How to secretly job hunt
Hi everyone!
OK, so here's my situation...I'm job hunting and don't want my current boss to know until I'm sure I have a solid job offer. A couple years ago I made the mistake of telling her that I was thinking of relocating to another state ...big mistake! I subsequently changed my mind and stayed with the company, but she hasn't treated me the same since. I've had co-workers comment that it seemes as if I could do no right and they could do no wrong. It felt as if she was punishing me for giving her a heads-up that there was a possibility that she may need to replace me. I truly was telling her just so that if I left, it wouldn't be a complete shock; at the time, we were starting to be fairly good friends, and I felt like I owed it to her.
We have butted heads for the past two years, until recently when I decided the only way to have any peace at work was to pretend to like her and be her friend...worked like a charm and things have been better, although not perfect. She still plays favorites, favoring my co-worker over me pretty blatantly, but whatever...
My question is this...I have an interview scheduled for next week at a different employer, and I learned my lesson the first time...no way am I telling her! So how would you handle this...call in sick? Make up an excuse for being off that day? Go ahead and fess up and take whatever she dishes out? I feel bad for lying to get that day off, but on the other hand I feel like she lost the right to be privy to that info when she retaliated the first time.
Sorry for the long post...any info, past experiences, advice, etc., is very appreciated!!
I tell people to keep their mouths SHUT regarding your job hunt. Use your cellphone as your main contact number. Set your cellphone to "vibrate" and when it rings, let it go into your voicemail and retrieve the message on your break or lunch. Do not even tell your best friend at work. Your best friend may leak this information to other co-workers in casual conversations and your secret will now spread like wildfire.
Use your vacation or personal time for these interviews. Always give sufficient notice when you need to take time off or you will further alienate your supervisor. There is no need to get into the details of why you need this day off. Just say you have to take care of some personal things. That is all the information your supervisor needs to know as it is YOUR accrued earned time off.
Don' t lie and call in sick because your supervisor will know you were not really sick if you showed up the day before. Sick time is for when you are really sick.
OC's advice is good, but I know there are times when you can't give much advance notice.
While it may be awkward, you may just have to say "I have some personal business to take care of tomorrow morning so I will be in around 10:00. I'll make up the time" and leave it at that.
Have a plumbing emergency. Nobody will ask you for more information about that.
I' m in the same situation and I have always believed in keeping the job search secret.
I use my cell phone for my main contact number and if I need to talk to a potential employer to set up an interview then I shut the door to my office for privacy. If I really want to keep it private I just walk outside the building and talk outside.
If you have a phone interview I would never suggest doing them while in the office. There' s too many distractions and you won' t be focused. Do phone interviews either at home or somewhere else quiet and where you can be focused. Heck, I' ve even done phone interviews in my car before.
As far as scheduling time for face-to-face interviews it seems as if you don' t have a lot of flexibility to leave the job. In this case I would suggest doing them during your lunch hour or first thing in the morning. Tell your boss that you have to be in late and you' ll make up the time. Some employers will even meet with you after hours if they know you can' t meet during the day. It' s always good to ask them how late they can meet with you.
The best plumbing excuse is "I have a slab leak and they are busting up my kitchen floor foundation today to fix it."
That takes all day - trust me.
But if you tell them you are having repairs done, be prepared for the inevitable "How's your kitchen?" pop quiz.
I had a coworker stay he needed the day off since his grandmother had just died. This raised some eyebrows since he was nearly 50. That, and he left his headhunter's business card lying face up on his desk (we were all working at his desk the day before.) I wonder how many grandmothers he's lost in the course of his career.
Typically if I have a last minute interview, I just say I won't be in that day. If they ask, I say that if I don't take some time off I will go crazy. Nobody gives me a hassle after that.
I don't have a cell phone since reception is so poor here. I do have voice mail at home so I can check that while at work with no problems.
I guess I am somewhat lucky because no one ever questions why people in the office take vacation or sick leave. People use sick just to take the day off etc.
There are many people in my department that are jumping ship because of problems in the upper management. A number of people in my department know I am looking and actually let me know if they have seen anything that might interest me. This includes my supervisor (who is also looking).
Emergency root canal is one good excuse. Plus, it gives you an opening to take a morning or afternoon off 7-10 days later if you get invited to a 2nd interview because that' s when they usually take out the temporary filling and put in the permanent one.
If you have the kind of boss that does not let you come in late, leave early, or take time off on short notice unless your life is in danger (I had a boss like that once), you may have to take a sick day. Just make sure you claim an illness that can really develop overnight because if you were ok the day before, your boss will know you are lying. Food poisoning is one excuse I' ve used.
Also, you should try to see if the interviewer may be willing to meet with you before or after business hours, or even during lunch. Sometimes they will do that to accommodate a working candidate. If you work at a casual place and need to dress formally for a lunch or after work interview, and if someone questions you about coming to work dressed up, just say that you are going to a social function after work.
I know from experience how difficult it can be to job hunt with a boss that doesn' t like you. I used to have to lie my @ss off whenever I needed to take personal time, while another co-worker could stroll in at noon without even calling to say he was running late. In the mean time, the boss would have no idea where he was and be ok with it. When the guy came in, he' d throw some flimsy excuse like "car trouble" or "took the cat to the vet" in the manager' s direction and walk straight to his desk without even apologizing. The manager, who was a major SOB with the rest of us, just nodded like it was nothing. If I did that, I' d be fired on the spot. I don' t know, maybe that guy had a picture of the boss with a goat or something.
My point is, I' ve been in your situation and know what you are going through. The important thing to remember is that you won' t be there for much longer, but you need to last until you' ve secured an offer. So, don' t tell anyone you are looking, not even if someone confides in you that they are looking too. Don' t give out your work e-mail/phone number to prospective employers (believe it or not, some people do that). Use your breaks or lunch hour to check messages and return calls. Don' t look at job ads at work because employers can see what sites you go to. Also, don' t log on to sites like monster or your personal e-mail account at work because your employer will then have access to your log in information and can check your accounts if they want to (granted, most people are not that sleazy, but you never know). Take care not to leave job search related information on your desk or store it on your work computer. Make sure to let the interviewers know that your current employer is not to be contacted until after the offer. When you are ready to leave, try to leave on good terms. It may be tempting to loudly declare "So long, suckers!", or another word that rhymes with "suckers", and give your boss a one finger salute on your way to the door. Fight the temptation.