We recently published a blog post that dealt with the right way to resign from your job. That blog post also made reference to some things that you should NOT do when you resign from your current employer after accepting an offer of employment from another company.

And it’s one of those things that we’re going to address in this particular blog post.

The reason that we’re addressing it separately is because of its severity. In other words, it’s important that you avoid this career faux pas. Unfortunately, there are some professionals in the employment marketplace who have not been able to do so. As a result, they have branded themselves in a negative way, to the point where they may be viewed in a poor light by others in the future.

So what exactly is this professional faux pas?

Let’s say that a person in the Information Technology or Engineering field conducts a job search while they are employed. Then that person interviews with another employer. As a result of that interview, the candidate receives an offer of employment from the company.

So what does the person do? They give notice at their current employer, correct? After all, wouldn’t that be the right thing to do?

Yes, but sadly, that is not what happens in this scenario. Instead, the person promptly tells their boss that they have an offer from another company.

And why do they do this? Because they know we’re in a candidate-driven market. They know that qualified candidates and employees are scarce. So in this situation, they have not decided that they’re going to leave their current employer. They have not decided if they’re going to accept this offer from another employer, either.

Instead, they’ve decided to try to use this new offer to get more money out of their current employer. After all, they didn’t give their two-week notice to their boss. They simply told their boss that they received an offer from another company. So what’s the motivation for doing that?

It’s really quite simple. The person is hoping that their boss will believe they can’t let the person leave the company because they’re too valuable. And because of that, they also hope their boss will offer them more money in an effort to keep them. Basically, they’re hoping their boss will make a counter-offer to them.

In other words, they’re using an offer of employment from another company to try to force their boss’s hand and compel them to make a counter-offer.

Do NOT use another job offer to do this to your current employer. Either it’s going to back-fire, or it’s going to create a situation that you should be trying to avoid in the first place.

The Doepker Group has experience placing professionals in the Information Technology and Engineering fields, and we can place you, as well.

We invite you to search through our open positions. You can start the process by creating a profile and submitting your resume.