New job announced me joining before I've resigned

[Downthisroad]

Hi

I got offered a job, accepted, signed the contract. I have no start date and a ton of paperwork still to get done so haven't yet resigned formally.

In the meantime, new company have declared I'm starting, my job title, my name and team. I work in a tiny industry, have worked with people at the new company and news will get around. I wanted to resign when everything was tied down and I had a start date, tell my current team including those I manage in person (or at least tell them myself over Zoom) and manage the news in my own way. That's seeming less like a possibility now, I'm royally pissed off and considering revoking my acceptance.

AIBU? Would you feel the same?

Yanbu, that would stress me out no end and would start things off on a sour note.

It’s not ideal, but why on earth would you revoke your acceptance? Surely you actually want the job? Just get ahead of the curve - tomorrow, tie them down for your contract etc, and hand in your notice.

I get that you’re annoyed, but come on - revoking your acceptance? What are you trying to achieve by doing that? You’ve said yourself that your industry is tiny.

You should have resigned once you’d signed the contract. I’d also have insisted on a start date.

You should resign when you sign the contract

Declared to whom?

Speak to your manager informally if you must, to preserve the relationship, even if you don't have a start date in writing yet. They would probably prefer a heads up than be surprised.

What am I trying to achieve? Good point - I'm not sure, I'm just annoyed and have had a couple of G&Ts.

It has stressed me out though, it just feels really inconsiderate of my current position, like I have barely been thought of in this at all.

Start date should have been negotiated with the contract. If you revoke your acceptance now then you'll just be stuck where you are.

Sorry I’m a bit confused, why did you want a start date before you resigned? Surely it’s better to walk away as soon as possible?

My manager is already aware, I'm more concerned about those I manage.

It was declared to several people in a company chat group.

I think this is actually on you. I wouldn’t have signed a contract without a start date. And once you’ve signed it they probably assume it’s a done deal and can be announced.

I work in HR.

You should have resigned at the point of accepting the other role and certainly by the time you signed their contract. Very disrespectful of your current (now former) employer in my view.

I don't understand how you can sign a contract yet not have a start date.

Some interesting (and different!) points of view.

Would you not anticipate that all paperwork and a start date should be nailed down first? Why would I formally resign and potentially risk a period without pay just to keep my current employer satisfied?

I agree with OP - you need a start date before handing in notice or else you risk being out of work for a period between jobs. And OP has already told manager.

How can you have a contract without a start date? Surely it's meaningless.

Cross post OP

Also work in HR. Often people can sign to start "on a date to be agreed/no later than" (which can be easier to agree once you discuss handover etc with existing employer) but once you have signed it it's not unreasonable for the new company to take that as the step forward to assume you are coming and therefore announce etc. The delay is on you and if you wanted more time you should have said. You said yourself the industry is tiny - people often know who is interviewing anyway in small sectors so you definitely needed to act faster.

I’m sorry, I also think this is on you. I think once you’ve accepted AND signed a contract it’s reasonable for the new place to start telling people tbh.

As soon as you had accepted an unconditional offer and signed a contract you could have started to let people know you are leaving, you wouldn’t have needed to formally resign but you could have let them know it’s coming

You should have resigned at the point of accepting the other role and certainly by the time you signed their contract. Very disrespectful of your current (now former) employer in my view

This is not correct. There's plenty of careers and situations where this would be inappropriate.

Firstly, the offer could have been subject to certain conditions, like conflicts checks, which need to be run and confirmed before she can resign.

In addition, I found myself in a situation at my old job where I was on a project finishing soon. I didn't want to resign until I finished the project in order to leave on good terms - resigning in the middle of the project would have made my boss think I'd be letting them down. I finished my work, resigned, and left on a high with great contacts and recommendations.

So I would never sign a contract without a start date. However the start date I would request is usually 5-6 weeks after I receive the offer and contract so a few days to read the contract and get any legals sorted then immediately upon them confirming receipt of the signed contract I resign in the morning formally to hr then notify colleagues in the afternoon.

HR here, you've accepted the job and signed a contract. I am unclear why or even how that could be issued without a start date. Can you explain further?

Unless you specifically told your new employer to keep things quiet, then they've done nothing wrong. You accepted their offer and signed the contract. It's clear to them that you're going to be working for them, so why wouldn't they announce it? It's not their fault that you have told people yourself.

Haven't told people yourself.