'Where Are You Going Next?' What to Say When You Resign
Here's the short answer: you are not required to tell your boss where you are going next. If the relationship is strong, share the company name. If it is neutral, share only the industry or the type of role. If it is rocky, share nothing beyond your last day. The choice is yours, and there is a clean way to hold each line.
The question lands within the first ninety seconds of the resignation meeting. Sometimes before you have even said the word "leaving." Sometimes as a warm, sincere ask. Sometimes as a probe.
Then it lands again. In the hallway on Wednesday. In your inbox from a peer who heard it secondhand. On a call with a client who will read the announcement email next week. You are going to answer this question maybe forty times before your last day. It helps to decide once.
What you actually have to disclose
The only things you owe an employer at resignation are your last day and a reasonable handover. That is it. In most employment contracts and in every state where at-will employment applies, the name of your next employer is not part of the deal. You can share it. You do not have to.
This is not a legal-versus-illegal question. It is a relational one. And the answer changes depending on who is asking.
Three scripts, sorted by relationship
Decide the script for your boss first, because you are going to say it out loud on the day you resign. The rest of the answers get calibrated against it.
The strong relationship
Your boss has advocated for you. You have talked about your career in real terms. You trust them, and the trust has been earned.
Say the name. Share the frame. "I'm going to Acme in a senior product role. It's a bigger scope on the same problem I've been working on here." One sentence. No comparison to your current job, no salary detail, no sales pitch. If they ask a follow-up, answer it plainly. You are treating them like an adult, and they will remember that.
The neutral relationship
This is most people's actual situation. Your boss is fine. You have worked well together. There is no history that says you have to protect yourself.
Share the shape, not the name. "It's a bigger role at a company in the same space. I'll share more once the paperwork is done." Or: "I'm moving into a similar seat at a smaller company. Happy to walk through the specifics closer to my last day if it helps." You have given them something real. You have kept the specifics private until the offer is countersigned and the new employer knows you have resigned.
The rocky exit
You are leaving because it is bad. Or the person you are resigning to has a history of retaliation, gossip, or pettiness. Or you are going to a direct competitor and you have reason to think the last two weeks could get complicated.
Share nothing beyond the last day. "I'm not ready to share where I'm going yet. My last day will be the twenty-eighth, and I want to make sure the handover is clean." Say it warmly. Say it once. If they press, repeat it. You do not owe an explanation for wanting privacy on a personal career decision.
The other people who will ask
The boss conversation is one of maybe seven versions of the same question. Get the boss script right and then decide what you will say to the rest.
Direct reports. Give them slightly more than you gave the boss. They are wondering if their team is stable and whether they should follow you. "I'm heading to Acme. This has nothing to do with the team, and I'm going to spend the next two weeks making sure you have what you need." That last clause is what they actually needed to hear.
Peers you actually worked with. Share the company name and one honest sentence about why. Not the pitch, not the salary. "I'm going to Acme. I wanted a smaller company and this one had the right team." You are ending a working relationship on a truthful note.
Cross-functional partners. Share the shape, not the details. "I'm moving into a similar role at another company in the space. I'll ping you when I get settled." You worked together in a specific window. The relationship does not need the same depth as the peer answer.
Clients. Share nothing about the next role in the initial handover email — a formal note that says you are moving on, names the successor, and confirms coverage. If a client asks personally, you can share the name of the new company in a one-line reply. Not the pitch. Not the timeline of your interview process.
The people you barely worked with. "I'm moving on. Let's stay in touch on LinkedIn." That is enough. Nobody needs the details.
The harder question underneath
The "where are you going next" question is the easier version of a bigger one you should be asking yourself in the same week: who do I want to actually keep in my life once this job is over.
That question is harder because your memory will get it wrong. You will remember the last two months and forget the ones from last spring. You will remember the loud contributors and forget the quiet ones. You will remember the two people who took you out to lunch last month and forget the person who unblocked your first project a year ago.
The calendar is the only honest record of who you actually worked with. The tool at It Was Great Working With You takes your calendar export and gives you a ranked list of the people who most shaped your time at the job. Ten minutes. That list becomes your goodbye list — the private notes, the in-person coffees, the LinkedIn messages that are worth writing.
Edge cases you should think through before Monday
Leaving for a direct competitor. If you have a non-compete or a non-solicit clause, read it before you resign, not after. If the language is broad, get a short review from an employment lawyer for a few hundred dollars — it is cheaper than a demand letter later. In the resignation meeting, be brief and factual. Do not volunteer the competitor's name unless the trust is truly there. Do not hide it if asked directly and the trust is there — hiding it hands your former employer a story about your character.
Going to a stealth startup or one that has not announced yet. The company likely asked you to keep the name off LinkedIn until launch. Tell your boss the truth: "I'm going to a small company that is not public yet. I'll share the name when they do." Most people find this respectable, not evasive.
No next role lined up. "I'm taking some time between jobs. I don't have the next thing lined up yet, and I want to be honest about that." You do not have to invent a plan to make anyone comfortable. Most bosses respect it more than a fake consulting role.
Taking a career pivot. "I'm changing industries. I'll share more once I'm settled in." The pivot is your story to tell, in your own time.
After a layoff. The question flips: everyone asks where you are going, and you may not know yet. "I'm exploring what's next" is a complete sentence. So is "I'm taking a beat to figure out the next chapter." You do not owe a five-year plan on the day your role was eliminated.
Three things not to do
Do not lie. If you say you are going to a small consulting firm and a colleague later sees you at a competitor's company all-hands, the story that circulates is not the story you wanted. The industry is smaller than it looks.
Do not turn the answer into a pitch. "It's a huge opportunity to lead a much larger team on a really compelling mission" is a LinkedIn caption. In the resignation meeting it lands as a comparison, whether you meant it as one or not. Keep it plain.
Do not disclose money. Nobody at your current employer needs to know your new salary. Not your boss, not HR, not the peer who asks in the hallway. "I'd rather not share the numbers" is a complete answer. It also protects you if a counter offer conversation comes up — the counter offer trap gets much easier to sidestep when the money was never on the table.
What to do in the ten minutes after the meeting
Write down what you said, exactly. This is the version you are now committed to for the rest of your notice period. If you told your boss the company name, that is the version you tell your peers. If you kept it to the industry, keep it there. Consistency is what makes the answer feel intentional rather than defensive.
Then start the goodbye list. The last 1:1 with your manager is coming up in ten days, and the calendar audit that names the twenty people you want to say goodbye to properly should already be running by then.
The "where are you going next" question is almost never the important one. The important one is who you want to stay in your life when the job is over — and that answer is sitting in your calendar. Pull it out at itwasgreatworkingwithyou.com.
