Resignation vs Staying in put in the process of finding another job

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I just wonder how people change jobs. I know it is supposed to be best to move from job to job without a gap but I've found it difficult due to insufficient time to look and also difficult of attending interviews while working WITHOUT LYING to current employer as to why you need time off. If you attend many interviews then surely the current employer would find out that something fishy is going on.

At my previous job I became an automated robot, it was total dead end and boring me to death. I used to have visions quite often of external events happening that would allow me to leave or give me excuse to leave, such as the building catching fire, being attacked by a colleague, the company going bankrupt etc. In the end something external did happen, but when a job gets you down so much, I mean really depresses you, then you should seriously resign rather than suffer.

I think there is a bad stigma attached to resigning which puts people off. I did resign and felt so much better when I felt. There is no point going through life extremely unhappy in a job, you should move on for your health.

 

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In this climate i think it is best to hold on to your current job, if you want to move then you should be applying for new jobs in the meantime.

 

I agree - also, you don't need to lie to your employer, just say you need time off without giving a reason (take it from your annual leave if need be)

 

ive never really had that problem. None of the jobs ive had to lie to leave. They were either ending anyway, or knew up front i was looking for another job (mostly).

When I left this company, they knew months before I left that it was the case. Gave me total freedom to ask for time off for interviews.

When I came back, the employer i was leaving didnt know anything about it until i handed in my notice, but I had the interview on the first day of my week off, and wasnt really looking for jobs that hard. It was the only interview i had.

 

I'm not employed at the moment but I find it hard to do.

Fergal, I find your case strange, the way I see it, if I tell a current employer I want to leave, then Ithey'd try to replace me asap, so I'd have to hand my notice in and use the 4 weeks to find work.

About using holidays, you always have to give notice and it's difficult to arrange an interview many weeks in advance. It seems strange to say "Yes ok, I'm available for interview in 4 weeks", when some employers want you to start pretty shortly. Then I'd have to wait 2 months to start, so I'd lose out if they wanted someone to start next week or whatever.

 

Why on Earth would you need to tell your employer why you need time off? What business is it of theirs? I never tell my manager why I'm taking my time off - if he ever asked I'd tell him to mind his own ****ing business!!

 

I resigned from my job last year - partly because I had a lot to do so needed a career break but mostly because work had shafted me (essentially promoting someone over me who was indeed below me - in other words he became his boss's boss! - they did this whilst I was on holiday!).

I am still unemployed but studying to get things up to speed. You can only take so much and when you finally resign it can be a relief. I do believe that you should stay in your job until you get another one but for me there was no choice - it was either make a court case against them (I didn't have enough to get through that) or just cut your losses and move on. Sometimes I wish I was back there just solely because it was a job - but then I remember what happened and realised even now I am better off out of there...

Besides the IT job market doesn't seem to have slowed down - if anything (maybe this is just perception here) there appears to be more opportunities....

Oh and you have one slight advantage in being without a job in that you are immediately available - which for some companies can tip the odds in your favour when selecting a candidate...

As for employers asking what you will be doing - they do actually have a right - they can refuse your application for AL due to business reasons (i.e. critical time of the year etc.). If you say it is for absolute reasons then they are more inclined to give you the time off. Besides Employers and your bosses have no compunction in lying to you - so you should have no problems in lying to them!

 

I would recommend staying in your job until you find another one. If you're unemployed when you're interviewing, the people interviewing you are wondering why your unemployed. If you tell it's because you got tired of your last job, that doesn't leave a very good impression. It may sound contrary, but it's almost always easier to find a job when you have a job.

 

Not really. They can get in a future replacement for you if they like, but you arent required to hand in your notice. Your employer cant MAKE you hand in your notice, and (so long as you are staff), its not easy to just fire you.

Admittedly my scenario is slightly different. I'd been bugging them for a development role for months. I had a meeting with them where I basically told them that if they couldnt offer it to me, I'd have no choice but to look for work elsewhere. They were clearly aware that I didnt want to, and would much rather have stayed.

It worked out quite well for me. I was up front about what I wanted. They couldnt supply it (and I couldnt be faulted for giving them plenty of time to do so (and ample awareness) - they just didnt have the opportunity at the time). So I looked for work elsewhere. They let me go off for my interviews (although I tried to make them in my lunch hour - just might be late back). Once I had the job, I informed them and worked my notice.

Perhaps its unique, but its a solution that, in that setup, worked out quite well for me. I left on good terms, and didnt burn any bridges. As a result, 9 months later I came back, into the job I'd wanted in the first place.

 

I agree with most of the others - don't leave a job until you've got a signed offer letter firmly in hand. Sure, it CAN be more difficult to interview when you are employed... but you likely have paid time off you can take, and as the others said, it's none of their business what you're doing on your days off. You can also squeeze in interviews that are relatively close by on a lunch break, provided you tell the employer in advance how long you would have to interview.

...until the bills come, and then it can be more stressful than the situation you just left.

But you DID have a choice. You chose to leave because your pride was injured. Yeah, the situation sucked royally... but you weren't FORCED to leave. I'd have kept the job, but I'd have evoted every waking minute of my off time looking for another job.

As someone who interviews people for employment, I wholeheartedly disagree. I'd rather hire the right person and have to wait a few weeks for them than hire just anyone merely because they are immediately available - particularly someone who is unemployed. You lose all your negotiation power when you're unemployed. You know you're unemployed. I know you're unemployed. And I know that I can likely get you for cheaper than I can get some guy I have to persuade away from a current employment situation.

So it's never **ever** advisable to leave employment before you have another job lined up. Being unemployed certainly hasn't helped you get another job, has it?

Come on, that's incredibly weak rationalization/justification for lying... but hey, if it helps you sleep better at night...

I don't know you or your exact situation... but perhaps that sort of attitude is why your underling got promoted over you, or is why you're currently unemployed. Just sayin'... food for thought.

 

Actually it is incredibly weak to go on what I have said in my post to say that is why the underling got promoted over me. I have left a lot of detail out of what happened to me and what happened over the seven and a half years in my job. FYI the guy who got promoted over me resigned as he couldn't handle the pressure. They now don't have a technical lead. They are also under pressure from the US (it is an American company) as to why I and my former colleague (not the 'underling' but the senior Technical Lead) both left our positions as we were very highly thought of. In essence it has backfired upon them. Not only that but even the 'underlings' are leaving so they are in another staffing crisis.

Yes I did have a choice but it was the last straw - again I will not go into the history of what happened in that company but sometimes enough is enough - each situation is different and judging people based on a couple of paragraphs is again incredibly weak and incredibly insulting.

I could write reams of stuff about what happened but it is not relevant. I was only trying to impart that it is not the end of the world to resign from a job but I did state that where possible you should stay in your job until you find another one.

I also state that it can be an advantage to be available immediately - just because you'd rather someone was still in a job hence it shows his/her quality doesn't mean there aren't employers out there who need someone in fast. I guess the irony of my situation is that I had to turn down a lot of jobs whilst in my last job because they wanted me to start 'on monday'.

And my attitude? Again you do not know what happened in my company but being lied to by my bosses was par for the course. Yes I am bitter about my previous company but again please do not judge me until you know the full facts. I accept your differences as per staying in a job (which is good advice) but when you become judgemental towards me without knowing the full facts then I feel you are being out of line.

Oh and the reason why I haven't got another job as of yet? As stated before I don't have the necessary skillset (as of yet) I worked in a 24/7 environment supporting a bespoke application. I had no exposure to AD, DNS, DHCP, Networking (hardware) etc. Although I know a lot about them I can not demonstrate that I have been in a position to administer the aforementioned technologies. I could lie about it but I do not wish to do so. My previous comment about lying was ill conceived but written in bitterness about how I'd been treated by my company. Hence why I am on these forums and hence why I am studying to rectify the situation. There was no way I could study whilst still at work because a 16 hour day was not as uncommon as it should have been (two shifts in a row) and at times I would work 19 odd days straight in order to keep the helpdesk running.

I don't expect to great job or be at a level that I was previously but I am prepared to take a couple of steps backwards in order to go forwards.

 

I personally feel it's better, maybe easier, to find a job while you are currently employed.

 

I'm not judging you. Like I said, I don't know you. I only put those things forward as suggestions for you to consider when you self-analyze your own situation. You can accept them or dismiss them as you will. It is simply my opinion that lying to people is just asking for trouble... doesn't matter who did what to whom.

 

I resigned from my first IT position because i was unhappy with the situation at the time. Sure i could have waited till i found another job but like a few others have said, sometimes you just have to do what feels right at the time. At the age i was, there were no financial problems that would arise from the decision. I was living with parents still and had no real financial commitments.

On the other hand... if i was in the same situation now, i would search for a new job first as i would no longer be looking for an entry level role and therefore would find another position harder to locate.

I have been directly involved with the recruitment of new staff and sometimes the instant availability of a potential employee tips the scales when faced with a tough decision between two closely skilled candidates. If the reason the candidate was unemployed was a potential reason not to hire them, i would probably not even take them to interview in the first place. Therefore, i would expect the ability for them to make an instant start something of a bonus if a quick start was needed.

I always tell my employer when i am going for an interview as i would have put them down for references in the first place. I also always let my line manager know out of respect.

That said, if i was working for a truly horrible company that treated me like dirt would i consider taking a sickie in order to attend an interview? Perhaps.... but i hope i would not.