How to Quit a Job

[Al]

What are your obligations to your job while you are searching for a new job? I am not happy at my current job and am searching for another job but no one at work knows that I am. I currently applied for a job that I think I would really like and if it's offered to me, I'm gonna take it. My problem is that I work with a woman who is pregnant and due in the beginning of October. They want me to take over some of her job responsibilities while she is gone for 8-9 weeks. I feel bad that the possibility of me leaving would be during if not before this time. Should I mention to my employer that I am currently looking for another job? I feel bad that I would be leaving at a bad time but they are not making any effort to try and keep me here. What would you do? My friends tell me to worry about doing what benefits me and nothing more. I hate to leave a job on bad terms with the employees but it almost seems inevitable in this case. What do you think?

[Tony T]

If you are not under contract with your employer you owe them no more than two weeks notice, which you should put in writing and give to your immediate supervisor with copies to your department head. Until you have found a job and have been hired, do not say a word to anybody. You could seriously jeopardize your current employment and certainly create bad feelings if they find out you're looking for a job. You may find one in a week...or it could take a year. You don't want anybody to know what your plans are until they are solidified.

 

If you have already told a co-worker that you are seeking other employment, your employer will surely find out soon. I hope you didn't do that.

[Al]

No one at my office knows anything right now. My boyfriend, parents and a few friends know but that's it. I work in a different town that what I live in so I'm not worried about the wrong people finding out. I plan to give two weeks notice when and if I find another job. I just feel bad b/c I've applied for a few jobs recently which means if I did find anything pretty much now until the end of the year, it would be bad timing with this person being gone on maternity leave. I have made comments about being unhappy at work. I've used vacation time b/c of lack of work at my office which I made the comment that, that was one of the reasons I left by job before this one. My time at work is being taken advantage of since I am the lowest on the totem pole. I pick up the other girl's slack and I'm sick of it. I even had to work late b/c one of the girls wanted to leave early b/c it was her dog's birthday! The partners of this office never talk to the girls about there behavior and frankly their's isn't much better. I've had to call one of my bosses everyday for two weeks straight b/c he misses his appointments in the morning, which by the way are never scheduled before 10 a.m. I was just wondering if anyone has ever felt bad for leaving a job during a bad time and if they did anything about it.

[Tony T]

Don't worry about anybody else but yourself. Don't worry about what problems your departurre may cause the company. I promise you they will find a satisfactory replacement for you. Meanwhile, use caution in who you talk to and how you approach your job search. This is a VERY tough job market right now. You don't want to complain about your job conditions to people at work because your company would have no problem finding a hundred people this afternoon who would kill for work and for your position, no matter how unpleasant it may be for you. Right now, be happy in what you are doing, thank God that you have a job and are able to eat OK, and very discretely look for other employment. Again, how your current employer will be affected by your departure should be the very least of your concerns. Two weeks notice is all you are required to give them. You better start thinking of yourself and your life a bit more because if you don't, nobody's going to do that for you.

[imjustagirl]

I left my old job almost couple years ago.

 

Loved the job, my boss was a complete slacker working 2 (TWO) full-time jobs, so you know who was doing most of the work!....and the pay sucked because it was a low-man job at a college...and no benefits because it was part time even tho I was working 45+ hours a week, because I was doing his job also.

 

I began looking for a new job via the internet while I was working (I was a webmaster at a college so I had a ledgit reason to be online).

 

Got called for an interview...I actually had to leave a post-it note on my bosses desk to let him know I was going to be late on such n such date....came back from my interview, the post-it note was in the same place as I had left it 2 days prior. I took the post-it note off and threw it away...no mention from him about it.

 

2 weeks later, I got a call (at work) that I had gotten the job...kick ass pay with kick ass benefits. I almost left the office right then and there skipping like a little school girl, but felt that I should give them 2 weeks....them as in the professors that were counting on me to get their **** done.

 

I wrote up my resignation like a good little girl...put it on my boss's desk and sent a copy to the dean in charge of our department. Since I never saw my boss...I was like um, okay....and the dean was like...uhh...soo....

 

My boss finally shows up and starts on his rant about who we needed to start planning site-design for this online course that we were going to be offering in the spring...and I looked at him and said, we'll, we got a little problem. He immediatly thought "ooh crap, something's wrong with the site, our technology won't handle blah blah blah"...and I go, "I umm...got a job 50 miles away...so umm...ya, I put my 2 weeks notice on your desk early last week."

 

He rushes around like a little panzy....ends up calling this intern that had hung around and did basically nothing for 3 months...except play with our sound equipment making his cd's (my boss didn't care...he wasn't there, and the only thing I was responsible for him for was to make sure his part of the site got done...and when it did, he would play).

 

So I had less than 3 days (working around the intern's schedule) to reset him up with passwords and access to ftp servers and give him the run-through on how **** worked beings he didn't learn much in his 3 months internship!

 

So in the middle of that....and moving all my stuff from one place to my apartment here...I was glad to get the hell out of there.

 

Al....don't feel bad about leaving them in an awkward position, employeers are used to turnover...so it's at a time when they're short-handed...they can always hire from a temp service. If your obviously not happy...I wouldn't think twice about leaving. Get another job...give them your 2 weeks and busta move out of there. I wouldn't recommend stealing a printer like they did on Office Space...because of those stupid TPS reports, but you know...do what is right for you.

 

Later!

~justa~

[tabbico]

Well said, Imjustagirl-

 

I would add that it is best not to burn bridges - no matter how miserable you are at a job, give 2 weeks notice and leave in a professional way. You never know when a future employer will call the old job or what other ways the old job could bite you if you leave in a "bad" way!