Submitted by productivemarketer on
in
Forums
Good news: I have a firm verbal offer on a great job, and the written offer is literally in the mail, expected to arrive by Thursday. My new supervisor wants me to start Aug. 10, otherwise I'll have to wait another 2 weeks for the next orientation.
Bad news: I have to attend our annual off-site retreat tomorrow through Friday. To comply with our HR policy, I have to give 30 days notice to maintain good standing--which means I'll have to give notice while I'm on the retreat. Also, my boss will be overseas the last 2.5 weeks before I leave. I'm his right-hand person and we've worked closely for 13 years, so he's probably going to be hit hard by this.
I'd prefer to give notice today to avoid an awkward situation, but I don't have the letter and they won't email it. So here are my questions:
1) Should I give notice while on the retreat, as soon as my husband retrieves the official letter for me?
2) If I do plan to give notice on the retreat, should I drive separately? (It's 4 hours away so we're instructed to caravan.)
3) Am I risking my good standing or timeline to give notice the Monday we return to the office? It will still be 4 full workweeks.
Thanks for your insight!
Wait until Monday
I say go to the retreat and wait until Monday. Since you don't feel the verbal offer is confirmation enough (MT tools says it should be) I'm also reading you haven't formally accepted so there is no reason not to go to the retreat. What if the written offer is not what was agreed or had different terms and you might not accept? Only give notice when you have accepted.
Giving notice on the retreat is not professional, it will taint the retreat for all or at least your manager. Wait, it will still be four weeks and if they get hung up on the 30 days and are unreasonable that way then ask the new employer to start the 2 extra days later or even the 2 weeks later for the new orientation session. But I cannot imagine any company being that difficult.
Congratulation on the new job and let us know how it goes!!
Tech glitch, but worked out OK
Thanks Dtiller for your advice. Unfortunately I couldn't see any comments until today, even though I tried refreshing my browser several times last week.
My new supervisor told me not to give notice until I received the written offer, which she worked over her vacation to expedite and finally arrived in my email on Thursday. I did tell my boss the last evening of the off-site, which ended up being a very positive and supportive conversation. Ironically, our VP announced his own retirement at the close of the retreat.
Time to retire the MT interview series and onto the new-job casts!
Congratulations
Glad it all worked out. Congratulations!!
Dawne