To ask if I can start earlier

[WhoWants2Know]

I successfully interviewed for a post on the 8th October. References, start paperwork and DBS check are all complete. When the job was offered to me, I explained that I had a short notice period, so if offered the job I would be available soon. (Previous employer weren't inclined to be flexible with notice period, so once they had a reference request from another company, there would be pressure to be gone ASAP)

The new employer has just emailed to ask if I can start on the 15th. That's great, but it's more than 5 weeks from interview and leaves me without work for two weeks. (Unless I can get temp agency work)

By comparison, a friend interviewed for a job last Monday and started Friday.

I know different companies have different processes, and things happen beyond their control (key people being off on annual leave, etc) but I'm gutted at the thought of waiting another two weeks to get going. Sure, I can do temp work for money, but I'd rather put the effort into the company I applied for.

Would I be out of order to ask if I can start sooner?

I don't think there's any harm at all in asking. Just a phone call saying 'hi, thanks again for the offer, looking forward to working with you. I'm available now if you'd like me to start earlier?'. They can only say no, and then you contact the temp agency.

Yanbu to ask, but they could of course say no

You can ask, but be prepared that they might say no as they might need time to prepare for your arrival - get the projects you’ll be working on in line before you get there, ensure colleagues are available for your induction/training etc. But there’s no harm in asking.

No harm in asking

Have you handed in your notice already, before knowing your start date? Surely you would have waited for that and then aligning your notice period with it?

There might be budget constraints so they may say no

You can ask, but there’s likely a reason why they’ve gone for that. Budget, staff availability, equipment requirements etc

I would have much rather waited until knowing my start date before giving my notice.

Unfortunately, as soon as the reference request came through and the boss knew I was going to resign, she was pissed. She stopped speaking to me and did everything she could to get me out fast. I offered to be flexible and give a longer notice period so my colleagues and clients would have a good handover. But she declined, even though it really screwed over the rest of the team and she lost business as a result. She also insisted that I take all unpaid annual leave as part of the notice period. And since I had only taken 3 days so far... I only had a couple of days to hand over 5 years worth of work before I was on annual leave.

It's true, there is probably an underlying process that slows things down. I'm guessing it's the IT side of things, setting up network ID, etc. Their ICT policy and security system is immense.

But hey-ho. There's always Amazon for a couple of weeks 🤷‍♀️

I'd ask, you never know. We recently had a new colleague start, and they did allow them to come in (a few hours a day for 1-2 weeks) to get set up on the IT systems and do some online training etc so they were set to go before they started with the induction etc.

That would be awesome, as I know there's a lot of e-learning to do as part of the induction process. I've sent an email to ask, so fingers crossed.