to accept an offer from a competitor company 2 months before handing my notice in?

[starkadder]

I'm expecting to receive an offer for a new job and will probably accept it. For relocation reasons, I most likely can't start with the new company till April. However, I have only 2 weeks' notice period in my current job. I therefore want to accept the new offer but wait a couple of months before handing my notice in.

Is this allowed?? Is it unreasonable? Feels a bit weird to know I'll be leaving but not to have told my bosses - but otherwise I'll be unemployed and penniless for 2-3 months.

No not unreasonable at all, although tbh if they are reasonable employers I probably wouldn't stick to the 2 weeks exactly.

I would give them as long as I could without shafting myself.

on the other hand if they are tossers f*ck em!

Wot Alice said.

Why would you be unemployed and penniless? If you want to be helpful and give more notice of your departure you can.

If it is a competitor, won't it rather flag up your plans to current company when they take up a reference . Perhaps better to tell them sooner than later, they may prefer to put you on gardening leave anyway depending on the sensitivity of the business.

If it's a competitor company I think as soon as you hand your notice in they will tell you not to come back.

I wouldn't say anything til your notice period. I'd be careful though - people do talk and you may be found out.

Good point LIZS. Unlikely a new employer will be happy to wait until 2 weeks before you are due to start to request a reference. They will want to do so as soon as you've accepted the offer.

Are your bosses likely to have a problem with you if you tell them you are leaving in a couple of months time?

Thanks everyone!

The new company won't ask my current company for a reference, I'm pretty sure.

There's no non-compete clause in my contract so they can't put me on gardening leave either. The most they can really do is ask me not to come back in once I give my notice in.

I'd rather give them longer than 15 days. I actually didn't even think of the fact that I could give them more notice than that - but I suppose I can - after all, they can't sack me just for handing my notice in, can they? And even if they wanted to, they'd have to pay me loads of severance pay so it would be a bad idea on their side.

So maybe that's what I should do. Maybe I'll try and give them a month's notice.

PS They will pretty much definitely have a problem with me leaving...I know they'll be furious...but I still want to try and do the decent thing. It's just working out what the decent thing is..!

A month sounds like a reasonable compromise. Just for information, you don't need a non-compete clause in your contract to be put on gardening leave anyway. As you have said, they can ask you not to come into work, which is basically what gardening leave is; you'll stay employed with all your contractual obligations still in force, but won't be at work.