Told manager I was thinking of leaving. Will I be let go?

[opulentpelican]

I stupidly admitted to my manager I was looking for a new job after she asked me outright (she knows I am miserable in my current role). From what I've read online, I should be expecting to be terminated imminently... Any experience on this? Very worried.

How long have you been there, are you on probation, what’s in your contract? Start applying for jobs tomorrow.

I've worked there less than two years as well.

Of course not, especially if you've been there a while.

Also what's your relationship with your line mama get like? I have conversations like this with my team as what's the point of pretending we'll all work there forever!

What have you read online that leads you to think that your employment will be ended over looking for a new job?

How long have you been with your current employer?

Line manager is fairly new, but they've come into an environment where everyone is clearly miserable (hence the probing). I was an idiot to be honest.

Just from reading other forums really, people being let go the day after they've admitted they're looking for a new job. Could be an American thing I suppose, but I'm properly freaked out now.

No need to worry about this. A good line manager will appreciate your honesty. You can't fire someone for being unhappy and considering other roles.

If they want you to go they’ll wait for you to resign. Even under 2 years it’s a bit of a hassle getting rid of someone, have to follow process.

if they don’t want you to resign they’ll maybe support you to improve whatever the issue is.

It wouldn't occur to me to let someone go just because they happened to tell me that they were thinking of leaving.

If they weren't very good at their job, I would be quietly rather pleased, and I might offer to help with references etc.

If they were good at their job, then I guess I would want to understand their reasons for wanting to go and whether there was anything that we could do to persuade them to stay. I.e. whether their plans were due to problems in the current workplace that might need to be addressed or just a general desire to do something different, career progression etc. If the former, I would do what I could to address those issues. If the latter, I would try to find out how we could support them in achieving their goals, e.g. by letting them get experience of specific tasks or projects, or perhaps help with looking over a cv or whatever.

I have never understood organisations that expect their staff to be bonded to them for life. I don't see it as a bad thing for people to move around a bit and I never expect lifelong loyalty from an employee to any one organisation. A sensible organisation values the people who stay around forever, but it also values the people who come in for a short period and move on - they help to keep things fresh, and bring new ideas and perspectives. Plus, people are not just workers, they have lives and plans and dreams of their own!!!

Thanks everyone, made me feel slightly less anxious. I will def ramp up my job search though!

No, you'll be fine.

I once unknowingly applied to my boss at the time, mate (totally different companies/sectors) would never have made the link, until over the garden fence came a reference request for moi... before they decided to interview.

I didn't hear ever hear from the company but had my boss on the phone outing me (today's events kind of took me back there when I having to stand up for myself) in the end though, because he didn't want his mate getting bother from me, where he had dropped him in it, he took me into a meeting after being recalled into office and said his mate must have got mixed up and lets, let the matter rest. (but tell me in future if you are feeling like applying for another job) I spent another 6 months there just fine.

Worst to happen was the loss of working from home and getting in a replacement just to cover all bases in the event I was going (who actually did not last me out)

But fired - no.

I work in HR and have always been upfront with my managers when I have decided to start looking for something else. It has never been an issue and in several instances have meant resolution of some long standing issues which meant I reconsidered and stayed for a couple more years