New jobs and notice periods... please help

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Hi guys,
I'm nearly done my mcdst and about to start the process of looking for my first job in IT.
I've been working for a small company and get along very well with my bosses (its fair to say they've been good to me and in return i have been good to them).

I told them months ago i was starting to study IT and would be looking to to start a new career in 2011, they were very supportive at the time (and still are more or less). My job will require a decent hand over period (to train my replacement) and i don't want to leave me current employers in the lurch. Have just had a meeting with my bosses updating them on my progress and they seemed to tell me that i would in no way benefit myself by giving notice to my bosses in order to make myself available to "start immediately" should a new job require it.

They suggest that any employer will understand a notice period (which i agree with) but they seem to think that 1 month is not very long????

is this true?? i see alot of jobs with the start date as ASAP........

what i want to know is would i be hurting my chances of employment in IT if at each iterview I tell them that my current employer needs at least a month notice??????????

Is my employer simply protecting himself.....? or are they actually being very supportive by telling me not to simply hand in my notice to finish at the end of the year?

 

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Moving on often gets complicated.

It depends on your length of service and how critical your role, and if there is anyone available to take over from you. One month is about average, but you do need to be a bit selfish. Don't hand your notice in until you are absolutely sure that you mean it, just in case anything goes wrong. Don't burn any bridges, but your future lies with your new employers, not your old ones - and everyone understands that.

Once your notice is in, it's not unheard of to be put out to grass or moved on to some less critical role (or just being given the sh1tty jobs to do) as they know your heart isn't going to be in it.

But in general, think of yourself first and foremost, and do what's best for you...

 

thanks johnny
my company is small so my role won't change once my notice is in and i'm pivotal to the functioning of the company so they need to replace me (i won't burn any bridges with them as i really like my employers)

What i really want to know is that will future employers have the patience to wait for me for a month?? or will they bump me for someone that is ready to start tomorrow?

 

Depends entirely on the company and their needs. Some will... some won't. If they want you badly enough, and there's nobody else who is as good who could start sooner, they'll usually wait.

Typically, the further you go in your career, the longer notice period an employer is likely to require... and the longer that a new employer will tend to wait. But early in your career, an employer can usually replace your skillset relatively quickly, so they won't usually require as long of a notice - and similarly, there are usually more people who are qualified to do the job you are moving to, so the new employer won't be as inclined to wait longer.

For most jobs over here in the States, two weeks notice is usually sufficient. I gave my previous employer a month's notice for two reasons: I was their one-and-only server/network admin, and my new employer was willing to wait however long it took to get me.

 

I guess it depends as BM says.

Most employers will ask you on application forms and in the interview what your notice period is. If you've told them a month and you're still talking to them, it shouldn't be a problem. If it is, it's up to them to tell you that they were really hoping you could start sooner. If that's the case, you need to have a chat with your current employer.

There is give and take both ways. You could always tell your new employer that you can start sooner (or immediately) providing that you can have a day/afternoon/few hours per week to go back to your old employer for a handover period. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't.

Doesn't hurt to make yourself seem indispensible though...

 

You could of stopped at sufficient.

mediacells Kris, a months notice seems to be pretty standard in the UK, though as JonnyMX pointed out there will be times when it isn't the case.

If it were me, i would not hand in my notice until i have a new job. Start looking around, and if you find the reason you haven't gotten a job is down to not being able to start immediately, then you will need to decide if you can take the risk of handing in your notice, and being able to survive with no job after that perios, until you find yourself a position in IT. As you will have seen from posts on here, it seems the first job takes the longest time to get.

Good Luck.

 

I wont hand in my notice until I have the job offer in writing. Otherwise you have no comeback if they pull the job out from under you.

Notice period at a job depends entirely upon your contract. Take a read of it and see what it says. A month is about standard, but some want 3 (usually for senior roles, or long-term service). Some, as has been said, increase as your service does.

Since an employer requires that you give them notice, its unreasonable of them to expect you not to serve the notice required at your current job. Some will try to expect this, but then they probably arent worth working for to be honest (There are exceptions to this though).

You can ask to shorten your notice period by using any remaining holidays if your employer will let you. Or you could ask to serve a shorter period anyway - but it depends on how the employer views it I suppose. In an amenable situation, anything might be possible.

Alternatively, although I dont recommend it, you could just give less notice than your contract specifies. Most employers wont actually force the issue, since it would be too costly. I give this information to give you all the information, but its unprofessional and you wouldn't want to get a reputation for things like that. I have done it once, on my move from a Call-Centre agent to my first IT role. I gave them 4 shift's notice that I was leaving. That said, I had explained to them beforehand that I was looking for IT work, and when giving my notice, I explained that the opportunity was too good to miss, but I had to start immediately. Luckily for me, they took it well and understood. Do it only if you have no other choice (and consider the choices long and hard). If the employer doesnt take it well, you could very well be burning bridges!

 

And you could have started at "a months notice seems to be pretty standard."

That said, only one of the two of us makes money editing what people write. But thanks for trolling!

 

Your job as an editor is irrelevant to what I was pointing out.

 

My previous job as an admin is entirely relevant. And as far as me being an admin is concerned the logic still holds: when you have advanced in a career field, whether it be IT, banking, scientific research, or teaching, a new employer will tend to wait longer to acquire you due to your advanced skill set.

 

Yep you covered that in the second paragraph.

 

As mentioned, if they want you then they will wait.

But, if both side won't come to the table with a compromise you could offer to work 50% for each. If they take it then this way you wont leave your current employer without support and a handover period and the new employer gets to have you start a bit earlier (if only 50% it's also immediate).

 

Depends on the job. I tend to find that for a full time position the usual notice period is 4 weeks as standard when handing in your notice but some are 3 months notice for critical positions or high up positions like management. The amount of notice you have to give will be written into your contract and your prospective new employer will know this is the standard and will be fine with it as it's legally binding that you fullfill your notice unless agreed by both parties.

As for contracting well that is much more difficult as employers and agencies want people to start usually within a week so it's much more difficult in going from full time employment into a contract position as simply they won't wait for you to do 4 weeks notice for a 3 month contract.

What I would do is look only for full time work at present and stay in your job as it pays the bills (I hope) and keep plugging away at your study. The market is pretty poor (though if your in London it will be a lot better that up North) so you may struggle to get your foot in the door until things pick up. You could also offer I suppose to help out with IT at your current job. If they are a small outfit then they might be glad of having someone who can do IT.

 

Why, yes, yes I did. In the second paragraph, I made a factual statement. In the third paragraph, I gave a real-world example of what I mentioned in the second paragraph. But thanks for mentioning it, Captain Obvious!

This nitpicking of my post is pointless, Daniel - it's quite clear that you're trolling me simply because you don't like me. But it's not helping the OP any.

 

You seem to have missed the point i was making in my first post.

It is not nitpicking, i made one statement. If you want nitpicking, how about how you telling people they shouldn't type "N+" when speaking about the Network+ cert.

 

Dude... you seem to have missed the point I've made in my responses to you: you're trying to tell me what I needn't say in my post. What balls!

If you don't like what I say in my posts, please report it. Otherwise, stop trolling me. I'm quite sure I'm not the only one who's tired of it.

 

Yes? If you have a problem with me suggesting you needn't have added a combination of words which served nothing other than to highlight how super duper you think you are, then you can also choose to report my post.


P.S You're 41, and using a "mad" smiley. And you tell me to grow up.


If you want to reply, just PM it. Cheers.