How to quit job ethically? 5

[FNJ2005]

Let’s say you a very fresh grad and just started your first job in the industry. You workedthere a couple of monthes and then “one in a life time” opportunity comes up and you really want to follow it.

During the interviewing with the company you are working at right now you said to the hiring managers that their company is the very best and your would absolutely love to work for them. It was true at that time, actually very recent time …

Now when you want to leave you feel guilty. I know you are not! It is your life and it is your choice...

Anyways you want to leave your current job ASAP. Your dilemma: how to disengage ethically and nicely?

 

[ajack1]

Tell the truth.

 

[Roadbridge]

They'd have no problem in letting you go, if you services were no longer required, so don't mull on it too much.
Look after number one.

 

[DonPE]

You should understand that you are burning your bridges if you don't give them 2 weeks notice. To throw in another cliche, you may think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but the other company may not be what you had hoped.

 

[IRstuff]

There is nothing unethical about leaving a company.

Like a divorce, promises were made and are no longer valid. Likewise, like a divorce, it is highly desirable to make it an amicable one.

> Be upfront
> Have offer in hand
> Do not engage in counteroffers; it makes you look like a moneygrubber
> Provide at least two weeks notice
> Provide clean and detailed notes, documentation, etc for any projects left incomplete
> Be realistic about your expectations. Companies are in business to make money and therefore tend to behave similarly. People, on the other hand, have a variety of motivations and therefore have a wider variety of behaviors.

TTFN

 

[HVAC68]

An employment is a contract. There's nothing to feel guilty about it if you want to leave.

A note of caution - Check out if the company you are trying to join now (the one in a life time opportunity) is really that good - If you are convince, go for it.

Good luck

HVAC68

 

[quark]

I am with Roadbridge on this issue. You shouldn't be sentimental with your company. One famous CEO of a software company once said " Don't love your company but love your job, for you may not know when the company stops loving you."

Regards,

 

[Heckler]

India's IT giant, Narayana Murthy of Infosys, has said, "Love your job, but never fall in love with your company, because you'll never know when your company stops loving you." Is that true? I suppose what Narayana Murthy is trying to say is not to lose your objectivity in the performance of your job, because if you lose objectivity, many of your decisions become subjective. Any form of attachment, towards your company or relationships, can cloud your judgement, and then you run the risk of losing track of your goal.

Although there is a great deal of truth in this saying, I don't see anything wrong in loving your organisation if you have spent a substantial portion of your life with it. And, if you have performed well, your company should like you, too.

 

[IRstuff]

The problem with that is the "company" doesn't actually care a hoot, in general.

People do, and your coworkers and bosses may love you, but a company is inanimate and only an entity for legal purposes.

Most of the attributes of a company's environment are due to the people who work there and how much they put into the company. With a single stroke of the pen, a new manager comes in and you'll suddenly find yourself in a concentration camp.

TTFN

 

[mshimko]

What you say in an interview matters ZILCH a month later. You (the candidate) were trying to balance being truthful versus trying to seem interested so we (the company) will hire you.

Once you got started, it just wasn't what you had hoped for.

NO PROBLEM! Be honest. Give yoyr current company 2-weeks notice. BE HONEST if/when they ask you why you are leaving.

Do this and you will not be burning any bridges.

 

[SacreBleu]

I don't agree with being "honest". Sometimes you have to tell a "white" lie. Either way, the net result for the company you are leaving is the same - they need to find your replacement.
As long as you leave your on-going projects in good shape, there is no need for guilt.

 

[svanels]

A "white lie?" , what is that? Telling the the truth doesn't mean to be disrespectful or burning bridges.

If I am going because I cannot find it with my boss and kicked him in the a.. My justification would be "my personal intuition tells me that I do not fit in this environment"


If you tell: "I am going to live with aunt Mary in Timbuktu" and they do not know (yet) that you wiped out the safe, or have that ultra-secret prototype hidden in your garage, has nothing to do with honesty or burning bridges.
The white lie won't help in this case , they call the police.

 

[SacreBleu]

svanels,
Before you jump all over my case,my definition of "white lie" is a case where the recipicient is not victimized. If I rob the company safe, then tell the boss I have to leave to live with Aunt Mary, that is not a white lie.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Truth will always win out. You can try to conceal it, but it will come popping out at the least expected and least favorable moment. People appreciate being told the truth, it happens so little these days ;>)

 

[mshimko]

I agree with svanels and onery - telling the truth does not imply burning bridges and "telling everything".

His example was a good one. There would also be nothing wrong, IMO, with saying to HR and/or the bosses-boss, that "Joe and I just didn't seeem to see eye-to-eye". In fact, as a manager myself, I would like to get this type of feedback from departing employees. I would not ACT on this, but I would "tuck it away in memory" as one of many datapoints, as it could be the problem is with my current first-line supervisor, "Joe".

 

[HgTX]

"Selective telling".

If I leave (any decade now), I may talk about what the other opportunity offers that my job doesn't. I probably won't get into why it was that I went looking for the other opportunity to begin with, even though that's much more relevant in reality.

Hg

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[SolderingGunslinger]

Case in point:

I had applied for a position at a major university, had interviewed three times; twice on the telephone and once in person, and hadn’t heard anything for six months. One of my clients had just been purchased by a larger corporation. I was to be retained as the contract engineer when out of the blue; I was asked if I wished to come to work for the corporation. It seemed to be a nice place to work. I had already become friends with some of the middle management through my dealings with the firm, and, the University had yet to send me any information, rejection or otherwise. I discussed the change with my wife and we decided to take the offer.

Three months later, I received a job offer from the University. This was still the job of my dreams, so I went to my boss, whom I still consider a friend, and said that I was considering the position at the University.

The boss went to his boss and came back with an offer of a promotion to Corporate Director of Engineering and a substantial raise along with a move to a higher class cubical. After some discussion with my wife, we decided to accept the offer and decline the position at the University.

Two years later the company was bought lock-stock and barrel by a larger corporation and I was worried about my job security. This corporation had a director of engineering who was a two year wonder. The Wunderkind looked at me like I was his worst nightmare and would take his job. Then I got to meat the CEO.

The conversation went something like this:

“Hello, Mr. CEO, I’m Sol Gunslinger, the Lancaster Director of Engineering”.

The CEO shuffled through some papers. “DAMN”, the CEO exclaimed, “they pay you a lot of money”!

That after noon, I noticed that one of the engineers at the University had died while at a work site. I immediately sent a card of condolence to the department head. Two weeks later, I was fired by FAX. I immediately faxed back that a facsimile wasn’t a legal document and that someone would need to terminate me by registered letter or in person.

I began to take some accrued vacation time. When the corporate lawyers finally got around to telling someone to fire me, I had gone past my anniversary date with the company, become vested in the 401K retirement so I got to keep all of the employer’s contributions, gained 4-more weeks of vacation, which they had to pay me and had enough years in the company to get a better severance package….Oh yeah, I flew to the University, talked to the man who would become my boss in two weeks and secured the engineering position I wanted in the first place.

I remain,
The Old Soldering Gunslinger

 

[dwt]

Good on you, Mr. Gunslinger. I tip my cap to you. There's a number of good lessons in that story.

 

[HgTX]

Great story!

My advice to anyone applying for a university or state job is to check back with them, and if you have another offer pending, let them know.

Around here both the state and the U (which is state) take so long to make their decisions that by the time they do so, the applicants they chose have often assumed that they didn't get the job, and moved on to other positions. Sometimes it's because things really do have to go through many channels, but sometimes it's because it's just sitting on someone's desk and it doesn't occur to them that other people are still moving along at the speed of life.

Several months after I'd interviewed with my current employer (for a job that was still open because the last person they'd offered it to had already moved along; some people/agencies never do learn), I happened to run into some engineers from the office I'd interviewed with, and mentioned to them that I was assuming I hadn't gotten the job and was looking elsewhere. "Golly, no!" said they. I had an offer the next day.

Hg

Eng-Tips guidelines: faq731-376

 

[GregLocock]

I've been offered two jobs several MONTHS after my last contact with the hiring company. Having worked in large organisations I can see how it happens, but it really is absurd. So yes, always chase them up after 4 weeks.



Cheers

Greg Locock

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