accepting a job offer, but not giving notice straight away

So…. I’ve accepted a job offer, but they have asked that I not hand in my notice with my current job until they have done their security checks (CRB etc.); this could take 2-4 weeks.

What do I do in the mean time?

My line manager knows I am probably going, and he sympathises with my reasons (see my posting history for the sordid tale), so he is basically poised waiting for a resignation letter.

Carry on working? Pretend I’m not leaving?

Don’t want to burn bridges, could potentially come back here a few years down the line.

Dave

Unless you want to leave now and lose out on the pay, I’d carry on working.

Be honest, if your boss knows you are going then dont act the piss-taking c*nt by telling porky pies about it….but hand in YOUR notice when YOU are ready….i think thats perfectly acceptable.
What are they going to do, fire you for not handing in your notice at a time that was convenient for them?!

Carry on working.

I had an offer from a bank who were pressuring me to resign as they had an urgent project and couldn’t find the skills they wanted – so I did.

Once I had left the old job the banks hr muppets told me that they outsourced the reference checking and the 3rd party firm hadn’t even confirmed that I had a degree, even though I took it in to the bank on the day after accepting the offer.

They just wanted me to stay at home until the checking was done !

I like my boss, and I’m enjoying the stuff I’m working on – this move is purely about pay.

So, I’ve let my boss know that come what may, I won’t be slacking my way to my last day.

I’m just a bit confused about how to feel between now and when I hand in my notice… feels a bit underhand having told them I’m going to work for them, but not letting current company know I’ve decided to go.

Dave

Don’t mention you’re leaving, unless asked.

Does your line manager know when your interview(s) were and when you were expecting a formal job offer?

If not, as you were until the proper time comes. That doesn’t make you a ****.

Good luck!

have you had a formal written offer from the new job ?

that’s when you give notice IMO

(notice is not the same as just telling them you’re going – seems they know that anyway)

Right, a simple contract (law) lesson for you all:

Someone makes an offer, which you accept is a binding contract.

Someone makes an offer with conditions (like CRB checks), which you accept is only binding if the conditions are satisfied.

That means your new contract of employment won’t be binding until you know the CRB checks have come back fine. If they don’t, and you’ve already resigned, you’re up the swanny.

Frankly, I’d keep quiet with the current employer until you know that the new job is watertight. So what if it’s 2-4 weeks. that isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things.

I’ve got a formal written offer, but it is an offer subject to me passing their background checks.

Dave

Or you could, as I did last time I knew I was leaving an employer be honest, but in a way that sounds like you are helping them. I told my old employer I would be leaving and handing my notice in as soon as some paperwork was finalised, so if they wanted to start preparing for my departure to ensure a smooth transition now might be a good time.

@ourmaninthenorth – cheers, I get all that.. it is just nice to have it spelled out sometimes.

I will sit tight and play nice.

However, the weather is looking mighty fine outside – I don’t think anyone will begrudge me an early departure to sample the delights of some sunny trails 🙂

Dave

I had a similar issue with my last change of jobs. I decided to be open with all parties. Told my manager (not the boss) that I was going but wasn’t handing in my notice until I got the official thumbs up. He appreciated the honesty and knew he had to start preparing for my departure.
All went smoothly. I thought if I tried to play games I would end up looking like a knob.

wot ourman said
“I’ve got a formal written offer, but…” is no help to you when your old paycheques dry up

Don’t lie about it if asked especially if you are thinking you may return to the company at a later date. Keep working for pretty much the same reason, IMO the people that leave a company working productively up to there last day are always look at in a better light than those that simply give up once the letter has been handed in.

I have known people tell there bosses they should expect a resignation letter in the not to distant future and for the open honesty to be accepted and thanked, it helps them plan for the future as well.

At the end of the day it is your call but I’d keep working and if asked tell them your plans.

You haven’t got a new job until the checks have been done and the paperwork is signed.

Hand in your notice when, and only when, you have a new job.

Have you not learned anything from your last experience!?

Sit down, shut up, keep your head down and carry on working till it’s all signed and sealed.

I can’t believe you had to ask this question.

Do nothing until the offer is secured i.e. CRB etc have cleared and new employer has confirmed it.
Look after number one and keep shtum until its a cert.
Besides your current employer **** you over recently, so I’d say you owe them nothing other than the statutory minimum notice of resignation.

@alfabus – being a lawyer, and therefore cautious, leads me not to trust anything until it’s unconditionally black and white.

Oh, and I tend to take a selfish view about what may or may not help an employer – they imposed the notice period in my Ts&Cs, so presumably they think they can plan and replace me in the same time.

I once worked for someone whose first job had 3 months notice from him, but only 1 month from the employer – he told them he was flattered they thought he could find a job so quickly if they served notice and that they’d struggle to replace him if he served notice. They quickly equalised it at 3 months each way.

I would want the offer signed in blood in triplicate before I handed in my notice.

the situation is slightly different from when they screwed me over a couple of months ago… this time the offer is from a company that has no common client base and no anti-poaching agreement; so I’m not so worried that they’ll be able to get my offer withdrawn.

that being said… I am aware of it, and am keeping my head a lot lower than it was last time around!

I’m being honest with my boss; he knows he’s going to get a letter soon. Once I do hand in my notice, I have quite a lot of holiday to take (pro-rata), so I’ll probably only be here for about a week and a half of my 4 weeks notice.

Dave

oh and….. on the topic of me not owing them anything after what they did; I think I may be institutionalised to the point where I am glossing over that… but that is a whole other topic.

Your boss does not need to know in advance of you actually handing in your notice…even if he is expecting it. I can’t see one reason why’d you’d tell him and I very much doubt he’ll ask you outright.

I think you need that naivity smacking out of you. Your employers will seldom do any favours for you and will get shot of you at the drop of a hat should they need to. Ask anyone who’s been made redundant recently.

I’m in almost the same position, in that an offer has been made. I’ve yet to see the contract though, and even then, until I’m told that they’ve satisfied all requirements (other than reference from the current employer, which they obviously can’t have yet), I’ll say nothing to anyone.

As OMITN says, do nothing until it’s in irrevocable black and white.

I once worked for someone whose first job had 3 months notice from him, but only 1 month from the employer – he told them he was flattered they thought he could find a job so quickly if they served notice and that they’d struggle to replace him if he served notice. They quickly equalised it at 3 months each way.

As a lawyer I’d have thought you’d know that more than 1 month for an employee isn’t legally enforceable except in very unusual circumstances.

I’ve just done the opposite and handed in my notice before signing the contract for the new job, what could possibly go wrong!

Once I do hand in my notice, I have quite a lot of holiday to take (pro-rata), so I’ll probably only be here for about a week and a half of my 4 weeks notice.

Another word of caution – its up to your employer if they will allow you take your holiday during your notice period. They’d be well within their rights to ask you to work out your notice, its something you’ll have to discuss/negotiate AFTER you have given in your notice.

There’s no point in giving more than your legal minimum most of the time. I’ve heard plenty of tales of people telling the boss “I’m off travelling on XYZ date” or similar, expecting to have that as their leaving date, and finding their employment suddenly curtailed.

There are plenty of firms that don’t want anyone in the business who doesn’t want to be there, and will pay gardening leave for your entire notice period. Particularly if it’s a line of work where a hacked off employee could create havoc or upset.

If it is only 2 – 4 weeks then it really isn’t much of a check they are doing so your dirty little secrets may very well remain hidden if you’ve been careful, so nothing to worry about. 🙂

As a lawyer I’d have thought you’d know that more than 1 month for an employee isn’t legally enforceable except in very unusual circumstances.

Bear in mind you actually want to get a reference from these people and may come across them in the future……you could try to tough it out legally, but it’s really not worth it.

There are plenty of firms that don’t want anyone in the business who doesn’t want to be there, and will pay gardening leave for your entire notice period.

How awful!

Bear in mind you actually want to get a reference from these people and may come across them in the future……you could try to tough it out legally, but it’s really not worth it.

So you’d tell any company offering you a new job “sorry can’t start for 3 months” rather than just tell your current company “I’m leaving in a month” when you get a confirmed offer? It’s not like you have to take your company to court to get the 1 month notice period (they could then take you to court, but they’d lose and any good lawyer would point out to them that they’re throwing good money after bad), and by the time you’re handing in your notice any reference stuff is surely already done.

and by the time you’re handing in your notice any reference stuff is surely already done.

Dunno where you’ve worked, but if I’m leaving I don’t tell anyone until I’m about to go. Which means a reference needs to be taken when I’m serving my notice; in most cases the HR bods do their form-filling, but a verbal reference is almost always taken with my line manager as well.

The world I work in is pretty small, and if I shafted an employer the word would get around. Far better to be seen as an honourable type, which goes down well with the new employers, and ensures you do a proper handover with the old one.

I’ve signed a contract with a certain amount of notice period, and I’ll stick to that unless both sides agree to shorten it; to do anything else seems wrong, though I’m sure I’m being stupidly naive in thinking that I should honour my commitments.

Our ex office partner in charge had 3 months notice and was given garden leave for it all, the swine!

I accepted a new job but vetting took ages so it was nearly a 6weeks between verbal offer and written confirmation, good relationship with my manager so she knew it was coming but I didn’t hand in my notice until I had the offer in writing. Daft thing was the old job had a much higher security clearance so it really shouldn’t have taken that long.

I handed my notice in about 6 weeks ago but had known it was 99.9999% sorted for about 4 weeks before that. Had I handed it in beforehand I’d be close to starting my new job now but I’m way too cautious for that.

As everyone else has said, don’t take the piss, work hard but don’t resign until the ink is on the paperwork.

Alfabus, what is the business of you present and new employer?

In health and social care what you describe is completely normal. (are we too nice to each other?) Our sort of jobs always have CRB conditions attached to them (unless you are changing to a similar enough post within the same organisation and HR can carry across your CRB.)

So you can take a gamble on your CRB and on finance or HR pulling the plug on the job you are yet to be formally offered and hand in your notice now, having a 4 week holiday with the leave you have outstanding. (it has happened to 2 posts recently in my large health providing organisation: crb’s come back all clear for 2 successful applicants only for finance to change their mind and make the vacanbcies ‘disappear’….)

Or you can tell your boss you are waiting on CRB/etc before yo hand in your notice, and so give them a bit more time to organise who is going to take care of your workload when you leave: I am sure they wiould appreciate the extra time if you have leave to take then this may only be three weeks time anyway. If they are allowed to, it gives them time to put out informal feelers about your repplacement even if they are not allowed to advertise/interview/appoint until you leave.

I suppose it depends on how cut-throat your present boss and employer is: do you trust them not to make your life a misery for daring to leave? I haven’t worked for anyone except health/education for 13 odd years so I wouldn’t know first hand how shirty they might get.

software engineering… moving from a software house into a more general engineering firm with a software department.

I don’t think my life is going to be made miserable here; I am too strong willed for that, and they need me. My boss is going to be a bit knackered without me (he has told me as much) because I’ve done all the design and proposals for all of our upcoming work, and he doesn’t have anyone who can lead the implementation when that starts in a month or so.

It is quite frustrating… I guess my reasons for wanting them to know I am going is so they would offer me more to stay. However, I really should learn from what happened last time, and just keep quiet, because it is never going to happen.

Mass form filling last night… how many times do they need my address and date of birth?

@mrchrispy – i’m in a similar situation… hold *very* high clearance with current job, and this one is just a CRB!

Dave