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In the podcast, they emphasized the importance of not telling coworkers and directs about accepting a new position. I recently accepted a new position at the company in another department (moved from Engineering to Operations). I was told there would be a formal announcement and I knew not to say anything to the general population. The problem came in when my boss asked me if I heard anything about moving into a new position. Does the "keep it confidential" advice apply to those situations? Do I have an obligations to tell my current boss what the plans are, or is that the responsibility of my new boss?

Atypical IT Guy's picture

Yes you do have a obligation to tell your manager. In fact I think you have a obligation to tell your boss before you even apply for a new position within the same organization. You still have to work with your current boss after you change roles, and blindsiding him/her with this news can only hurt your working relationship. Not only that but a good manager would see the benefit to the organization as a whole of you moving to a new role, and could talk to the hiring manager about you. But if the hiring manager approaches your current manager about you and he/she is completely unaware of you applying for a new position, it could bring into question your loyalty and hurt your chances at getting the new role.

I just would ask and trust my manager to keep this confidential.

Dave_Hanson's picture

Thank you for the advice.  That is a very good point and I had not thought about if from that angle.

altadel's picture
Licensee Badge

Your manager represents the company in relationship to you. You are telling the company anything you tell your manager; they do not keep things in confidence if it would damage the company to hold a confidence. There are casts for this.