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Who cares what your current employer thinks when you already have a new job.
In life you have to look out for yourself. Your employer is looking out for themselves, you should do the same.
Amen to that brother.
Too many people are wusses in corporate america
Always always watch out for yourself. This is business, not personal. I always tell people don't give any notice because a company doesn't give you notice if they were going to fire you.
But alas, people are wimps and always worry about what a former employer will think of them. Listen there are millions of companies out there, why worry about 1 company thinks of you. I mean, do you care what your first part-time job back when you were 16 yrs old thinks of you right now? If you do, then you have other problems.
I have no idea, but I did give my employer notice that I will be leaving on June 30th 2049. I would quit sooner but they hold their employee recognition dinners in June and as of February 9, 2049 that would be my 50th year at the company. I don't plan on staying one day more than June 30th because I will have already attended the recognition dinner.
I would say that, from your research on the company/field you are applying to, you should have some sense of what the new company is likely to find acceptable.
For example, if the job posting says "Start date: Nov 15" they might have some flex, but they're telling you straight up when they're expecting a hire to be available give or take a few days. If the posting does not state, it's a question you can certainly ask (but do so diplomatically) in the interview process.
This year we hired someone in March for a position opening in July, but that was the exception, not the rule.
Similar to others, I think it's great that you have concern for your employer, but despite your long relationship there's no guarantee they will honor that when push comes to shove. If you want the new job, I would work out with them, in conversation and from what you already know, what is a reasonable period prior to starting the new job, and what is unreasonable.
No, actually I didn't have a new job lined up. I work in technology and I figured I'd be fine leaving, since I was moving across the country and needed a few weeks to get settled. If you are going to commit to a new job, you pretty much have to be up front about when you can start.
Whatever you do, DON'T change that commitment after you accept an offer! I had a new hire do that to me once. I didn't want to hire him anyway and I told my boss that something was "off" about him. Anyway, my boss said "he'll be GREAT". So the first thing this new hire does, before he even starts work, is he calls up and says he needs another 2 weeks because he has to go "consult" in Pensacola. I figure he's working on some military project or something and it ran over by a week or two (but he later slipped and said he was just going to visit his parents).
My boss was so pissed about this that he told the guy to go fly a kite or start on the day he said. So he did start on time, but it tainted my boss' perception of this guy a lot. As it turned out I was right, there was something way off about him.
I don't want to leave my present job so suddenly and leave the company in the lurch. It would take them a while to replace me and someone would have to step into my weird hours (graveyard shift) with almost no notice.
Do you really think they will be in a "lurch" when you leave?
Im not trying to be rude, but you/anyone will be replaced possibly overnight, or very shortly thereafter with no lurching, I assure you. Seriously, this should not even factor in to your decision. Irreplaceable people are replaced all the time. If you want to move on, move on. They will get by
I'm going to be receiving an advanced degree – if all goes well – in the spring. If I want to change jobs and do something in that field, this is the window in which to make that change.
The problem is this: when talking with friends and acquaintances at employers I might be interested in working for, they all say things like "go to the website and apply for a position". But aren't those listings typically positions that the company wants to fill as soon as they can?
I don't want to leave my present job so suddenly and leave the company in the lurch. It would take them a while to replace me and someone would have to step into my weird hours (graveyard shift) with almost no notice. I've been with my company for 15 years, and it's the only professional job I've ever had. They've taken care of me for a long time and I will never stab them in the back, even if it means turning down a much higher paying or much more fulfilling job.
Is it even possible these days to be recruited to start a job, say, six months from now? I really don't want to have to commit to changing jobs and tell my employer that I'm getting a postgrad degree in March and so March 31 will be my last day. Then if another job doesn't materialize, I'm stuck. I'm perfectly happy to stay at the job I have now (and have been doing for a decade and a half), but would like to at least see what is available if I want to switch.
TL;DR: Will I be laughed out of a job interview if I tell them the earliest I can start is April 2016?
Depends on what you do for a living. Most companies who are hiring need to fill the position reasonably soon. Can your current employer do without a replacement for you for six months? When you current employer looks for your replacement, they'll want him/her to start as soon as possible, too.
Good point; I don't really want to leave! It's not like I've ever had a professional job anywhere else, and I've mastered everything about my job and it's almost totally stress free.
But I've been doing it for a long time and want to start looking around to see if I can get into the field that my grad degree will be in. If there's a time to jump, it's early next year, when (1) my degree will be in hand, and (2; forgot to mention this earlier) some stock options will finally vest after a five-year wait.
I could tell my boss I'm thinking of leaving and give them plenty of time to find someone, but the standard notice that the hiring side expects new employees to give their previous employers is what is too short. They want you to start as soon as possible. So what I'm looking for is an employer who will commit to hiring me well in advance of my actual first day. They hire me today knowing I'll start on April 1, 2016; in March 2016 I get my degree and stock options, and then step into the new job. That's the ideal.
Unless this is a Mom and Pop shop, you are being too loyal. Loyalty is good, up to a point.
If your employer has financial trouble, you can trust that they won't let on to you, for fear you will do what is best for you and get a new job. They will wait until the inevitable day of layoffs comes, and will lay you off.
They will feel bad about it, but they will do what is best for the business. They may give you some notice (or not), but certainly not months.
As my grandpa always said, "Never forget that if your boss can save a nickel by firing you, he will."
I have no doubt that you are great at your job and are valuable. But everyone is replaceable. Heck, we even replace our President every four to eight years!
I gave a 6 week notice, so they could hire someone and I could train someone. They didn't hire anyone, I didn't train anyone, their business didn't fail.
This has been my experience. As long as you are there, there is no "need" to find someone else so they keep putting it off. In my current job, my manager was let go and I absorbed a lot of her duties until they hired someone else. I was pregnant at the time so they had a couple of months until I was going to go out on maternity leave to find someone. It was put off again and again and in the end, they hired someone a few days before I gave birth! Even with only two days of training, it all worked fine. Would have even if there was no training.
The most notice I have given was a month because I thought it would give them time to find someone and I could do a little bit of training since we were very lean and I didn't want my duties to fall to my other, overworked coworkers. Well, nothing was done, no one was hired and no training was done. In addition, the owner basically treated me like I was already gone from the moment I gave my notice, excluding me from meetings, projects, staff lunches, you name it. I spent a lot of time on the internet that month because I had very little to do. I ended up creating a manual for the critical duties I did (like payroll) and just handed it over when I left.
Now I doubt I would ever give more than two weeks notice. Businesses will and have survived.
It's interesting to me that companies would put all their eggs all in one basket. If you are the only one who can do that job, no matter how well they treated you, why would it be your problem? Give them three weeks and leave on good terms. If they ask for more, diplomatically let them know that the new company wanted you to start right away, but you let them know you felt a responsibility to give three so you wouldn't leave them in a lurch, and that's what was negotiated. That's the most I've ever given and haven't had any issues.
Converesely, here's an interesting personal story. My former job was very niche with a very specialized skill set, and the company would not backfill any of the positions when my people left over the course of three years (moving, other opportunity, family health issues); and one by one, I went from having three support people to having none. It was all me, and I made it look easy. So easy that when the company needed to lay people off due to bad business decisions, I was one of 17 selected to be let go. After being there 13 years. My boss was panicked because he never took an interest in my department since it ran so smoothly, and he had no idea what to do. Was it my fault that they had no one to fill my shoes? No. Yes, it was difficult for the first year and a half, but eventually, he got somewhere close to up to speed. My former department went from saving millions of dollars a year to costing them significantly. I know this since I am friends with one of the finance managers.
OP, I mean this in the most loving way possible...you need to get over yourself. Trust me, no one, not even you, is irreplaceable.
If you were to get hit by a bus tonight and couldn't do your job believe me, that company would go on without you and that work would get done by someone.
Give them the two weeks notice, continue to be the excellent worker with the good attitude you've been for the past 16 years and go follow your dreams. They'll probably wish you well!
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