Quitting job before Grad School

[Mohamed Abbas]

So been accepted to grad school and I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going. I will decide in the next month but I am def going to grad school. However, i am currently working and I anticipate I will continue working until end of June probably. How should I go about my job if I know I'll be leaving in a couple of months. I know it is not a good idea to tell my employer now, because then they might lay me off and find someone immediately. At the same time though, I do feel it is unfair to continue with training, enhancing my technical skills and everything, given that I know I will be leaving soon. It will be a waste of their time. I was thinking the best way would be for me to give them two weeks of notice and just tell them that I had just made the decision, that way they don't feel like they wasted time training me when I knew all along.

I've only been at this current job for 6 months now, but I do not really like it, it is not challenging whatsoever and it is something I feel I am very overqualified for. My boss has kept promising he will promote me to a better role and that he acknowledges I am way too qualified for it, but nothing has happened so far and I think I am better suited to research, having been in both a research role at my previous job and now at a more corporate, data analyst type of role at my current job. Perhaps I'm thinking too much about it and given that they have continuously made false promises to me, I shouldn't really give the thought of going through more training, knowing full well i am going to leave in a few months too much thought.

Any advice/suggestions?

[MarineBluePsy]

If you are in the US it is customary for employees to give an employer 2 weeks notice when vacating a position.  That notice does not have to provide great detail about why you're leaving it could just say "leaving to pursue other opportunities."  While there is rarely a convenient time to leave a job you need to prioritize your own needs.  Announcing too early does increase the likelihood that you'll be asked to leave before you're financially prepared to.  If the situation were reversed and your employer needed to let people go it is very unlikely they'd offer a few months notice because their priority is themselves.  Often when employers let people go there is no notice, you're given some crappy excuse that day and escorted out.

You're not alone in being in this situation when transitioning to graduate school.  Others, including myself, have posted about this on the forum and things have turned out fine.  When I left my job I made sure that all loose ends were wrapped up so my coworkers wouldn't be stuck with extra work and then provided 2 weeks notice.  My employer wasn't happy to have to replace me, but they understood that I was leaving for an opportunity that was better for me.

[crackademik]

If you don't want to waste your time training in a job that is not going to help you develop skills for your future, then I would just put in your two weeks now (if you are financially secure). That way, you can spend your time doing something fun and productive (travel, learn a new language or skill, volunteer somewhere in your field) since you're about to be working yourself to death for the next 4+ years. If you need the money, then stay and act like you're not leaving until you put in your two weeks in June. 

I have been faced with this exact dilemma. I will be putting in my two weeks in late June. 

[DD94]

Check your employee handbook/HR website before you give your notice! I'm somewhat in the same boat. My contract is for a year, staring and ending in late June. I am required by the type of employee that I am classified as (research staff, not faculty or crew member) to give notice of my departure a month before I leave. Only giving two weeks notice would be a violation of my contract, so be sure to check before you do this. I'm honestly not sure what they would do at that point, but I also do not want to find out.

It's honestly a little scary how you're describing your job, because I'm in almost the exact same place. I'm a little torn if I should keep trying to learn more techniques or not, but this place has treated me pretty poorly (like your situation, lots of false promises) and I don't want to be doing meaningless tasks for the next 3 months, so I'm keeping my mouth shut until I give notice in May.

[feralgrad]

As others have said, you don't owe your job anything. There's nothing wrong with getting more training before you leave, and it will look nice on a resume. Remember that if you do so, you won't be hurting individuals; you'll be doing a small amount of financial damage to a company that doesn't care about you. It's not like your boss is paying for your training. 

I'm not trying to be heavy-handed here, but you deserve that training if you think it will benefit you.

[thecodemachine]

I can't wait to quit my job. I don't owe them anything but a 2 weeks standard notice. I've already told my boss and everyone who says hello to me. They'll be fine without me. No more micromanaging. No more questions about why a excel chart is green instead of red. No more meeting where people are talking over me about things I'm responsible for. The. End. Thank god. I'll be staying until September to stack easy cash while I'm there. I'll make about 16k between now and when I leave. easy boring money.