Current JobI am currently employed in a job in one state, but my husband and I have decided to relocate to a different state and we are both job seeking. When I send my resume and cover letter, I have a question about something. I've been putting in my cover letter that I would prefer my current employer not be contacted as I have not yet told them of our intention to leave. We are going to the new state for a week in hopes of interviewing and my intention is to tell my current employer when we return that we will be leaving. How should I put this in my cover letter? The only reason I don't want to say anything right now is, because if something should happen to prevent our move at this time, I don't want to lose my job. Does anyone have any suggestions? Hi - No advice unfortunately, as I am in a similar position. However, I am curious, what did you do to get an interview with an out of state address on your resume? I have been considering getting a PO box in my state of choice to put on my resume so I don' t look like I live so far away, but of course I would never be immediately available for interviews either and I am afraid that would leave a bad impression. So I am just wondering what your steps were for getting to the stage it sounds like you are at with getting a job prior to your move. Well, first of all, we are planning a move and relocating to Florida from Tennessee. We' ve been here for five years....moved from Tampa to open our own business, which was successful but we just sold it because we miss our sunshine and Buccaneers! I put our old Tampa Address in and always, always put a cover letter with everything, explaining that we are currently living in Tennessee and will be relocating to Florida in the next month or so. I tell them that we' re coming down for a week (we' re leaving the 17th of March) and hopefully would like to have an interview with them during that week. At least that gives them the option to call me if they do want to interview. I do have a couple of interviews set up, but I started doing this in January. Of course, with 3 months before I could get there made it difficult because so many people want to fill their positions as soon as possible. I' ve faxed what seems like a zillion resumes and tried to follow up with phone calls, but it' s difficult. I guess when we get there, I' ll pull out the Sunday paper and see what' s available, go to some of the places and hope they understand my situation. The one job I really, really want is posted and I applied but unfortunately, they don' t take phone calls so I can' t do the follow up. And if they call me when I' m not in Florida I don' t know what I' ll do. Maybe try to find a cheap flight and get there for the interview somehow! Good luck.....but I really need to know what to do about the cover letter. You shouldn' t be putting anything about contacting your employer in a cover letter. There is a small chance that they could before they speak to you but it is very small. When you fill out an application they usually ask if it is ok to contact your current employer. You can just check no and if they ask about it in an interview, explain that they don' t know you' re looking yet (then leave it at that). Thanks for the info. I just have this fear that I' ll work into work here one day and my boss will call me into her office and want to know why she got a phone call from so and so. I guess the proper thing to do would be just tell her that we' re planning on moving, but if something should happen to prevent our move, I' d be without a job, or at least I think I would. I suppose I could always tell her that we had a change of plans and see what happens. Anyway, thanks for the info. I' ve sent out what seems like hundreds of resumes and cover letters and now I have to hope that what I put doesn' t ruin my chances. Well, if that actually happened and your boss did ind out you were looking into moving to another states, is that really a fire-able offense? If she/he has some concerns regarding your job performance I would think that your record should do the talking for you. If you were always a reliable and efficient employee then your boss should have no reason to doubt that you will keep being a reliable and efficient employee while you are searching for another position. And, it isn' t like you are going to walk out of work one Friday without saying goodbye and then just not show up on Monday. I am sure that you are going to tell the boss and your co-workers that you are moving and give them plenty of time to 1. let it sink in, 2. hire someone to take your place and 3. throw you a party. I think in the cover letter I would have simply stated that you are going to be relocating and you are in the process of looking for a new position. I wouldn' t say anything about not contacting your employer yet. I agree that nothing should be said. Any time you start a job search you run the risk of your current employer finding out. And looking for another job can certainly be grounds for dismissal. Maybe not directly, but if an employer knows an employee is going to be leaving, why wouldn't he start searching and hire a replacement as soon as possible? Let me preface this with letting you know that I am in a very disagreeable mood at the moment. It comes from spending the past hour and a half first trying to mollycoddle the un-mollycoddle-able and then sequel into my trying very hard not to let their attitude of ' I don' t care what you say, it will be done this way and no other" and finally culminated into my losing it altogether and telling them that if they didn' t stop interrupting me I would be contacting their superiors. (That shut them up) (fast). So, if I sound harsh, I promise that it is not directed at you just my splitting head is about to explode. How can looking for another job be grounds for dismissal? I am really curious as I have never heard of this before. I am well aware of "at-will" employment, however even bosses in those jobs should be willing to sit down and discuss the reasons for the employee to be seeking another position. After all, it could be nothing more than curiosity on the part of the employee. She might be a faithful employee and one who is very happy in her job but wants to try to better her company. I know quite often in my sister' s job, the uppity-ups send out memos asking for ways to "improve the company" and if those improvements prove to be good, there are bonuses handed out to the employee who made the suggestion. The best way to compile data on, for example, human resource techniques, may be for the employee to set up and go on interviews. In this way, she can make notes and then write up a proposal for the improvements. The individuals boss should gather the facts before jumping to her own conclusions. I realize that this is not the case for the original poster, and I am getting away from her question, but I am really curious to know why the mere act of answering an advertisement and going to a job interview is grounds for termination. | |
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