I’m waiting for my year-end bonus, then I’m hightailing it out of my company. I’m worried that it’s going to look bad, though. How long should I wait before resigning so that it isn’t obvious that I was just hanging in there for the money?
So nice of you to be concerned about hurting your employer’s feelings, but here’s a little secret — resignations tend to tick up right after bonuses are paid, so most employers have figured out by now to expect that a certain percentage of employees are just hanging in until the check clears. If your head is already elsewhere and one foot is too, do yourself and your current employer a favor — let them move on to finding a replacement and investing time in them and not you. When it’s over, it’s over.
I’m a December graduate and about to start looking for work. Is it an advantage or disadvantage to be looking for a job in January instead of June, when most companies are hiring recent grads? On the one hand, although I think there might be less opportunities at this time of year, there are more people looking for entry level jobs, in the summer, so the competition is greater. What to do?
Your formal education may have ended but, like other graduates, you still have so much to learn, little grasshopper. Employers hire year-round, and those that have programs for recent graduates that start in June made many of those hiring decisions a year ago, or at least during the fall semester. You can’t time when the right job is going to become available or predict it. Just start the search whenever you’re ready to pounce on a great opportunity when it becomes available. Don’t worry about the competition. No matter what time of year, you can’t do anything about that — only how you prepare and show up.
Gregory Giangrande has over 25 years of experience as a chief human resources executive. Hear Greg Weds. at 9:35 a.m. on iHeartRadio 710 WOR with Len Berman and Michael Riedel. E-mail: GoToGreg@NYPost.com. Follow: GoToGreg.com and on
Twitter: @GregGiangrande