When to resign?
 

I briefly mentioned it in the WDYFLSRN? (haha), but my husband got a job in Colorado and we will be moving in June.

I have not resigned yet because that is still far away. I plan on working til mid-June, but I'd love to hear opinions on when the best time to resign would be. I'd like to give them more than 2 weeks for a few reasons:

1) I will be taking off lots of time at the end of April and end of May to apartment shop and then move out. I know time off is none of their business, but I work in a very friendly casual environment and I know people will ask why the long breaks. And I'm not good at lying.

2) I'm so nervous about spilling the beans on accident. It's almost happened several times (i.e. today a co-worker was talking about rents and I almost blurted out "that reminds me, I need to give my landlord notice")

3) I do feel like my job is safe if I tell them a few weeks more than 2--I know they're not going to find a replacement immediately and I predict that they'd be happy if I can stay on to train the new me for about a week or so.

4) I feel like current co-workers might even be helpful in getting me contacts for a job out there. The reason I say this is because the person who's job I took moved out of the country and before she left, she had some help from our team to get her in touch with contacts in that country.

5) I don't want them to put me on any new business which might be coming down the road soon. I feel as thought it would be wrong for me to begin building rapport with clients if I'm just going to leave. If they don't know I'm moving, it would look really bad for me to say, "no I don't want to/can't work on this".

So what are you thoughts? I'm planning on asked old co-workers who are no longer at my company anymore their opinions as well.

Don't give more than two weeks. It can backfire on you. What you can do is to start getting files in order and create a spreadsheet of everything you are working on so that your work can be handed off with minimal disruption.

If people ask why you're taking time off, tell them you're going on vacation to Colorado. That isn't a lie.

Look around your own organization for some precedent. If you know someone who gave their notice a full two months in advance and the company allowed them to assist in transitioning to someone else over those two months, then maybe that's the best way to leave things. It also depends exactly what you do. If you have some sort of executive job where you have a million irons in the fire, you might want to give notice sooner rather than later. If you have a job where you could train someone up in two weeks to adequately replace you, that's something to consider also.

I think former coworkers can best advise you. Given the reasons you've outlined, it seems reasonable to give more than two weeks. What we don't know is the personality of management, which is the x factor. Then again, be sure they can keep their mouths shut before you ask.

Being that you seem to have a good relationship with your current employer, I'd give more than 2 weeks notice, but I wouldn't give more than 4 weeks notice. There are just too many things that can happen between now and then, like the job offer your husband has could fall through.

And you could always say your husband is looking at a job in Colorado so you're going to check it out. That's a half-announcement if you're worried about completely surprising and disappointing them.

Thanks everyone!

You're right it's not...but we were just there vacationing in January, so that would be fishy. I'll probably just tell them I'm taking a long weekend to enjoy mom's weekend with my mom at my brother's school. (which is in fact that weekend, ha!!)

Yeah, I'm not that important, lol So I could do with two weeks of training someone. But as I mentioned before, my biggest concern is if they put me on new business (if we win it). That would not reflect well on me if I was just getting acquainted with a client and had to quit (then again, I guess I can always say the opportunity came up last minute, so I didn't know I was moving when I started working on the new business).

Yep, that's a big x factor. Management does not take leaving well here...IF you are leaving for another agency. I don't think they'll take it poorly if I'm moving, though.

I think I'm going to reach out to the woman whose position I took when she moved out of country. I didn't know her too well, but I can easily find her on LinkedIn and get in touch. I'd love to hear how it all went for her.

I like the idea of saying your husband is interviewing for a position in Colorado. Then it isn't a done deal but they have a heads up that you may end up leaving.

I agree with this. When I left my most recent position to go back to school full-time, I gave them about six weeks notice, and it was just fine. If you have a good relationship with your manager(s) and you are leaving for a reason other than just another job across town, it's very possible that you can give more notice and leave on a very positive note.

Did NOT even consider that. That is an excellent point. It feels very secure, but you seriously never know.

Me too!

I thought of another person I worked with who just moved out of state. She seriously began hinting at it about 4 months before hand--not to upper management, but to us, which I still felt was strange. I wonder when she officially resigned...I'll have to find her and ask her as well.

I sent a note to the girl I replaced to see what her timing was like and how that went for her. Anxious to hear back!

Then, ethically, you're going to have to decide whether to give more than the customary two weeks notice only if they put you on new business if you win it.

Not knowing all of the details, it's impossible for a bunch of strangers on the internet to give you more than that.

Two more things:

1) I gave my long notice verbally, so if they had been like "we are letting you go", I maybe would have argued that I had never given notice? I don't really know if it makes a difference.

2) I was leaving end of August, so my student health insurance started 8/1. I gave notice on like 7/3 or so, so even if they had told me to get out, I would have had their insurance through the end of the month, and thus no gap.

To be clear, I was not discrediting your advice. In fact, it is helpful.

As I said,

I'm not a PNM; I know that no one out here has the answer for me. I'm just interested in opinions, which I have gotten lots of so far and appreciate all of them.

Thanks again for all of the advice!

I ended up putting in my resignation today, 4 weeks away from my end date. In the end, I determined it was the appropriate amount of time given my circumstances (I'm moving, not leaving for another job).

I suspected that my boss would be understanding because it was due to a move but I was really blown away by her response. She was like "No! We don't want you to leave! You've been such a great part of this team!" and even offered assistance as far as getting in touch with a contact out there and offered to be a recommendation.

I was extremely flattered and humbled by this. My new boss is a bit tough--she's super smart and I have a very high opinion of her on a professional level, but she is not easy to read so I could never get a good gauge on how I'm doing and what she thinks of my performance (I have not yet had a yearly review since being on her team). Hearing that was really assuring and felt good. Made my conversation with her so much easier.

Feels good to have it off my chest after knowing we're moving for over 2 months. I still have to wait a week or so before we can tell the team, but this is helpful.

Yay for you! Now you can focus on your move and not letting it slip!

It's SOOOO nice when you get this type of response. When I had to move to Dubai, my boss was super cool and even allowed me to change my role so that I could work at a (BIG OLE) distance. While my boss now is effusive about EVERYTHING, you know, in that California, everything is awesome even when it's nothing sort of a way, I have a feeling if I gave notice tomorrow, she'd be like, ok buhbye.