I need some HR and employer advice!

[MayaAngelCool]

I've recently been offered a fantastic freelance job which won't start until early summer. It will require me to do 3 lots of 3 days' work between June and August - so three fixed days in June, July & August.

I've also had second interviews for a full-time job for a prestigious company who I'd love to work for, to start in June.

If I'm offered Job 2, I'd still like to fit in time for Job 1. Would this be unreasonable? The contract for Job 1 is due around the same time as I'm expecting to hear about Job 2. Does it make a difference whether I've signed a contract or not? Would I be expected to take the time out of my holiday allowance for Job 2?

Do you mean would it be reasonable of you to expect a full time employer to let you have time off to do another job? Well no, not reasonable to expect but not unreasonable to ask. They might allow it, they might not, and there's no harm asking, but that's all you can do. If they do allow it, whether they want you to use your holiday or just take unpaid leave will be up to them. If job 1 could be considered a competitor or there might be any conflict of interests at all, then they will say no anyway of course.

If you sign a contract for job 1 then are offered and want to accept job 2 and have to decline job 1, then technically they may be able to sue you for breach of contract, but in reality if they have little or no financial loss as a result of your withdrawal, that's unlikely. I'd be more concerned about the reputational risks with doing that tbh.

Not on to accept Job1 and then pull out - they can technically sue you for the extra cost of finding someone to replace you (unlikely though). Morally though, it's a bit pants.

What I would do in this situation is:-

1. Tell Job1 you would love to do the job but have been waiting some time for permanent full-time work and one is in the pipeline so will not be able to confirm that you can accept for two weeks (or however long it will take to find out if you get job2)
2. If you get offered Job2 then ask before accepting if you can take 9 days vacation during the summer to meet other work commitments (you are more likely to get them to agree if they think you may reject offer than once you have accepted offer).

There is of course a risk that Job1 will not let you wait and will tell you to decide there and then, but not much you can do about that.

Thanks for your responses. Jobs 1 & 2 are totally unrelated, no conflicts of interest there. I would not want to turn Job 1 down if offered Job 2, as it's a great job but also they've selected me after a rigorous process and it's a very small organisation whom I'd like to work with in the future. I should have said earlier that I've already accepted Job 1 and am just awaiting the contract.

So my question is from the perspective of Employer 2, whether it would be unreasonable of me to ask for time off for Job 1.

So Squiffy, I can't do no 1 on your list but no 2 is a good idea.

I would say that you already have 'holidays' booked for the times you need for the job No1 and take it as unpaid leave or out of you holiday allowance from job 2.

No, I wouldn't be comfortable doing that, Molly. I'd prefer to be straightforward about what I'm doing in these circumstances.

Why is booking holidays not straight forward? You just say you need the following days as annual leave due to prior commitments.

It's the idea of saying I've booked some holidays...as a cover for I need time off to do pre-arranged freelance work. I don't want to pretend I'm on holiday, and it's not worth running the risk of getting found out.