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Background:

Right now, I am living in a territory of the US (I am an US citizen), and I am in the process of relocating to one of the continental US states (probably Florida or Texas). I want to leave the territory with a job offer, and this is why I am looking for jobs while I am here.

Problem:

The issue that I found is that some of the recruiters are asking me to travel for a face-to-face interview (they do not accept Skype calls), but the thing is that right now I cannot take vacation days unless there is a important reason, since we are currently in a very aggressive project. I do not want to either lie to my boss or tell him that I need a day off because of "personal matters", since this can be seen very suspicious. This is why, I was thinking to tell my boss that I have plans to relocate to the US, and then tell him upfront that I need a day off to travel and do an interview. But I am not sure this is a good idea.

Question:

So, how can I manage an out of area job search when you are unable to take time off from your current position?

I already saw this question, this question and this question, but I think the scenario that I am presenting is a different one. On the second link, the OP is unemployed, which is not my case, and "ironically", being employed is what is making the process a little difficult, since I do not have the flexibility to go anytime to interviews. On the third link, the OP has a job, but it is already on the continental US and does not present that he is in an aggressive project, which is also not my situation.

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  • How open would these recruiters be to a Skype interview? It's "sort-of" face-to-face and you wouldn't need a whole day off, or maybe even do it in the evening.
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    May 27, 2014 at 14:30
  • I was in a similar position, in that I wanted to move out of the area, in the end after getting a new offer, I was countered by my current employer with an offer that I could work remotely at my new location. You may find your current employer open to something like this if you broach your desire to move stateside with them.
    – Bill Leeper
    May 27, 2014 at 16:38
  • @Chad, I modified the question to answer your questions.
    – scubaFun
    May 27, 2014 at 17:37
  • @FrustratedWithFormsDesigner, I modified the question to answer your questions.
    – scubaFun
    May 27, 2014 at 17:38
  • I updated your question to ask more constructively how to handle the job search. Yes or no questions tend to lead to discussion and less helpful answers. Hopefully this question will lead you to something that will help you and others in the future.
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    May 27, 2014 at 17:49

3 Answers 3

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Your interview is a personal matter. So if you want to take a day off for personal matters, these matters are nobody's business but yours. And "personal matters" includes showing up for interviews.

You need to dig in and simply say that it's for personal matters. And they probe further, push back the probes with a firm "It's REALLY a personal matter!" You have to be resolute about two things: (1) You are going; (2) You are NOT telling anyone the reason why, beyond that it's a personal matter that requires your personal attention.

You're not lying, you're just not telling everything and you don't need to tell everything because you are not in court and there no entitlement to them that you have to tell everything to them.

This being the age of Google hangout, I wonder if they could interview you as much as they as they can on Google Hangout and postpone your actual showing up until after the project is done- assuming that the project is not taking six more months, that is :)

And please don' tell your boss that you're planning to move to the continent. Because until you have that job offer solidly in hand, you're counting your chickens before they hatch :) Don't count the chickens until they hatch i.e. don't say anything until you've got that rock solid job offer in hand. Remember, that Scottish saying "the best-laid plans of mice and men go gang aft aglee" exists for a reason - Never mind Murphy's Law :)

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Never tell your boss you are leaving until you hand in your notice. If you need time off and you have holiday days available to take then you are under no obligation to give any reason at all why you want to take them so you don't need to lie.

You do not owe your boss or your employer anything beyond acting in a professional way. You put at risk your own situation by telling them about your job search and you gain nothing from it at all.

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  • You gain the respect of the company and the team you're a part of to give them more time to react instead of bailing on them short notice. In today's fast-paced world, 2 weeks isn't anything. Maybe back in the 1960's when everything was mailed and hand-drafted, 2 weeks was plenty of time.
    – Ryan Mortensen
    May 19, 2019 at 22:08
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I cannot take vacation days unless there is a important reason, because we are currently in a very aggressive project.

So you don't want to take a day because of timelines. I don't know how long the project is due to last, but telling your boss a day off may lead to you leaving him and aggravating his project is not going to make it easier to get the time off, even though you are trying to be fair by being honest. He may even decide to dump you immediately as at some point you will likely become a risk.

I'd maybe try and get a few interviews in quick succession, and try to have a good reason planned, or a you've been given a cancellation for that "operation" you've been waiting 6 months for.

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