Or alternatively get them to commit to paying you for the period of time. "Gardening leave" of a couple of months is common in many areas, especially sales / marketing driven - but being compensated for it is expected.
Plus there's the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not you'll be able to find a job with comparable pay.
> Gardening leave means you still have a fully paid job
I'm thinking that people that can't afford to get paid their current salary for 6 months while not actually working for the company are in the minority, unless I'm missing some angle to this.
If you're in California, where you can leave your company and start working in the next one in a matter of hours, there'll likely be an expectation by the company hiring of a fast start.
At the same time, depending on the company, the hiring process can stretch for months before getting an actual offer.
I want to believe that most employers you'd like to work for are understanding that "life" might happen and you can't start two weeks from the moment you first met them.