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I'm superstitious. I have never left a job for another and had the next one
work out, so I simply don't anymore. I will quit and sit around doing
nothing while I look and find one, or I will ride it into the ground until
the current job eventually dies, but I don't quit one on Friday to go to the
next on Monday.
YMMV
The exception is if the current job has given me notice that on say, October
26th, it ends. In that case, they know you are going to be gone and having
to look for the next job is a necessity. If I have a phone interview, I go
away from the building preferably so that there is no mistake that I am not
on the clock anymore. I record time leaving and time coming back so that I
have only work hours accounted for. If I have to tell someone, like in a
small office where you are never away from your desk, or an in-person
interview where you are definitely going to be away from the building for a
long period of time, I tell them I have some business that needs to be done
and will be back in an hour, two, whatever. No one has ever objected. They
already know that business means job interview, so don't lie and say you
have an aunt's funeral or you have a dentist appointment.
Of course, I have had few in-person interviews while working in a current
job. I avoid them. They are frequently a waste of time. I have to drive an
hour there, wait a half hour as they are invariably late, the one hour
interview frequently goes 2 hours, and then I have an hour drive back. Most
are actually a way to see if you are black, white, Hispanic, old, young,
ugly, handicapped, etc. without having to ask those illegal questions. In
the long run, they usually have someone else in mind and those 4 or 5 hours
have just been thrown away.
----- Original Message -----
From: "DoughtyTechWriter Mordant" <doughtytechwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 8:18 PM
Subject: Cover Stories for Job-Hunting Absences
I'm about to start jobhunting in earnest. If there's any interest, I will
have to make some longer phone calls, have some Skype interviews, and
eventually make actual physical visits for interviews, so I will need to get
out of the office for a few hours now and then.
What kind of cover story have you offered in the past when you've been
job-hunting?
I was thinking of something like physical therapy or some protracted dental
torture, but these things would result in claims to my insurance. It might
seem odd if the claims never arise if I have to look for a long time.
Doughty, now reporting to someone I could have sired/given birth to, who has
no tech comm experience . . .
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