Ask a Manager: My Coworker told HR I had an interview and HR posted my job

[minoanmiss]

https://www.askamanager.org/2021/07/my-coworker-told-hr-i-was-interviewing-and-now-theyre-posting-my-job.html

ugh. my computer is being very slow so I must eschew copying over the text. But I wanted to reblog this because I wanted to ask -- I thought this was SOP if an employer catches a whiff of jobhunting -- they push the jobhunting employee out as roughly as possible.

Comments

So I was thinking about this

[minoanmiss]

Espccially because you are one of the people I look to for advice:

What (besides "don't confide in that coworker") would you say to me if I were LW? Because as I mentioned I'm likely to be in that position soon. I know the business world is unfair but it just seems -- harsh to me to get rid of someone the moment one finds out they are even contemplating leaving.

Re: So I was thinking about this

[jadelennox]

Hmm. I would say, first of all, I don't think them posting the job necessarily means they're getting fired (they did offer LW a raise, after all). But it's safe to assume that it's a risk, so the point stands, true.

I would err on the side of not feeling obliged to let any colleagues know your plans. (Keep in mind I screwed this up at my last job; I trusted an colleague I believed to a friend, while forgetting the often-relearned lesson about ambitious white men. When it backfired I had a three day breakdown before I remembered I'd rather get backstabbed sometimes if the alternative is never trusting white men at work.)

So the goal is, don't tell colleagues, don't give out your current employer as a reference (and explain, if they ask, that your employers don't know you're looking--which is totally normal). Just keep it on the down low. Sometimes that means you'll be in the final round of a job search while simultaneously planning for the future at current job, and that's fine and normal; think how often your colleagues have done the same thing. Plan to give two weeks notice, plan not to leave things in chaos when you go, and then keep it secret.

Re: So I was thinking about this

[minoanmiss]

writes this all down to reference in the coming days

Thank you. :)