How to notify your job about interview dates on weekdays

[chef-web]

Hello all,

I'm in a bit of a quandary regarding how to let my employers know I am taking a few days off in late Jan/early Feb to attend on-campus interviews. I will need to send out the email to notify them soon (at the latest by the end of the week), so I'd appreciate your input as soon as possible. Thanks so much for reading on.

Basically, my situation is that I work a 9-5 job at a boutique market research company and was given a very limited amount of personal/vacation days through this job (about 8 days a year not including national holidays). In September 2015 I used 2 days to attend a conference, and in October I used up about 3 days due to an emergency situation (not a medical leave, so I couldn't use my sick days). That left me with only 3 vacation days as of February. Right now I am currently scheduled for 3 interviews, which would take up about 5-6 days in total. I am okay with using the rest of my vacation days, and not being paid for the 2-3 extra days.

However, the relationship I have with my supervisor isn't the best, and knowing who she is, I believe she would give me a hard time when I ask to take these days off, and possibly going as far as denying my request based on my lack of accumulated days off. It's not impossible to ask her to consider it, esp. given my willingness to take a few unpaid days off, but I will have to give a very convincing reason and agree to compromise somehow (i.e. working extra hours). She does know I plan to go to graduate school at the end of the summer. 

In addition, leaving the job at this point is not an option for me, as I do have excellent benefits that me and my partner do need in the next few months.

I would like to know what's the best way to address this request to my supervisor. What kind of approach should I take and how should I word the request? Has anyone been in this situation before?

Thanks.

[artsy16]

Don't your 8 days reset at the beginning of the new year? 

Not having the best relationship with a supervisor is challenging (been there). I would treat it as any request off. Tell her you have interviews on these days for graduate school and they're mandatory/crucial to you being accepted. 

Unpaid days off are not ideal, but you may need to just do it. I think grad school interviews are worth it. Hopefully that won't be too much of a financial setback for you. You also have to decide what you're going to do if you don't get those days off. 

Good luck!

[homonculus]

First, it's good she already knows you plan on leaving for grad school at the end of the summer. Really, the only thing you can do is tell her you have interview dates and need time off. You can ask her if you can arrange work other hours outside of the interviews or make some other arrangement, but let her know you have to have those days for interviews. It would be a pretty drastic move by her if she fired you for something like that, especially if you ask as soon as possible and are as tactful as you can be about it. 

Also, congrats on getting three interviews and good luck!

[MarineBluePsy]

Do you have an HR department you can speak to about this?  There might actually be a process in place to request unpaid days off or the option to makeup the time you'll miss.

[TakeruK]

If your 8 days don't reset on Jan 1 (and instead, are accumulated at something like 0.75 days per month so that it adds up to 8 per year), then I think given that this is also a job you want to keep right until grad school begins, I think @MarineBluePsy made a really good suggestion---if you can find a policy through HR or your employee handbook, you can frame the discussion/request in this way. I don't think it's drastic for an employer to fire an employee for not attending work on days they are scheduled to work, especially if it's a job that comes with regular hours, benefits, a time off policy etc.

Another option is to ask the schools to move their interviews. Maybe if you tell your supervisor that you are working at this from both sides--that maybe you can move one of the schools so that you would only need to take 1-2 unpaid days off instead of 2-3, it would show the supervisor that you are committed to finding a fair solution and they might be more willing to grant you unpaid time off. 

I think the school should and would be more flexible than your job. If the school is honest with itself when it says it wants the best qualified candidates, then it should realise and accommodate for people who have travel restrictions (such as current work commitments, childcare commitments or other commitments).

A less optimal way to do this is to consider using sick leave illegitimately. I guess this really depends on what the sick leave policy is at your workplace though. I know some people with sick leave policies that just require them to ask for it (no doctor's note, no proof needed etc.) so this is the most common way they take time off for interviews when they do not want their employer to know they are interviewing. Of course, the tricky thing is that this would be super fishy if you already went the legitimate way above and then got denied. I'm just saying this is an option, but I would probably try getting the school to move interview dates first!

[Analyticchic]

Have you tried trading shifts with other coworkers? I know in my work environment we can only do sick days if we're really sick or it's an emergency. If you can find someone to take your shift for those weekend interviews, I would do it ASAP. Otherwise, if you can get coverage for two of the interviews and not the third one, if there is no other option/last resort I would call out if you can't get coverage. Your supervisor should be understanding seeing this is your future we're talking about and you are not calling these weekends off for shits and giggles. Good luck