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I am a fresh graduate and currently stuck in a dilemma. My family has planned 2 holiday trips. One will be in December and another one in February. The trip in December has a duration of 7 days, while the one in February has a duration of 14 days. If I were to apply for an entry-level job, I would have to apply for leaves of absence immediately after the probation period (which normally is 3 months in my country) and also for the trip in February.

I am afraid that this will affect my position in the company.

Alternatively, I could apply for an internship, it would be much more flexible, but pay much less.

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    This is definitely opinion-based, and up to you! IMHO :)
    – OldPadawan
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 7:28
  • If you were in my position, what would be your decision? :)
    – Tan Kar Vin
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 7:31
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    @TanKarVin Which is why this is the kind of thing you bring up once they've decided they want to hire you, but before you actually sign a contract.
    – Kaz
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 8:12
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    What makes you think an internship will be "more flexible"? Where are you located? In the US 3 weeks off would be Not Done while it's fairly standard in Europe, though atypical for a new hire in his first months. Finally: consider that you should probably cancel at least one of these trips.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 8:51
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    Possible duplicate of Is it too early to take a vacation day after only seven months?
    – mcknz
    Commented Aug 7, 2017 at 19:10

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Just let your employer know you've some planned trips when getting hired. Companies that will have a problem with it are those which you probably don't want to work for anyway.

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Applying for vacation outside your probationary period should not result in negative consequences for you. Their evaluation of you should be done by then.

The biggest issue would be whether or not you'll actually get the time off, as many companies require time off to be requested significantly in advance.

The best course of action would be to address those vacations during your negotiations. This gives them the best heads up to plan their resources and you the best heads up to cancel travel plans or the negotiations in case you can't find a solution.

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  • And depending on the country, you may not actually get that much vacation time in the first year. In the US, two weeks total is pretty much standard for first year employees. So you may be negotiating for leave without pay which is generally more difficult to get after you are employed but they are often more willing to grant it when you bring up the plans at the time you are negotiating the hire.
    – HLGEM
    Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 17:58
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I went through this recently in my career. In my case, my family had booked a cruise and prepaid the airfare from USA to Spain, all before I even started interviewing for the new job. In my case, the trip was prepaid and nonrefundable, and would occur before my probation period ended, which would violate the rules of my probation.

When the hiring supervisor called me to offer me the position -- the informal offer before the formal, written offer came through -- I wasn't fully aware of the probation policy rules, but I told him about the trip and that it was nonrefundable.

He and I worked together to actually include the trip in the formal job offer, so it was in writing that they were making an exception to the rules.

I suggest a similar approach for you. Go through the interview process. If they make you an offer, let the hiring committee know that you've already booked a trip for dates X through Y, and you want to make sure that taking this trip will not cause any negative impact.

If the trip is after the end of your probation, then they shouldn't have a problem with it. And by letting them know up front, you're making it clear to the managers/hiring committee/etc. that you don't want to cause problems and want to be completely above-board about things.

The only reason I can see that this might be an issue is if you haven't saved up enough vacation time by the beginning of your trip. As long as your vacation accrual rates are good, you should be good, too. Otherwise, you may be forced to take the trip on leave without pay? But that's not really directly related to the original question. And by scheduling this at the beginning, you should have plenty of time to work through that.

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