#84 from R&D Innovator Volume 3, Number 2          February 1994

There’s a Problem in Searching for a Better Job
by Harvey Gittler

Mr. Gittler of Oberlin, Ohio, has been writing and lecturing on management since he retired a few years ago as a manufacturing executive.

I've done it.  Maybe you've done it.  Thousands of people have done it--called in sick as an excuse to attend a job interview without tipping off the present employer. 

However much employees like looking for a better job, management considers searching for a job an act of disloyalty.  Heaven forbid that your employer should learn that you are searching for something better.

Perhaps you weren't actively looking for a job, but were contacted by a recruiter or a friend who knew about something that might interest you.  If this is the case, why shouldn't you check into the position before rejecting it?

For that matter, exactly what crime are you committing?  I can think of dozens of reasons to look for a new job:  salary, promotion, location, opportunity, stagnation, challenge.  The possible list is long--and not one crime is on it.

Yet the search must be conducted covertly.  And it can get nasty if the interviewing company asks the candidate about contacting the present employer.  I was once asked this--by a company that had promised “Strict confidentiality assured” in its advertisement!

I told them no, and they actually wanted to know why not!

The whole rigamarole a person must endure to find another job while working is a sham and a disgrace.  Too often, the major objective becomes keeping the act secret from the present employer, rather than finding the best new job for one's talents and requirements.

Satisfying Career Goals

Let's approach this question from a different direction.  Can any one company satisfy the career goals of all its employees?  No.  Then why should it pretend to?  Out of habit--and a misguided quest for loyalty.

If we accept this simple premise, then an employee's annual review should discuss the person's career.  If the present company cannot satisfy them, why not discuss a job change?  Or suggest that if the employee wants to look around, they needn't call in sick; they can level about going for a job interview.

(Unless you're trying to nudge somebody to leave, this should be put in positive, friendly terms.  Otherwise, you could easily make somebody feel distinctly unwanted.) 

This can sound like encouraging disloyalty, but it can work to a company's advantage.  A request for time to interview can alert the supervisor to ask why the person wants to move, why he or she is unhappy now, and how these conditions can be changed.

If changes can be made, a valued employee may stay on.  Otherwise, at least all the cards are out on the table. 

Career Development Before Company Loyalty

Once, when I asked an employee why he was going for an interview, he replied, very simply, "Look, you've held your job for two years.  I think I'm ready for a similar position, but I'm not going to get it here—unless you're planning to die soon."

I had no such plans—and no good answer.

Of course I could have told him how valuable he was to the company, that he was at the low end of his pay scale, that he would be getting substantial raises over the next few years (although I couldn't guarantee this), and the company and I would hate to lose him—which was true.

Good--but not good enough--I could not give him an answer that would satisfy his career objectives, so I told him to go ahead and look, even to use my name as a reference.  (In most management circles, this would have gotten me the opportunity to stand, blindfolded, smoking one last cigarette, before a firing squad.) 

I knew, as well as he did, that this man was genuinely ready for the next step, and in only a few months he had the job he wanted.  In retrospect, I did the right thing for that man and for my company.  He left with only the highest praise for us.

At the risk of repeating myself, let me stress that there is no logical reason for a company to force its employees to sneak around while they look for another job.  They are not being disloyal; they're not shirking responsibilities. They are not having clandestine affairs when they search for a new job.  They do not have leprosy. 

They are, in fact, doing what all employees should do—stretching themselves to the limits of their capacities. 

In short, shouldn't management treat job-searching as a fact of life?

I think employees are entitled to maximize gain for themselves, without going underground?  Get out of the closet. 

When it comes to employees changing jobs, industry could use a little glasnost.