As a rule, you never, ever tell about your new job nor position, your boss could call your new future boss and you could lose the job.
When I left my previous employer, I told them exactly where I was going. The mentality at the previous employer had been changing (post-takeover), and the new company was founded by, and mostly consisted of people who came from the old employer and disliked the new direction. Everybody at the new employer knew what the old employer was like. If the old boss would have made such a call as you describe, the new boss would have seen right through that.
In the case of the resignation in the link, I suspect the programmer left on amicable terms, which is also a situation where you could tell the old employer where you're going.
As a rule, you never say "never ever" :-)
and say what?
"hey yeah that guy who worked for us until leaving of his own accord is total garbage, you don't want to hire him"?
they'd sound like an idiot doing that.
I have seen this happen to a colleague who tried to leave for a competitor. His manager at his current job found out, contacted their counterpart at the competitor and got the job offer rescinded. Needless to say, my colleague was extremely pissed off and ended up exiting to a non-competitor as soon as possible.
Also I used to work at a consultancy. The unwritten rule was that clients would not try to hire any of the consultants directly, especially if they had been seconded in to the client for an extended period. If a consultant applied for an advertised position, it wouldn't be blocked but would be frowned on and cause tension for the client with the consultancy (usually an increase in rates).
But that didn't stop it from happening in some of the largest companies in Silicon Valley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...
Also I used to work at a consultancy. The
unwritten rule was that clients would not
try to hire any of the consultants directly
Usually I think it's like, "if you hire one of our consultants you owe us $xx,xxx" or something.
While I am just about always pro-worker, I accept this as a necessity.
Otherwise consultants get "poached" non-stop, because they've basically already "auditioned" for the client and the client gets an extended amount of time to figure out which ones would be great to poach. Makes it just about impossible to run a consultancy otherwise.
Also, I've heard similar stories from people trying to move within the company to new department. Your old manager might be higher in the hierarchy and just might be an asshole.
"Hey Mike, I understand you are hiring Joe, though because of our good relationship, I'd like to tell you why exactly is Joe leaving. Well, we didn't want to cause an uproar in the company, but Joe caused this one issue that cost us $100M and his behavior was exceedingly erratic." Now mix in some typical subconscious behavior of Joe that anyone could notice in 10 minutes and build some story on top of it so that the new manager has it always in front of his eyes. That's how intelligent character assassination works these days. Many managers got to the position of power by using these "dark techniques" so they know how to do it properly without raising a suspicion.
Don't tell anyone where are you going. Don't put it on your LinkedIn until you are established there.
We usually have 1-3 months resignation period, so there is no resignation letter. The closest we have is a goodbye letter that goes out to all your co-workers. And this letter reminds me most of those.
The actual resignation is done in person with your manager. Of course you could do it over e-mail but I'd be willing to bet 99.99 out of 100 times your manager would schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with you if they received such a resignation.
In Britain, I'd print out and sign something like this:
Dear [Manager]
I wish to offer my resignation with effect from 14 June 2021.
I am obliged to give 3 months notice. Therefore, my last day of service will be 14 September 2021.
Yours sincerely
if the new manager believes him you can be let go in your probation period, and end up with no job.
I heard of this done once or twice through friends.
I'd still be on my toes with the new hire just to be sure, but I wouldn't fire them.
Everyone has a story. And the people seeking revenge aren't necessarily in the right.
If somebody’s made up their mind to leave, the best you can do is ensure it’s as amicable as possible, then a thorough exit interview to understand where you went wrong and try to fix those issues to course correct & retain others.
Spiteful incompetents, on the other hand, don't think that there are issues they should fix (the employee isn't a good fit); are afraid of exit interviews; and can be unprofessional enough to burn bridges and damage the company in order to damage the quitting employee.
Early in my career, I followed some coworkers to a new company. I was a couple months behind the others. The perception at the old company was that everyone was poached by one of these coworkers. They got a cease and desist letter from the old company lawyers. I told people then but wished I hadn't. Everything turned out fine for me in the end though.
The next job change I had, I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I was a little scared from the last experience. Many people asked, and I politely told them I would share after I'm settled in. It was a cross country move and I didn't feel that there was any benefit to sharing where I was going ahead of time. The work environment I left was a little dysfunctional at times, and I didn't want to take any chances of someone sabotaging me or creating extra noise or rumors.
Then in my last job change, I had built good working relationships and felt comfortable sharing, so I shared freely.
I actually got hung up on the typo more than naming the new company.
I do think this letter had an unusual and somewhat refreshing honesty.
No blame or shame in there, just an expression of desire to do software. Fair enough.
It was frustrating. I often wanted to say good things. After leaving that company, one of the first things I did, was give a bunch of good LinkedIn testimonials.
I generally avoided badmouthing people. For one thing, there were only a couple of folks that left my team under actual unpleasant circumstances, and I feel that everyone deserves a second chance. Often, the most valuable employee, is one that has learned hard lessons.
I have also found, personally, that seeing the worst of my fellow [wo]man puts me into a rather miserable personal space, so I try to avoid that.
Also, when contacted, it was usually long after I had last dealt with them, so I felt that what I had to say would be well out of date. If I didn’t have anything good to say, I’d be very vague. That could speak for itself, but that’s the worst I would do.
This is very common. Many companies will also add if eligible for rehire. The last one is a safe way to convey if the employee was fired for something illegal.