I currently work for Company D. I work on a small infrastructure team (5 people for all of North America), and we service a few other companies (Company B, Company I, and Company O) within a parent company Company A. Each of our 15+ sites also have local IT staff.
I recently did a migration/move project with Company C. I got along very well with Company C, and they showed interest in hiring me. My current employer, Company D, is not a tech company but I work in their IT Infrastructure department. Company C, on the other hand, is solely a tech company and it services as many of Company A's (parent company's) companies as it can; absorbing more Companies' B-Z IT departments as time goes on. That is to say, my little Infrastructure department will likely be absorbed or let go in the coming year or soon there after. And local IT has already been having it happen; many are now Company C employees, rather than their Company B-Z IT staff.
Because Company C, as far as I can surmise, is taking over all IT work for Company A's companies, I'd like to get in as soon as I can. I know they want me, it would be a more productive job, increase in salary, and be a good progression in my career.
How can I go about pushing the conversation to make it happen? I've talked to my potential new boss at Company C and coincidentally work in the same office space, very close so we are in constant contact. He's already sent an email to his boss and the people needed to get the conversation started. But it's already been two weeks. All I've heard is: So and so was on vacation, this, that, and the other. My current employer will not want to lose me, and I'm fearful this may hold things up.
So, a few questions:
What would be an appropriate and polite way to follow up?
Would it ever be appropriate to go around my potential new boss and contact someone else within the company, who holds a higher position, with whom I also have a good relationship with from the recent project we worked on together?
When do I tell my current employer? Would bringing that up prematurely help or hurt me?