How do I secure an interview with another company during the day, when I have no vacation time at my current job?

Question

I've seen this slightly answered here but I the circumstances are different. I'm not a part time college student, but a full time employee of three years.

I don't have any vacation time left for the year, I have 10 sick/vacation days in total this year, and what I haven't used is earmarked for my honeymoon. I will already go my vacation days, and I will be taking unpaid time for the trip. (2 days off for house emergencies, the trip will be a total of 10 days, leaving 2 unpaid).

My boss has already told me that it looks bad that I'm taking unpaid time, and any additional unpaid time will go against my performance review. The rationale being, I was given X number of days, and if I can't manage to stay inside of that, then I'm unreliable.

The honeymoon is in a couple of months, but I'm currently looking at jobs now. If I have to take a day off, it could be paid, but it will add to the total number of unpaid days I end up taking.

My fear is I interview, and for some reason I'm not a fit for the new company, I'm digging myself into a hole at the job I currently have.

I also am opposed to lying to a current employer, so I don't want to fabricate reasons for taking time off.

Thanks,

edit: So this is all pretty legit advice, I'm hard pressed to pick a right answer, since they're all useful.

Answer 1

You are essentially in a Catch 22: You need to get a new job, but any time you take will ultimately result in having to take time unpaid.

You have limited options:

• Set up the interview and deal with the possibility of losing pay (not like you care if it looks bad, you're leaving)
• Try to get an interview really early or really late, giving yourself enough time to get from one place to the other without being late to the interview (again, I would be more interested in keeping the prospective employer happy than the current one)
• Try to set up a remote video interview that you can do on your lunch hour; this obviously works best if you work close to home
• Wait until you get more vacation time to start the job search

In any situation, you are likely to make things a little worse at your current place of employment, so tread carefully. It does not sound like you want to get fired. Best case scenario: You start a new job before your honeymoon. It is not always ideal to have to take two weeks vacation right after starting a position, but most reasonable employers will understand that something like a honeymoon was clearly booked far in advance. Just make sure that the prospective employer is made aware of it before accepting any potential offer.

As a side note, any employer that tells you having to take time off looks bad is probably not someone anyone wants to work for.

Answer 2

My fear is I interview, and for some reason I'm not a fit for the new company, I'm digging myself into a hole at the job I currently have.

You should never plan on just interviewing with one company. If you're serious about leaving (and I personally think you should be; 10 days of combined sick/holiday time after 3 years is ridiculous) then you need to get serious about leaving. You interview with as many as you need to, until you find one that is a good fit.

My boss has already told me that it looks bad that I'm taking unpaid time, and any additional unpaid time will go against my performance review.

If you're serious about leaving, then what does a note in a performance review matter? It doesn't. And I suspect your boss is probably concerned that you may already have been using those days of unpaid leave to seek other employment, which is why he's discouraging you from taking any more. Some might consider that to be unethical behavior on the part of your employer.

Anyways, in addition to the suggestions made by Chris and Dave with respect to interviewing remotely or by phone, early or late in the day, and trying to schedule as many interviews together as possible (which are very good ideas), there is a possible alternative. You could cancel your request for paid leave during your honeymoon. That would free up several paid leave days, which you could use for interviews. Stick with the suggestions to line up multiple interviews, and schedule them for the same day or block of days. Do your interviews, being sure to either note that you need leave to cover your honeymoon or to arrange a start-date that is after your honeymoon.

Then in the best-case scenario you don't upset your employer by exceeding your allocated number of paid leave days and you get paid leave to cover your honeymoon from your new employer (and probably some awkward questions about why you're cancelling the leave request). In the more likely scenario you don't upset your employer by exceeding your allocated number of paid leave days and you take your honeymoon as unpaid time. And in the worst-case scenario (if none of the interviews work out) you'd have to take your honeymoon as unpaid leave with your current employer, and deal with whatever fallout comes from that. Which might not be fun, but you could use it to point out that it's their substandard allocation of personal days that made the unpaid leave necessary.

I also am opposed to lying to a current employer, so I don't want to fabricate reasons for taking time off.

How do you feel about telling the truth creatively? It's not terribly inaccurate to describe a job interview as "an important errand that I can't do at any other time". Or "a pressing obligation that just came up". Or "something that I need to do for my own health and well-being".

As an aside:

The rationale being, I was given X number of days, and if I can't manage to stay inside of that, then I'm unreliable.

That rationale is absurd. If they give you 10 days to cover both vacation and sick leave, then their reasoning implies that they either expect you to never get sick or to not take vacations, because that's essentially the only way to stay within such a paltry limit.

Answer 3

My fear is I interview, and for some reason I'm not a fit for the new company, I'm digging myself into a hole at the job I currently have.

Well... your fear is completely justified.

Seems like you have a few hard decisions ahead of you. One path would be to try and schedule a few interviews for the same day; trying to get 2 or 3 in a row then take a sick day gambling that one of those jobs would hire you.

Of course, there is another problem here: most companies don't grant vacation time within the first 6 months of employment. So even if you do get a job offer how do you propose to handle that with your upcoming wedding?

In other words, you are in a pickle no matter what you do. If you look and don't get a job then you are further behind. If you look and get the job then you'll have to try and negotiate some up front vacation time that a lot of companies won't agree to.

What I'd do in this situation is wait until after my honeymoon then start the job search. It will be far easier to "fake" an emergency requiring me to not be at work after the fact than it will before hand. Never mind the fact that you are already going through a stressful time getting married. No need to pile on additional stress.

Answer 4

Usually companies where you apply for the job will not see negatively if you say you need an early or late interview. Taking the current duties seriously, even when looking for a new job, is a positive feature, a feature of employee they would like to have. Also, not all jobs allow just to take a vacation for a day, some require to take a weak at once at least, for instance. Pretending to be sick is probably the most unethical thing to do so also cannot be a requirement. And simply walking out of the office without telling anything may cost the current job immediately in some cases.

Plan carefully the journey from your work location to the place of interview, taking the earliest possible time to leave, and tell the new potential employer you can only arrive at this time. A company that absolutely requires candidates to come in the middle of the working day will never get best people. A serious boss can stay an hour late to interview the job candidates. Serious bosses tend to sit for a while in the evening anyway.