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I have done Bachelor in Computer Science and Engineering. During the last days of my degree, I got placed in a good multinational corporation. I got offer letter from the company. My joining was delayed by the company for about 7 or 8 months. During this time, I joined a local company, so as not to put a gap in my career. Its been 5 months for me, that i have been on the current company. Now they are going to appoint me on a project that would take about 3 or 4 months. But I hope I would have to leave the current job in not more than 2 months.

I haven't received any joining letter from the second company, but I would get only a month to clear all my stuff, once I got a letter from the company. Is it a good idea to leave the current job and wait for the other company to send a joining letter?

What if the other company puts more delay in joining letter?

I am a bit confused about what to do in this situation. I am thinking of having a talk with my team leader. But I would like to hear some positive response from the Workplace people.

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    Until you have a start date for the other company you shouldn't resign. Since the company in question is so large, I would give the required notice, once you know the start date.
    – Donald
    Sep 21, 2012 at 11:53
  • No, there is not, unless you want to have a high potential of having NO job.
    – enderland
    Sep 21, 2012 at 14:21
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    I suggest tagging this with India if that is where you are looking. India is a completely different world than the US (which most people in this site assume is where everyone is looking)
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Sep 21, 2012 at 14:39
  • Related to @Chad's comment I've tentatively tagged this India, since it matches your location per your profile, and location may be relevant here. If that's incorrect just go ahead and retag.
    – Rarity
    Sep 21, 2012 at 18:29
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    Yes, this case is totally in india. I have friends who were placed in the same month as did i in some other top IT company, their joining is delayed for 2 years. It happens only in India.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 22, 2012 at 5:46

4 Answers 4

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The key point to remember is that right now you have a job (and contract) with your current employers, whereas from your prospective future employers all you have is a verbal indication that they want to offer you a job later.

Which means that the only certainty right now is that your current employers will pay you - your prospective future ones are under no obligation to actually give you a job in the future.

This means that if you told your current employers that you want to leave, and then your prospective future employers do not offer you the job, you will be unemployed without a wage. The question to consider is whether you could support yourself without a job.

Remember that there is nothing legally binding from the new company, they have no legal obligation toward you, there is no guarantee that they will actually offer you the job 9or any job) and even if they do they could easily offer you the job with a different salary.

It is not unheard of for companies to want to make a job offer but to then change their minds (budget cuts, or the project didn't happen, or they found someone else...).

My advise to you would be to stay with your current employers, and not to mention the potential new job until they actually give you a written contract and offer. If they do offer you the job in 2 months time, then with 1 month's notice that takes you to 3 months anyway which is the lower end of how long the project you are starting could take, so you may well finish it before leaving. And if you don't, then your current employers will still manage; who knows, they might even try to negotiate to keep you with them!

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    Thanx.+1 for your suggestion. I'll not mention it to my team leaders and i am thinking of working here until i got joining letter. but i would say that we have got offer letter from the company and this is the proof for they have to give us the letter. The only problem here is that, if i got the letter during the project, i got here. then i have to quit the job leaving the project in between, because if once i got joining date, i have to report to them on the very date.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 21, 2012 at 11:06
  • @SahilMahajanMj - You are going to have to tell the company that you need to give the a typical notice period, it would be unfair to just simply leave, unless of course you have leave. If you do then take the leave to compensate the quick notice.
    – Donald
    Sep 21, 2012 at 11:58
  • leave from which company, one i am working with or the one with whom i am going to work with(new one). the new company had clearly stated us(during our placement, we were provided offer letters) that we are supposed to report at any time when the company calls us.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 21, 2012 at 12:09
  • @SahilMahajanMj the one you are going to work with in future can't let you use their leaves to reduce the notice period of current company. Also it doesn't make sense to join a company only virtually and be on leave from first day. I have not heard that any HR policy allows this. What if the person never joins ?
    – Amit
    Aug 8, 2018 at 21:01
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Bird in hand, dude.

  1. Did the employer let you know they were going to take so long to get you started after your offer?
  2. Did the employer keep communicating with you over those 7 months?
  3. Did your offer letter not state your expected resumption date? Did you show up on that day and they said to call back in 7 months?

If the new place is any kind of place to work for, they owe you the lead time to round off your projects. Be clear on this to them, and cite the 8 month delay to them if they attempt to arm twist you. It's very important not to burn bridges when leaving any employer, and your current employer might not give you a favorable reference to anyone if you left them hanging.

I'd say you are in the driver's seat now, the new guys should wait.

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  • Thanx for your response. First thing that the second company is among the top IT companies of our country (company is Tata Consulatancy Services TCS ). I cant directly point a finger om them to send a joining letter. Its sure that they are gonna send the joining letter, but who knows, whether in 2 months or 3. It all depends on them. My current company is not even in charts to compete. Not also i am getting that much salary. But once if i'd refuse the second job, i'll be missing a lifetime experience.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 21, 2012 at 7:10
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    @SahilMahajanMj still first ensure that you actually will get a job there before resigning your current one, cause if you don't get the job you'll need to find another one. You don't want to be strung along in dead end jobs waiting for that one dream job offer to come through
    – ratchet freak
    Sep 21, 2012 at 8:43
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    ah yes, TCS. I see your position. And it's not a comfortable one. TCS is an outsourcing type consultancy and will only bring you in when the need is apparent. Can you get some kind of commitment like a definite date from TCS? they have to give you something to work with man.
    – kolossus
    Sep 21, 2012 at 8:43
  • TCS is in apparent need of engineers. we have got the news that they need 50,000 engineers in the near future. when we contact them about the joining date, they respond that, whenever the joining of "B" grade colleges will be over, we will call you(Ours is "C" grade college). Joining of "B" grade colleges is supposed to finish on next months first week.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 21, 2012 at 8:56
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    That sir, is the most uncertain statement I've heard concerning one's future or career. Did TCS tell you this themselves? or it's your conjecture. If it's your conjecture, sit tight and hope they get their act together. If it's word from TCS, you're gonna have to break a few hearts at your current position. But do it as nicely as humanly possible, maybe throw in a little extra sacrifice on your part as a show of good faith.
    – kolossus
    Sep 21, 2012 at 10:21
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I would get in touch with your HR contact at the company that first offered your letter. I think it is your right to know when you are expected to join (or what is the minimum time you are expected to wait).

In an uncertain economic climate, I have heard of offers being rescinded or being postponed indefinitely. If you are happy in your current job and are learning, there is no reason to quit until you are given a clear start date by the first company.

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  • I am happy a lot in my current company. I have gained good reputation among my seniors in short time, i complete my assignments before time, no boundations are there on us, friendly environment, at a short distance from home. But the things that matter are, there is not such huge chances of growth that would be there in the second compnay(TCS), where i would join, salary difference is quite large between two companies(almost 5 times more in the TCS). TCS is among the top IT companies.
    – Sahil Mahajan Mj
    Sep 22, 2012 at 6:04
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Without making you a formal offer, the MNC has no obligation to hire you. I can't speak to every case, but a 7 month lead time on a college grad is in my experience unusual. Unless there are security background checks that are out of sight, or you hae a very usual background - it's usually quite easy to judge where a college grad will fit in a big organization and to plan for it.

At 7 months, you may expect that your competion may include the next round of college grads, meaning the job is not yours until you get the formal offer.

The trick is, I don't know what the standard is for giving notice where you are working. In the US, the standard is 2 weeks, but I know in other countries it varies remarkably. Again, in the US, because most companies are baselined on a similar standard, hiring companies expect that workers have to give 2 weeks notice, so it's planned into the cycle - if a formal offer is delayed, so is the start date.

So - in my US-centric book, 1 month is more than enough lead time for your current employer. But, again, I've seen cases here on The Workplace that lead me to believe that in other countries, the standard expectation can be up to 3 months.

Also - the mileage of whether to give what I'll call 'tentative notice' (I may have a job offer soon... and I will take it...) is a very unique case. I have done such things when I had a very highly trusted relationship with the manager who would be most directly harmed by my leaving. At the time, it was a very easy going talk and he was incredibly supportive. You really have to trust your manager on this, though, it can easily turn out to be a very bad move.

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  • Are you Indian original Beth?
    – user18840
    Nov 24, 2018 at 19:10

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