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Comment by bjornlouser | Hacker News Reader

Don't give notice yet. Instead, take a week of vacation and start the new job during that week. Make your official decision during afternoon tea on Sunday.

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I'm pretty sure there's issues with holding two jobs at the same time. Have you done this? And do you just rely on people not finding out?

I had two full time jobs for eight months. The only issue was no leisure time

Depends on the country. Here your notice time would be 1 month, so you can't just start "trying out" another full-time job during a holiday.

Edit: mistake in duration

I've done this a number of times, last time 9 months.

Going on vacation for a week and starting a new job is very difficult to time. You come back give two weeks and have to work really hard transfering knowledge just when you need to be learning everything new job related.

This is very unprofessional and a great way to burn your bridges.

Not all bridges have equal value.

To an employer, the employee's track record provides insight on the behavior they can expect from him.

Your track record is what you present. No one is asking for W2s or tax transcripts. There is no central repository you can call upon for employment history (besides the hot garbage that is Equifax's The Work Number; you have frozen your Work Number profile if your employer reports data to them, right?)

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/11/how-to-opt-out-of-equifa... (KrebsOnSecurity: How to Opt Out of Equifax Revealing Your Salary History)

Putting aside the ethical questions of this approach, I've not been able to determine how good a job will be within the first week. It usually takes me a couple months.

I can't think of a company that would not fire a new hire who was still working at his/her previous employer.

Nor can I think of a company that would agree up front to let a new hire do this. Why would you hire people who screw over their employers? They might do the same to you one day when they have decided to leave.

This is a great way to start out with two jobs and end up with zero.

And do what? Just quit your old job on the spot?

Of course not. You tell the old job that you have a personal crisis and that you would love to stay on as a part-time remote consultant...

No offense, but that approach would make me not want to hire someone like that or work with someone like that. It may appear that you’re pulling one over on your previous employer, but if anything, that is probably a blessing for them to no longer have someone that operates in a shady fashion like that employed by them.

Edit: The undesirable behavior was in reference to the lying about a personal crisis. I personally believe in transparency and wouldn’t attempt to capitalize on an employer’s sympathy by lying to them.

It might be doable without telling your new employer at all.

I wouldn't lie about a crisis, but it's business. It's not unheard of to take a better offer and offer to work as a consultant at the previous employer.

The lying about the crisis is the part that I was referencing was shady. Working as a consultant for a previous employer is completely acceptable and provides mutual benefit.

Crisis story can be looked at as advertising or setting the table. You leave your old company with a reason and everyone feels better. Your image is safe and your backstory.

If anyone feels like this is dishonest what do you tell your new employer about why you are truly leaving the old position. Do you tell them the owner was rude and you told him off or do you say you left because of a bad personality fit? You are not lying but perhaps a little dishonest. You can have a personal crisis and that could be the new job.

> Crisis story can be looked at as advertising or setting the table.

I'm sorry, it's simply bald-faced lying. If I found out any of my hires had done this, I'd fire them.

> what do you tell your new employer about why you are truly leaving the old position.

I rarely need to tell them anything, but if they ask, I say "I'm seeking new challenges". It's not a lie, and it avoids potentially bad-mouthing prior employers. But I'll be honest here -- it's only happened twice in my career that I left a job because of something bad about the job.

Seeking new challenges is not being honest either. But it makes you see the person in a different light compared to the other more accurate version. That's what is happening with the personal crisis story.

Would you fire that same person if you discover a year later new challenges meant hated old boss and told them off?

Just curious are the positions you manage that easy to fill that you can fire at random?

If someone I knew was fired for that reason a lawsuit would be very likely. The manager would be let go after they lost cost the company so much money. I'm not in the US so I understand the rules might be different but usually you can't fire someone because they broke your personal moral code.

That's pretty much the same as quitting without notice, not to mention lying.

Yeah this is quite difficult to do legally in the U.K. for tax reasons. Fun idea, but very impractical.

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