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Currently I'm in late stages of interviewing with a company and I'm fairly confident that they'll extend an offer that I'll accept.

That being said, I'm trying to plan out when to give my two weeks notice.

If I were to give my two weeks this Friday (which is unlikely to happen just due to not having an official offer yet, but is still possible) I would have the following schedule:

  1. 2 Weeks of work
  2. A week where I would be available to work for two days and then I have three days off for a (personal) trip
  3. Start my new job the next week

I'd like to minimize the amount of time I'm going unpaid between jobs. Would it be unprofessional to, instead of giving notice this coming Friday, give notice the next Tuesday that my final day will be the Tuesday before my trip?

It seems to me that two-weeks notices almost always occur on a Friday, but other than being a bit odd, I see no particular issue with doing it on another day of the week.

I work a Monday-Friday day job and there's nothing in my contract specifically about the notice period.

This question is similar, but I think it's different enough that this warrants its own question:

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Short answer: Really, it's only convention that people give their notice and terminate on a Friday.

I've seen people give notice any other day of the week and finish two weeks later. It's more usual for commencement days to be a Monday, but exit interviews and so on can be conducted on any day of the week.

One thing I have seen is that if notice is given early on Monday morning, the notice period is "rounded down" to the Friday before :)

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    You mentioned exit interviews. NEVER EVER say or write anything in an EI, because it will be used against you if you legitimately need to bring suit against the company. Also, there is no benefit for the worker at all and this is business, not happy fun playtime with friends.
    – BryanH
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 20:32
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    @BryanH I mentioned that exit interviews may be conducted on any day of the week, not what you say in one :) While I agree with your statement it, wasn't anything to do with the question :)
    – Jane S
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 20:44
  • Yes, I understand you weren't talking about EIs; sorry I thread-jacked your answer
    – BryanH
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 20:51
  • @BryanH: thanks for putting up the comment about exit interviews. It's the only thing I was able to find on this site about whether to fill one out...except the other hit, which I just checked and is by you also!
    – user1071847
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 15:02
  • For that matter, unless you have a contract that says otherwise it's only convention to give two weeks notice. But some conventions are stronger than others :-)
    – Steve Jessop
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 10:40
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Everything is negotiable. If you have the offer in time to give 2 weeks of work with 3 days vacation that would be ideal. In the US at least you should be paid out any vacation owed, unless you work for Netflix or some other company that doesn't track paid time off. So if you end before your vacation or after it won't matter. HR will probably want to have you end before it's simpler for them and usually they like to walk you through things as part of your last day.

I once gave 1 weeks notice because I was going to take a 2 week vacation right after starting the new job and wanted to get some time in before I left, so again, it's all negotiable.

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If you are in the USA and you have vacation/sick hours left, I would be sure to put in the full 2 weeks without using any further vacation / sick days. This will ensure you get the vacation payout. It's typical that if you take a vacation/sick day that it'll forfeit the right to the payout. Holidays are typically not counted against you in this situation. Think of it as a nice bonus going into your new job especially if you have a lot of vacation stored up.

I put in my 2 weeks on a Friday and at my prior company they did not actually give me a physical exit interview. Instead they just gave me a really weird "satisfaction" survey that asked like 3 questions with a rating. It actually came in the mail about a week or so after leaving. They said it was anonymous but I'm more than sure it went to my previous boss.

To add to everyone else's opinion, I would first be sure that everything is lined up at your new job before putting in your two weeks. This means setting up a solid start date and planning around it. The way I did it was asked the hiring manager at my new job if I could settle everything with the old company. He agreed and set up all hire dates and things two weeks in advanced and I was able to put in my full two weeks and walk out cleanly. Most new employers want you to leave on good terms with your last company.

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  • New job should have an offer letter in writing. You can still get screwed, but it is less likely. No written offer = no offer.
    – BryanH
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 20:33
  • My US company states in its employee handbook that the days aren't actually granted until you take them, and hence you won't be paid out for any. My own state, MA (the company HQ is in a different state) has regs implying they can't do that. To be safe, I worked the entire two-week notice period and took the paid time off before the notice period.
    – user1071847
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 14:59
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You actually don't have to give exactly two weeks notice. It is customary, but you can give for example two weeks and two days notice. (You tell the company on Friday that your last day is on the Tuesday in the third week).

If your employer doesn't like it, then they can give you two weeks notice; this could have disadvantages for them because now it would be the company laying you off, and not you leaving voluntarily.

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    Saying that they don't have to do anything is to presume their contract has no clause on termination. Similarly that the company must give two week's notice, when they may also not need to give any.
    – user53718
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 8:16
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No. Usually people have holidays etc, so people don't work exactly 2 weeks notice/ 1 months notice etc anyway.

Hand in your notice when you have the new job offer in hand.

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