Conflict of interests

[Sunshine2604]

Today I need to make a few decisions about my current job (accept a senior role, plan future work..). The decisions will directly impact the company’s commitments to future work & my role. I feel that I need to hold off as I am also waiting for a new job offer to come through in the next few days. I am likely to take the new job but cannot be sure until I’ve seen the offer.

I can take time off sick or claim to have a family emergency to delay the decisions at work, but feel awful for lying.

Just wondering if I could deal with this situation without having this deception and save my current company/myself making commitments that I may not carry through. I can’t tell them I’m thinking about leaving until I know that my new job will match my salary. Any advice would be very much appreciated. TIA.

Someone my DH hired changed their mind and withdraw for a better offer a week before starting. Not great of course, but isn't the best option to accept the internal role if you want it then to reappraise the situation if the other offer comes in, and communicate the situation then? You can't bring it up when it doesn't exist and skiving or lying to put off the decision feels worse and weaker to me. Deal with the existing situation and if it changes, have your take on that ready.

Just rereading, it actually sounds like you I know you've got the other job, is that right? You have been offered it, but are just waiting for the salary details? That's unusual, but if that's the case then I'd be onto the new company using this to push them for an offer now as you have big decisions to make. Why the delay?

Thanks for your quick reply. You are right. The job has been offered but I’m waiting to see the contract/salary offer. The new company understand the urgency and have agreed to send it asap. I just need a day or two buffer, so that I can be straight with my current company. 🤯

Thank you for replying. Accepting the internal role is the easy part. I’m struggling with committing to future work only I could do. I don’t want to put my current company in that position. Ahh! I do hate skiving and lying, but am I saving my current company hassle in the long run?

Can you not just ask for a bit more time to consider the internal position before confirming? Cite childcare arrangements or something that would be impacted by taking a senior role.

They've already spent time creating a role with you specifically in mind, so if you refuse it on the basis that you've accepted another role, they will know you were job hunting at the same time as they were developing the role for you. So you're going to need to be comfortable with that scenario.

If it's only for a couple of days then you won't have out your current company under any real stress. They wouldn't have dined anything with regards to it in only a couple of days.

unless you are the only person capable of splitting the atom then don't worry about your future commitments. Nobody is irreplaceable at work. You could get knocked down tomorrow and the company would have job advert out by the end of the day. Take the internal job and act like you normally would as the job offer may not meet your requirements. the company can change direction. it's not like you are signing billion dollar contracts tomorrow as these would have taken months of prep. try not to overthink it. a man wouldn't worry about it

Make the decision based on the pertinent facts as they stand now - the future (possible) jog is irrelevant.

And you may think you are the only person capable of doing the work, but trust me, you aren't. If you leave you'll be replaced in a heartbeat and within a month it would be like you've never been there.

There's a rather nasty strain of Covid going around. I don't think anyone would be at all surprised if you needed to have 2-3 days off.