Looking to switch jobs from one company to another, and I’ve got a vacation trip coming up in September that I’ve had booked and paid for for six months ($500 if that matters to the narrative). Already approved by the place I work for now.
Any advice on when to bring this up through the interview process (starting tomorrow)?
{knock on wood} the position sounds pretty promising (the company hasn’t even posted the job yet – I was invited to come interview by a good friend that I worked with “in a past life”).
It sure seems like an awfully pompous move to bring it up in the first interview (“hey you all are great, and I’d love to come work here but oh by the way this vacation thing…”). And it seems like a total dick move to get hired, then on Day 1 mention “oh by the way this vacation thing…”).
Is there a “sweet spot” within the interview process to bring it up? Any input on how you’ve handled this in the past (either as a interview-er or as an interview-ee)?
At the end of the day for this potential move, I’d forfeit the vacation and not give it a second thought but it would sure be nice to get the cake and eat it too.
You shouldn’t mention it until they make an offer. It take a while for someone to get into the groove in their new work environment so taking a week off without pay shouldn’t be a big problem.
They’re presumably hiring you because they want you to work there for years, right? Two weeks isn’t going to mean much.
I had a vacation scheduled before I took the job I’m in now. When we were to the point of talking about offers & salary, I brought it up, and it wasn’t a big deal. They’re way more concerned that they want to hire the right person than that you might have vacation plans (presumably anyone they hire is could have vacation plans at some point - it’s not going to change the decision if they want you.)
My brother mentioned it when the interviewer asked “when can you start?” “Well, I’m going to China for the first half of August, but since Europe in general shuts down July and August I hope that won’t be a problem. If it is, my apologies and best wishes on your search.” It wasn’t, he’s been at that job for over 10 years now.
I agree with Odesio. When I started my last job I told them I needed two days off to be on Jeopardy. No problem. (One day to travel, one day to appear.)
I have a friend who hasn’t had a job in 3 years because no job in his industry is willing to accommodate the literal 6 separate weeks of vacations he has planned every single year which he is completely unwilling to budge on. Every interview also ends when he asks about preexisting vacation policy.
Ridiculous. Most of us work to live, not live to work.
This, on the other hand, is too entitled.
To the OP, I agree with those who suggest bringing it up between offer and acceptance.
When I applied for my first proper job 12 years ago (in the UK, so more relaxed vacation policies in general) I explained between offer and acceptance that I had week-long trips planned in both February and March of the following year (I was competing in 2 separate croquet world championships, so it wasn’t like I could change them). They said that wasn’t ideal since it was their busiest time of year. I said (with the arrogance of youth) that I understood it wasn’t convenient, but I had paid for flights etc and was going anyway, so it was up to them if they wished to hire me on that basis. Luckily they took a risk and agreed, and I’m still with the company 12 years on.
You don’t even have to offer to take it off without pay. Unless you’re some sort of superstar they’re probably not going to pay you for taking a vacation that early in your tenure with them. Unless they load your time off up front you’re probably not going to have enough PTO/vacation time to leave work for a week. But if you have a more senior position you may be able to negotiate a paid vacation that early.
Most of the time when we find out a new employee has a vacation already planned after they’re start date with us we let them have it. There are some rare cases where the department has great need of this person’s skills ASAP and they might not be able to accommodate them. I’ve had a handful of hiring managers ask if a new hire could skip new orientation because they wanted the employee to jump right into work. But, lol, no. They need to be in orientation.
It is very important that employees are engaged. They should understand the company’s mission, care about it, and understand how their job helps their department achieve its mission and contributes to the company’s mission. You know what helps keep employees engaged? Treating them like human beings with more going on in their lives than work. I am very fortunate in that I work for a company that treats its employees with respect. And because of this we have a very high rate of engagement. It’s just plain good for business as a high engagement leads to less turnover.
Three years ago I had something similar. I actually brought it up in the first and only interview when they asked about leadership positions. I was chaperoning a group of high schoolers across the country so I felt it was a good time.
I guess it will depend on how badly you want this particular job. I agree with the other posters, however, bring it up during the offer discussions. I had the exact same thing happen to me with my current job. It was fortunately, only one week. It was a one year temporary job and that was when I brought it up. It wasn’t any problem at all. Oh, and the one year term? I’m still there, 10 years later!
I just hired an associate who had a three-week trip scheduled about two months after her projected start date. She mentioned it near the end of the initial interview with me and the other partner in our workgroup, which turned out to be the only interview because we had decided to make her an offer before it was over. I very much appreciated that she told me up front; it made no difference to our salary offer.
I would probably write off a candidate who hadn’t told me up front.
With an attitude like that, I’m fairly confident he won’t make it to management.
When my wife started her current job, she had a 2-ish week vacation planned and was looking to delay her start date until after that. They insisted that she start at the earliest date and take her vacation when it was planned and it wasn’t that big a deal.