Should I tell my manager I'm job hunting?

[UZH]

I've been in my new job 6 months. It's dreadful and I've decided I can't make it work or bear it, so I'm desperately job hunting.
I'm putting my line manager down as one of my references, and where there's an option I've asked that he isn't contacted until after interview.

Should I let him know I'm job hunting?
Should I let him know I've applied for lots a couple of jobs and put him down as a reference?

I've only ever worked in teaching where this is done differently. My new office colleagues are telling me that you never let your current employer know you want to leave and the first they ever know about your job hunting is when you hand your notice in. (But how does that work with references??).

I haven't done it for a while but generally you get offered the job on the condition of satisfactory references. So at the point they ask your job for references, you've already been offered the job.

No dont tell your boss you are job hunting. For references you just need to say they are available on request. Usually only required if you have been successful and accepted a contract.

It varies. I encourage staff in my team to let me know. I don't judge them for it...we don't own them and they are not bonded to our organisation for life. Sometimes I even offer to read through applications or help with interview practice etc.

Some people will stay with us for years. Others will contribute what they can for a short period and then move on. There are pros and cons to each tbh, and some movement is desirable imo.

Whether you should tell your own boss or not depends very much on the boss and on the wider working culture. Some will feel like me, whereas others will hold it against you/ decide you're on the way out and therefore not reliable or worth investing any time in etc.

The usual rule of thumb and etiquette is that you ask former employers and people who have never employed you for permission before you offer them as a referee but not your current employer. It’s part of the expectation of a current employer that they will provide a reference when you leave (though they don’t absolutely have to) and so you don’t need to ask their consent in advance.

It may affect your working relationship with your boss during your job search period if you tell him you are looking and will certainly mean you don’t get allocated long term projects which may be interesting and advance your career because they will be worried you will leave before they are completed. So for that reason best to say silent.

Some will feel like me, whereas others will hold it against you/ decide you're on the way out and therefore not reliable or worth investing any time in etc.

I think my experience has always been the former, and I hope I've been like the former. However, in this place I think it's the latter (and what everyone else has pretty much said!).

I will try to keep my powder dry. Thank you so much everyone!

I wouldn’t let the line manager know.
As you’ve only been there 6 months they could ‘ let you go ‘ out of spite.

A friend of mine did this, let her manager know that she was job hunting as a courtesy. Like you she hadn't been there long. They decided not to bother waiting for her to go, and gave her notice to leave instead. In their eyes they were taking control of the situation and replacing her immediately rather than wait to see the outcome of her job hunt. Possibly it was a bit vindictive, but as she'd been there less than 2 years she had very few rights.

So no I would not tell a manager you were looking for another job, I would wait until you have a signed contract and then politely and formally hand in your notice.

I always believe in honesty with these things.

I don't think anyone is suggesting being dishonest.

Ok then I'll phrase it differently. I believe in being upfront about these things. I always gave been and managers have always respected that.

No! No! No! Still mortified by the day my boss got on the phone and said “I heard over the grapevine” turns out one of the directors had a chat about me over the garden fence during lockdown to an company I’d unknowingly applied to with a connection as they were neighbours. It’s a small enough world out there.

Only by the grace of god, the young lady they got in to replace me was no cop in the nicest sense now who ended up dismissed, now I just feel bad for her dragged into the situation. I never knew it was possible to outshine the replacement.

1-1 at end of employment- last few months of furlough and after I stopped working at the place, guess what my tax record went on to show? Took months to sort out.

Good grief! Absolute not! Do NOT tell your line manager you're looking for a job. You've only been in post for 6 months. You have zero rights until you've worked for a company for 2 years so they could sack you tomorrow if they wanted to.

References aren't collected until after you've been offered and accepted the role. There is usually a 'is it ok to contact this person' option on the application form/system. So you can instruct the new employer not to contact anyone until you give them permission to do so.

I can't believe so many are telling you to tell your manager! NO ONE has ever, ever told anyone they're looking for another job in the sector I work in. It'd be career suicide.

I'm going through recruitment process right now - I had an interview, was offered the role the next day, received a provisional contract by email, sent over details of referee (current and former line managers) at which point I told them both I'd been successful and would be leaving.
I'll receive the contract after the right to work in UK process has completed and will then tender my notice, but only once I have signed a contract.
Good luck!

I agree with others that you should never tell your current employer that you are thinking of leaving until the day you hand in your resignation.

If you've only been there 6 months, why are you using your current manager as a reference? Is this a personal/character reference? He barely knows you.

References are rarely consulted until after a job has been offered, if then. But is there a risk that as a manager at your soon-to-be-ex-employer, if he feels aggrieved at your departure might he give a bad reference, especially if contacted by phone rather than in writing?

Could you give someone from your previous employer instead? In any event you will have to explain the short job on your CV and the simple answer is that it just didn't work out.

I thought I had to give my current employer, but thinking about it, that's because the first job I applied for stipulated it.

@Spinewars23 I didn't really follow your post.

(It's a small organisation and my line manager is the business owner. No HR department as such - I was thinking that might have been a possible alternative).

Outside of teaching, you should wait until you have not just the offer but the actual contract of employment before you give notice.

Nope. No need to tell your boss - there’s no requirement and if it takes you a while to find something else, that could be an awkward situation at work until you leave. References are usually only sought once you have gotten close to the end of the recruitment process (I.e after you’ve been offered the new job), by which point, you know you’re going! It’s usually respectful to tell your boss you’re leaving before the reference request lands in their inbox…..but that isn’t always possible and happened to me with my boss quite recently 😊

Once your boss knows you are leaving, and has your notice period, they may conduct an exit interview to discuss your reasons for leaving, so you might have an opportunity to give feedback then if you wish?

You should also be careful telling others in your office that you are job hunting.

I've seen someone dismissed immediately for telling Co-workers that they were looking to leave. The employer treated it as "breach of mutual trust and confidence" and marched them off the premises by the end of the day.

I’m not, I want to be really clear in June 2020 I was expected to go work with the people of Feb 2020 and there were no concessions, until the possible replacement arrived.

You only tell your manager if you're applying for a job in the company you currently work.

There is no benefit to telling them you are looking elsewhere unless it is to negotiate a way to help you enjoy the role.

I think it depends on the situation. I usually don't tell anyone at work I'm looking for a new job.

I am job hunting at the moment and I have told my manager because with the current state of things it will genuinely leave him in a bind, basically it's a newly created role I was given as my old role came to a natural (planned) end. I said up front I'll see how it goes but I didn't apply for this role, on the face of it it isn't something I'm especially keen on/would have applied for but I'll give it a good go and let's see where we get to.

6 months in and it's absolute chaos with no sign of resolving because my more senior management won't make decisions or invest in it, so I've politely said I'm looking to move on, these are the issues that will give you, you might like to take steps now to sort them out, happy to help while I am here. I am unsackable so I don't have to worry about that (public sector!)