Job Hunting While Employed Elsewhere

You may not be happy at your current job: you may feel it’s time for a raise, you may be expecting lay offs or you may just want to try something new. You’re ready to start looking for a new position. The problem, though, is that you still have this one. You don’t want to give notice before you have another job lined. Just letting your boss get a hint that you’re shopping around and you may not have that cushion while you job hunt. Worse, many prospective employers are reluctant to hire someone that they know is hunting for new employment without quitting a current job. Most will assume that if you’ve done it once, you’ll do it again.

How do you keep your job search quiet while you consider moving on? The first step is simply not mentioning it. Your co-workers may be your friends, but that’s not a guarantee that they’ll keep their mouths shut. Wait until you’ve actually handed over your letter of resignation to pass around the good news.

You also need to make the effort to be discrete. Don’t take phone interviews at work, and direct any email about new jobs to an account separate from your work email. Prospective employers can recognize a work email address and realize what you are up to. Your work email is also subject to review by your employer, depending on where you work.

You should be careful about scheduling interviews. While you may have to take time off of work to interview for a new position, you should ask for personal time off, rather than trying to lie about the reason you won’t be in. Additionally, if you suddenly need to take off several days closely spaced together, your boss may become suspicious. It’s worthwhile to try to schedule all of your interviews on one day or to time them during your lunch hour or normal time away from work.

Another obvious interview error is showing up to work in your suit or nice clothes, if your work place is generally more relaxed. This sort of change in your behavior can quickly clue your employer in to your strategy.

If you are found out, the only thing that you can really do is own up to the fact. If you claim innocence, and then quit a week or two later, you’ll have burned an important bridge. Your employer is less likely to give you any sort of references, no matter how good your previous work was. Even if you are honest about the situation, don’t count on retaining your job for those last few weeks. Many employers will ask you to leave immediately if they find you have been seeking new employment elsewhere, no matter the circumstances.

You may manage to complete your job search with no one the wiser, though. You should keep quiet about that fact during the resignation process, and make every effort to be polite about the matter, in order to maintain a good relationship with your former employer.

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