Today I am going to get away from helping you get a new position, but to address a growing phenomenon. People are leaving their current position before getting a signed job offer for a new firm, or taking time off before looking for a new position.
I cannot be clearer about this. DON’T! There seems to be a trend that is occurring where the candidates are relying upon a verbal offer, or a promise of a job offer. I am not saying that the hiring managers are not meaning well when they tell a candidate they are going to get them hired. It appears that these subject to responses are growing and carrying more weight now than ever before. And candidates are relying on the first part of the statement, and ignoring to their detriment the subject to – portion of the hiring managers statement. I want to be very clear about this. In most cases, the firms are not misrepresenting themselves, but sometimes the candidates are hearing what they want to hear, and acting accordingly. Especially when they are not using a recruiter. Please be aware of this when making a decision to leave your current position.
For example, I came back from vacation and a candidate that had been talking to me about their discontent decided to quit over the holidays with the hope that we will get him a new position right after the first of the year. Another situation was that a candidate was days from submitting his resignation on the belief that he was getting hired, the job offer was not forthcoming in one case, and in the other we had no immediate firm interested in the candidate that just started talking to us. The first case the candidate never resigned and has moved on with their current firm, but in the second case the individual is out of a job, and hoping to get one soon. Getting a position in investment banking is difficult enough if you are employed, but if you are out of a job trying to get back with another firm it is extremely difficult mountain to climb. On a positive note a good friend of mine after being out of work for almost nine months just climbed that mountain! So you can see it’s not insurmountable, but a position you do not want to find yourself in, if you can avoid it.
About Harlan Friedman, JD., Founding Member, H. Friedman Search LLC. Harlan is a thirty year veteran Public Finance banker turned recruiter who specializes in the placement of all level Investment Bankers, Merchant Bankers & Municipal Financial Advisors. He can be reached at [email protected] or directly at 760-477-1284.