ALT-16 Deciding whether to Give two Weeks Notice or not
To give or not to give two weeks notice. Depending on how you feel about your current job you might be feeling generous and want to give them two weeks notice or you might want to stick it to them by telling them you are leaving the day you are walking out the door for the last time. But put aside your feelings and do the right thing. Put in at least two weeks notice before leaving your job.
When you get a new job one of the hardest things can be letting your current company know that you are leaving. While you might be excited for your new job you probably are not as excited about notifying your current company about what is going on. You might feel bad for leaving your current job or you might not want to get into a conversation about why you are leaving. But whatever the case may be you have to let them know. Part of being a responsible adult is owning up to the decisions you have made. You decided to look for a new job, you got one, now you have to be respectful to your current employer, regardless of how you feel about them.
Here is a warning if you are thinking about taking the route of not giving a two weeks notice ... many companies have it in their policy that you must give two weeks notice. In fact you probably signed an agreement when you took your job stating that you would give at least two weeks notice. Make sure to check your company policy because some companies require even more than two weeks notice. If you violate the notice policy many companies reserve the right to penalize you financially. No one wants that. It is better to have an uncomfortable conversation with your boss then loose money out of your paycheck.
If your company does not have a leave policy it is still better to give at least two weeks notice. It is courteous and gives the company time to adjust to you leaving. They might want you to help train someone else to do your job enabling the transition from you leaving to someone else taking over to go smoother. But even if they do not need you to train or assist, giving notice will leave a positive impression on your boss, who your future employers might one day contact for references. You do not want to leave on a bad note with your boss bitter and angry that you came in one day and then did not come back the next leaving them scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. As much as it might pain you to give two weeks notice, take the high road and do it.
