Quitting a job?

[hyronomus4]

Just out of curiosity when are people telling current employers about leaving for grad school?  My current job has no idea I'm considering going back to school.  I have a management position so according to our handbook I'm asked to give 1 month notice.  I realize that's a good amount of time but I will still have months of knowing and not telling.  I'm also worried my employer will find out in roundabout ways before I give my official notice.  Any thoughts or experiences?

[phdreally]

Once you have a confirmed admit and are sure of joining grad school and quitting work, I would suggest letting your manager unofficially know of the possibility of you leaving few months down. Your official resignation can come in the last month. Quitting for higher ed is considered a lot less negative (sometimes even positive) than quitting for another job. From my experience this upfront honesty goes a long way in maintaining relationships. You never know - you may realize grad school is just not your thing soon after joining, or infeasible financially, and may want to get back.. Do your best to maintain those bridges.

Good luck.

[autumn]

I work in an admin position at a university. I told my supervisor last summer in my annual review that I was applying to PhD programs but that the odds were not in my favor. She's been mostly supportive (if a little panicked about replacing someone) ever since. I will probably tell her around April 15 and I plan to quit around July 31. That will give me enough time to clean up my files, post for a replacement, interview them, hire them, and train them after the AY ends in May. 

[CFBrown]

Not sure if it helps, but I've been unemployed for almost six months. I discovered that my mentioning the potential of grad school in interviews was probably the ultimate red flag. I've always believed that honesty is the best policy, but obviously this isn't the case with corporate America.

 

In your case it depends on how long you've been working there. If it's been more than a year, I'd take my chances and spill the beans early.

[MidwesternAloha]

Just throwing another (personal) perspective out there - sometimes spilling the beans early can lead to undesirable or hostile work conditions. I'm afraid I will be judged/forced out if I use grad school as the reason to leave my current position

[Cheshire_Cat]

I'm in the same boat.  I've been working at my job for 2 years now, and I think everyone knows that my eventual goal is to go into acedemia, just not when.  I was planning on telling them 1 month before I leave, but maybe I should hint at it earlier to give them time to hire someone for me to train.  The people at my firm are amazing, so this will be the hardest part.  We also have a problem finding people for this project, so I doubt they will let me go early if I tell them.

[TakeruK]

It totally depends on the relationship you have with your supervisor. The earliest I would ever say anything is when I've officially accepted a school's offer. However, I would only do this if I believe that I would be strongly supported by my supervisors and bosses. Otherwise, I would probably wait until something closer to the minimum notice guidelines (e.g. 1 month or whatever). The handbooks and guidelines are there for a reason--if you follow them, then they cannot fault you and it should not hurt any future relationship (perhaps add an extra week or two to the minimum time to show good faith or something). But I do not think you should feel any obligation to tell your supervisors as soon as you know. There is nothing wrong with knowing you are going to leave X months down the road and keeping that information from your employers.

[Crucial BBQ]

Just out of curiosity when are people telling current employers about leaving for grad school?  My current job has no idea I'm considering going back to school.  I have a management position so according to our handbook I'm asked to give 1 month notice.  I realize that's a good amount of time but I will still have months of knowing and not telling.  I'm also worried my employer will find out in roundabout ways before I give my official notice.  Any thoughts or experiences?

As someone who has many years experience working in the "real world", let me tell you the best thing you can do is to leave this employer in as a professional manner as you can.  I also strongly suggest you give them a heads up about your grad school plans asap, but that is not really necessary as long as you put in your "two weeks" by their designated notice date.  However, even if you give them the one-month notice on time, and they find out you are leaving for grad school, they will wonder why you did not have the common decency to let them know earlier (so they can prepare for the hiring of a new employee).  If you don't, you run the risk of royally upsetting them.  You may say that is not your problem, and really it is not, but it can make you life miserable in that they may give you a bad reference when need this employer for a reference in the future.  

 

Just throwing another (personal) perspective out there - sometimes spilling the beans early can lead to undesirable or hostile work conditions. I'm afraid I will be judged/forced out if I use grad school as the reason to leave my current position

At least you have a legit reason.  Trying to explain to potential employer why you left your previous job is more difficult than writing an SOP in my opinion.  

[1415dr]

I'm currently 'on probation ' at work because I started less than 12 months ago. If I tell them Im quitting this Summer they could fire me immediately and I would lose my vacation time, sick time, and 401k matching. I have to keep it a secret until my 12 months are up, then put in 2 weeks notice and quit. I feel awful about it because I genuinely love this job and my supervisor.

[juiceboxrampage]

I just told my work that I got accepted. They all knew that I was applying to schools (even before I was hired) so I didn't think it'd be a big deal. Now my manager is kind of freaking out and talking about putting up ads to find my replacement, even though I'm not planning on leaving for months. I think part of that has to do with my uncertainty around when I'm leaving. They seem to be interpreting "I don't have an exact date yet, but it won't be until summer, and I will give you at least one month's notice" as "I'm going to peace out whenever I feel like it."

I agree that it's better to keep them in the loop, but be careful. I wish I had waited until I had a more clear idea of what my plans are before I told them. The management at my job is very laid back and we're all very friendly, so it may be even more prudent to hold off if you have strict or unfriendly bosses.

[TakeruK]

Crucial BBQ raises good points. I have some real world experience too, but not in the US, so perhaps my advice gets a few things wrong. In my Canadian work experience, many jobs worth caring about will likely be unionized (i.e. I wouldn't worry about this at all if I was in a retail job or something similar) and there are contracts that govern this sort of thing. If you follow all the policies and an employer writes a bad reference, they get in a lot of trouble.

 

However, juiceboxrampage's experience is exactly why I would not tell an employer about leaving too early. Definitely better to wait until you have an exact move date. I probably would wait until I signed a lease on a new place or made some other serious commitment about moving. I don't think it's a "lack of common decency" if you don't tell them as soon as you accept the school's offer, because at that point, you actually have not made any commitment to actually moving (i.e. there's still time to change your mind about grad school if you want to). But if you already begin making commitments to move to the new school, then that's the point where I would be seriously thinking whether or not it's time to tell my bosses.

[WhatAmIDoingNow]

It all depends on your employer and the work culture.  At my job, they have been in the loop.  I work on many projects that will need to have someone hired and trained to take over, so I will be giving as much notice as I can.  On the other hand, some organizations are rather toxic regarding resignation and will have security escort you out the day you put in your notice.  I would look into how other resignations have gone in your organization for people at your level and work from there.  In a management position, resigning without decent transition puts staff is a stressful situation. 

[esotericish]

It all depends on your employer and the work culture.  At my job, they have been in the loop.  I work on many projects that will need to have someone hired and trained to take over, so I will be giving as much notice as I can.  On the other hand, some organizations are rather toxic regarding resignation and will have security escort you out the day you put in your notice.  I would look into how other resignations have gone in your organization for people at your level and work from there.  In a management position, resigning without decent transition puts staff is a stressful situation. 

 

This. If you think your employer is going to say "Well, go ahead and leave now" when you tell them, probably wait. A month is probably more than adequate for most people. I'm not sure myself how much notice I'm going to give, but I'm thinking a month.

[MidwesternAloha]

This. If you think your employer is going to say "Well, go ahead and leave now" when you tell them, probably wait. A month is probably more than adequate for most people. I'm not sure myself how much notice I'm going to give, but I'm thinking a month.

I know most employers require two weeks or a month or whatever it may be, but I have been told by a few executives that it's courteous to give as much notice as you have vacation per year. So, if you get 6 weeks vacation + sick days, that's the polite way to go about it, at a minimum. Just a thought. (I'm still going to be waiting til the very end, though)