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I work as a contractor for a major company in Western Europe, since September. By contractor, I mean that I am employed by a company, which sells my time to a client (the major company). I am not bound to my client in any legal way, my employer is covered if I leave, so no legal issue here. Since I am on probationary period, I have to give my resignation letter to my employer with a two weeks notice and that's it.

Before signing my work contract, I warned my employer that I had applied to a job that was my dream job (and the very rare kind - only one position opened in my country this year), and I might leave very soon if I was taken. I also warned them that I had reasons to believe I would be shortlisted. The recruiting process took forever, but finally I know they chose me. I will begin to work on mid-January.

Here are my issues: my employer did not tell my client I had that job application waiting. And my client will have a peak in activity in January. They have been actively training me in prevision of it. My client also tends to hire its contractor after a while and I was likely to be hired in a year or so. My client is the biggest company in my region and in the field I am interested in and I very much like to keep a good reputation with them. My dream job will last 4 year at most and I would like to be able to come back to my client after those 4 years. I have also a profile that may be hard to find, and replace me in two weeks is simply impossible. Also, the quickest they replace me, the quickest they will be able to begin the training.

So, I'd like to minimize the inconvenience for my client, and also mitigate the resentment the client's employers might feel, without burning bridges with my current employer. I believe I need to leave at least a month to my client to replace me, and I want my company to warn the client (or to let me warn them) as soon as possible. How can I achieve that?

Edit: As it is said in commment, this question does not address my question, mainly because I am not looking for the pros and cons of giving a huge notice, but also because it's highly US centric and the norms in my country are not fixed by custom but by the law. I believe the misunderstanding came from my question and it's subject being messy. So, I hope this update will clarify it. If not, I'll welcome any comment.

Edit 2 and 3: A bit more clarification.

Edit 4: I modified the question again, thanks to the input I received.

Ayanimea
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  • Pros/cons of giving one month notice is discussed in the link above, though I imagine answers there are biased to the US. But that's also not really what you're asking. Your question is too fragmented and opinion-based to really give a complete answer in our format. Consider picking just one of these questions you're asking as your core question and asking others separately if necessary. – Lilienthal Dec 12 '17 at 10:36
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    astronaut? bed tester? chocolate sommelier? – Strawberry Dec 12 '17 at 10:43
  • @Lilienthal I modified the question according to your remarks. I do believe this question does not answer mine, since it is indeed very much US-biased, because I am not talking about months in advance, but two weeks, and also because I am more interested in mitigating my client's employees resentment without angering my employer and risking to be unemployable in my field and region for the next 10 years (yeah, it happens). – Ayanimea Dec 12 '17 at 13:31
  • Never it is your employer's responsiblity and duty to inform the client. Also just because your manager has not talked with you about the transition does not mean that your company has not advised them of your imminent resignation. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Dec 12 '17 at 15:36
  • @Ayanimea So you have reason to believe that your actual employer will not allow you to communicate your resignation to your client? Is that based on something? And have you already given notice to your employer / are they aware you'll be leaving in X weeks? Right now you still have two questions here, both largely off-topic. I think if you rephrase this to some version of "How do I make it clear to my employer that I want to give X weeks notice to our client?" you have something that can be answered. – Lilienthal Dec 12 '17 at 15:57
  • @IDrinkandIKnowThings My company is not aware of my imminent resignation yet. I intend to tell them tomorrow. – Ayanimea Dec 12 '17 at 17:18
  • @Lilienthal Yes, I have reason to, because it is customary in my country, when it's comes to outsource software engineering work to another company's employee but located on the client's site. It's linked to the fact that, if the client learns a contractor is leaving, the client may want to end the contract as quickly as possible and that means the supplier will have to pay a salary without any monetary input. Also, the client may replace the position with another supplier. No, my employer is not yet aware I am leaving. I want to tell them tomorrow. And thank you for your input, I will do that – Ayanimea Dec 12 '17 at 17:19
  • @Ayanimea - Unless your employer directs you to share your resignation with the client then the best thing to do is to let your employer inform them. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Dec 12 '17 at 17:20
  • @IDrinkandIKnowThings I would agree with you if I wasn't afraid of getting a bad reputation from my client. I do not want to burn bridges with them. They are the biggest space-related industry in less than 400 kms from my home. – Ayanimea Dec 12 '17 at 17:22

1 Answers1

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Follow your dreams and your passion.

A month in advance warning is generous. Most employers drop employees the same day if they could.

If you have a paper trail proving you submitted the information to your staffing agency and they did not pass it along, you could cc it to your manager. Of course this will make the staffing agency never hire you again, but it may be good with the company you're working with. Maybe, it depends on the relationship the staffing agency and company has.

No matter what though, if the majority of the time you spend working was just training in preparation for training- there's going to be egg on their face. They wasted time and money for a resource that is no longer going to be there.

Root
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  • Thank you for your advice. Concerning the month's notice, where I live, it is not that long. If I was not on probationary period, I would have been legally bound to a 3-months notice (though I should say, the law authorizes it to be negociated between the employer and the employee and generally, we rarely end up doing all the 3-months). – Ayanimea Dec 12 '17 at 11:26