contract with one months notice

Gongoozler

I've recently started a position and i read in my contract that i must give one month notice of leaving. As this would obviously be a very difficult thing to do for most positions, im wondering what would be standard if you were to give less notice. I mean does it mean you dont get paid for your last months work, or what do they do? Not paying you would seem against employment law, but how else could they ensure you giving one month notice? There's no one in there I can ask btw.

Kristopherus

A months notice is the minimum notice in the vast majority of contracts. Have a look the Citizens Information website.

Mrs OBumble

I'm curious why you think this would be very difficult to do?

That said, you asked for advice about consequences if you give less. AFAIK, they are very few - except that you get a bad reputation (remember that this is a very small country, really) and won't be likely to get a good reference.

Nody

And of course the company you're looking to join will get a wary feeling that if you're willing to cut your current notice short with your current job what's to stop you from doing the same to them...

Irish_Elect_Eng

I agree with Nody's point:

Several years ago the owner of a business that I worked with had been burned with paying for a relocation and having the person quit in a matter of weeks. So he always asked two questions at interviews:

(1) During the Interview: Are you working on any important projects for your current employer?

Most candidates would always have an example of how they are irreplaceable at their current employer :-)

(2) Near the end of the Interview: How much notice do you need to give?

Then Pause. That is a big problem I need the successful candidate to start next week.

• If the person said that was unfortunate and that they needed the time to finish up the project that they were working on...Or tried to find a solution, like starting on a couple of days a week while completing the project, or explained how they had trained their replacement in preparation for their job-search, it was a big big plus.
• IF they said that they would use holidays to shorten the notice, that was OK.
• But if he got any hint that they would leave their current employer in the lurch it was absolut

e deal breaker for him.

Gongoozler

Around half of jobs going are asking for immediate start or want you within a week, therefore a months notice is making things hard.
I would of course love to give as much notice as possible and def would help train up my replacement if it were possible. I have two good references so wouldnt worry too much there, plus they're not nice people so cant see myself getting a nice reference anyway.

Stheno

Gongoozler wrote: »

Around half of jobs going are asking for immediate start or want you within a week, therefore a months notice is making things hard.
I would of course love to give as much notice as possible and def would help train up my replacement if it were possible. I have two good references so wouldnt worry too much there, plus they're not nice people so cant see myself getting a nice reference anyway.

What sort of roles are these? I.e. what industry? I work in IT and have had notice periods of min. a month and up to three months in various roles.

It's pretty standard

Gongoozler

I've had plenty of jobs, and never had to give a month. The type would be admin / office stuff.

gowley

Gongoozler wrote: »

Around half of jobs going are asking for immediate start or want you within a week, therefore a months notice is making things hard.
I would of course love to give as much notice as possible and def would help train up my replacement if it were possible. I have two good references so wouldnt worry too much there, plus they're not nice people so cant see myself getting a nice reference anyway.

how do you know 50% of jobs available require a start within a week. most permanent jobs have a notice period for both the employer letting you go or the employee leaving. to state that half of jobs require a start within a week is rubbish.

Gongoozler

Its an estimate on the looking for jobs that Ive been doing the past year. Its my experience, so no its not rubbish.

gowley

Gongoozler wrote: »

Its an estimate on the looking for jobs that Ive been doing the past year. Its my experience, so no its not rubbish.

it may be an estimate of the jobs you have looked at. this could be any number. 10 or 5000. it is not an accurate figure on the overall jobs available . what kind of jobs are you applying for? if it is a particular industry it might help in advising whether contracts are the norm.

tatli_lokma

Gongoozler wrote: »

Around half of jobs going are asking for immediate start or want you within a week, therefore a months notice is making things hard.
I would of course love to give as much notice as possible and def would help train up my replacement if it were possible. I have two good references so wouldnt worry too much there, plus they're not nice people so cant see myself getting a nice reference anyway.

First off, many places would prefer if you can start within a week, but the vast majority of companies appreciate that in general a longer notice period is the norm. If a company hires you on a contract stating 1 months notice, then they are not going to have an issue with you giving your current employer 1 months notice. I would go even further to say that the majority of companies will allow for the necessary notice period when hiring a new recruit - if you need someone to start in August, you will start advertising in June, interviewing in late June/early July and be ready for your new starter in August. If a company is not doing this and needs you so quickly it is probably because their last employee left them in the lurch at short notice.

Secondly, how do you know the month's notice that is making it hard? have you been expressly told that the reason you are not being considered for the position is because you have to give one months notice? Unless you have been expressly told this, you have no way of knowing if your notice period is making any difference. For all you know, they just might have preferred another candidate. From experience an employer will wait a few weeks for the right candidate to start if at all possible. In fact I have even hired a temp for 2 weeks so accommodate the 'right' candidate. And as Irish_Elect_Eng giving the impression that you have a strong work ethic and a sense of responsibility to your employer goes a long way. If someone says to me I would love to start next week, but feel an obligation to my current employer to ensure that they have the full notice period, I would think much more of you as a candidate than someone else.

The only time a notice period applies is when I am desperate for someone to start, but even then I would not overlook a great candidate who has a months notice period, for a mediocre candidate who can start tomorrow.

Finally, having two references from elsewhere is great, but many places will want a reference from your current employer, so why burn bridges? At the very least if you are looking for another job, try to hold on to as much annual leave as possible, at least that way if you do need to start somewhere in 1 to 2 weeks you have something to negotiate with.

I still wonder however if OP is perhaps seeing obstacles where there are none and assigning blame to the notice period instead of something else during the interview.