Leaving to work for client I rep helpLet me preface this by stating I am not under a non-competeclause and the clients have never entered into any agreement preventingthem from hiring from us. Through my work at a marketing firm; one of the clients I currently represent has extended a job offer to me to work directly for them. This was due to a combination of their delicate probing and me following up on the opportunity. However ... Where I currently work, they take issue with clients hiring away their talented people. They will often call up the client ranting and raving about how they are for taking their employees away and subsequently it could hurt the business. Realistically they are just expressing their displeasure because the business model is comission based and they would never jeopardize their income. Nonetheless, they have on occasion managed to strong arm clients trying to hire from our company by calling up the SVP' s involved and basically convincing them that the "bad blood" jeopardizes the relationship and getting the offer rescinded. This leaves the potential employee in a very precarious situation - not to mention pulls the rug out from under them on a possible doubling of salary, etc.... goals not obtainable by staying within the organization. That being said - that situation where they squash the deal happens rarely. Most of the time it is just strong words and then move on and make it work the best way possible because at the end of the day it' s business as usual. Compounding this is the fact that in recent times there has been a significant exodus of people at my company leaving to go work directly for the manufacturers; making them very sensitive to it right now. Additionally my boss in particular seems to take these events very personally. All that being said, I have an amazing opportunity infront of me that would take me many years to achieve else where. +100% salary increase, leadership role, amazing exposure, equity in the company, etc. and I really want to move forward with it and make it happen. Through the interview process I told the client that all details would kept between us until I accepted the offer; at which time we would let my current employer know and weather the imminent backlash. My question now is - what is the best way to go about letting my current employer know I am resigning to go work for a client? I am thinking.... I speak with my boss and let him know I pursued an opening and what a tremendous opportunity it was for me. My hope is that this will mitigate his desire to try and squash the deal and also soften the verbal blow and pressure that will ultimately come out on the client. Likewise, I think the client would need to call him after that out of curtesy but I need to get a reassurance from them they won' t bend or break under pressure. If they do, my great opportunity and my current job could both go down in flames! If your in marketing or sales, I have seen the person leaving after they told the supervisor. By most at -will states, you owe your employer nothing. Professionally it is good to give them the most two weeks. Most employers don' t give references anyways. The minute he acts like a jerk, leave. Have the letter of resignation, it his call. You have your bases covered with new employer. Take all your personal stuff out to the car, before telling. Your current employer is being incredibly short-sighted. Granted, it' s a bummer to lose talented employees to clients, but it' s also a way to maintain and strengthen business relationships. And it is unprofessional, to say the least, for your employer to try to bully or strong-arm clients out of recruiting talented people. It' s amazing your company has any clients at all. I suggest you wait until you have accepted the offer from new employer, give 2 weeks notice and spare everyone a lot of drama by not mentioning where you' re going to be employed. If that' s not possible, focus on damage control. Tell your new employer to expect some flak from your current company and apologize profusely for it. Then meet with your current boss, give 2 weeks notice and tell him about your fabulous new job and that you look forward to an ongoing business relationship with him. Thanks for your comments. My current company is the largest of a handful of companys that provide the services that they do. Basically, in order for our clients to be successful in todays environment they have to work with us or our major competitor. We are able to leverage our portfolio to accomplish objectives in the marketplace that the clients would not be able to do on their own. It's because of this that a client won't up and leave per say if they get flack from our management for taking some of our people. They need us. Infact, I was just recently else where in my building where I over heard my boss laying into a visiting client rep about an employee they had hired away from us. Some of his choice comments were "we're being picked off left and right", "this is supposed to be a positive relationship between us!" , " a lot of blood sweat and tears went into developing him!", "it rubs me the wrong way and it really ticks me off", and "it goes sideways up my you know what". This is going to be challenging for me to maneuver, but I agree with your recommendation. You say, "They need us." Well, maybe. You' ve already pointed out that there are other firms in your field that provide the same, or similar services. So, what your company seems to have forgotten is that it needs them! Companies get in trouble when they forget that without clients, they have no business.... In any event, keep things as quiet as possible, and when you give your 2 weeks' notice, don' t volunteer where you' re going. Of course, it' ll get out eventually, but deal with it as best you can. It seems to me that your current firm needs to take a good hard look at why people are leaving en masse (certainly, if earnings are all, or mostly, commission based, that would explain a lot of it), rather than badmouthing the client companies who are "stealing" the talent. | |
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