So you’re thinking about moving on from your job, and you’re wondering if you should let your boss know that you’re starting to job search. Maybe it feels like professional courtesy to give your boss a heads-up about your plans. But should you do it? And if so, how do you say it and when?
This is one of the most common questions from job searchers who hope to be leaving their current jobs soon. Especially if you’ve been in your job for years and know that it will take a while to replace you, you might worry that it’s disloyal not to let a boss know that you’re gearing up to leave.
[See: How to Quit Your Job Like a Class Act.]
But in most cases, it doesn’t make sense to tip your boss off until you have a job offer in hand and are ready to give official notice (which will usually be two to four weeks, although in some fields it can be longer).
It might feel courteous to give your boss the maximum amount of time to prepare to replace you, but in many instances, people who do this end up getting pushed out earlier than they wanted to leave. Once your manager knows that you’re actively working to move on, she may feel obligated to act on that information — to start looking for your replacement, to stop giving you long-term projects and eventually to set a specific ending date, whether you’re ready for her to do that or not. That might sound tremendously unfair — after all, you did her a favor by sharing your plans when you didn’t have to — but it can be tough to be on the manager’s side of this, when there are implications for work coverage and they want to keep things running as smoothly as possible.
Some managers even take it personally when people want to leave and push them out immediately. That’s a terrible move, of course, since it means that other employees who see it will figure that they should give minimal notice when they’re ready to leave. It’s also bad for the business, since it means that your team has no transition period to prepare for your departure. But that’s not going to be much comfort to you if you’re the one who ends up out of a job months before you planned to leave.
[See: The 25 Highest-Paying Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree.]
In sorting through this, the most important factor to consider is what you know about your manager and how she operates. How has she handled other employees who left the organization? Have people been made to leave immediately or otherwise pushed out earlier than they wanted to go? If so, assume the same is likely to happen to you, and give two weeks notice (or whatever is standard in your field) when you have a confirmed job offer and are ready to leave. On the other hand, if your employer has a track record of accommodating long notice periods and has generally created an environment where people can be open about their plans to move on, you might be one of the lucky few who can be more candid.
Even then, though, you’ll want to remember that not everyone may be treated the same. Your manager might have accommodated a long notice period from the long-time COO but be unwilling to do it for a more junior staffer or someone with whom she doesn’t have a strong relationship. And even a manager who routinely handles long notice periods well might handle things differently with an employee who’s been struggling to perform well, since there’s less incentive to keep investing in coaching someone who has acknowledged they’re looking to leave.
[See: The 25 Best Social Services Jobs of 2017.]
So typically, the safest course of action is to wait until you’ve accepted a new job and set a start date. Note that that’s different than just getting a job offer. You should wait to give notice at your old job until you’ve ironed out all details of the offer with the new employer and formally accepted it. Otherwise, if you’re not able to come to terms in salary negotiations or the offer otherwise falls through, you’ll be in the awkward position of trying to rescind your resignation, which your employer may or may not let you do.
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Should You Let Your Boss Know You’re Job Searching? originally appeared on usnews.com
