maybe" undoes the case the rest of the sentence makes.
Ground every claim in something verifiable — a shipped project, a metric, a scope change with a date.
Write what you will say after they respond, including the silence. That is the part people improvise worst.

Reading it out loud

These conversations are usually live and often remote, so keep notes where you can glance without obviously reading — a narrow column near the webcam, or a printed page beside you. Rehearse the ask out loud until you can say it without softening it, because the softening happens in the delivery, not the draft.

More on the setup side: Teleprompter for Webcam, Teleprompter for Laptop, Moving Text for Scripts.

Questions about this script

How long does this farewell speech when leaving a job script take to read?

The script runs to about 216 words, which is roughly 1 min 40 sec at a normal speaking pace of around 130 words a minute. Your own pace will vary, so time one read-through before you rely on the number.

What do I need to prepare before using this script?

There are 11 details to fill in: thing they did, e.g. card, cake, unreaso…, Number, Starting Role, size or state then, current state, Name 1, and a few more. Enter them in the customizer and the script updates as you type, then opens straight in the teleprompter.

Is it strange to use notes in a salary conversation?

Not at all. Bringing notes signals preparation, which is exactly the impression you want in a negotiation. The alternative — improvising your own case under pressure — is how people talk themselves down.

What if the conversation goes off script?

It will, and that is fine. The value of the script is that you have already decided the number, the justification, and the fallback. Once those are settled you can improvise the rest without conceding the substance.

What to Say - Farewell Speech When Leaving a Job