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I have been working on a consulting company for the past 10 months as an intern and signed a full contract with them last month, accompanied with a change of client.

However, right after that I got contacted by a different company offering me a better salary as well as a more attractive project and workplace. After some interviews they accepted me, and so did I. Up to this point I have never told anyone at my current company, because I was afraid if I said something and then didn't get accepted I would have created a poor environment for myself.

This obviously changed when they confirmed they would hire me and I communicated my decision to my superior, giving them the usual 1 month notice (in my case it wasn't even required because in my country if you resign with less than 1 month of work you can give as little as a 24h notice, which I find a pretty bad policy) which got really angry. He wasn't rude or anything, just frontal (which I actually appreciated) because he thought it was disrespectful knowing that I had just signed with them and that they compromised with the client just to tell them that I'd be leaving etc.

So I was left wondering what would the correct approach be in such a case:

  • Should I let them know I have a better offer at my doorstep and am thinking of accepting?
  • Did my manager overreact?
  • Should I stick with the current company to not defraud any expectations they may have with clients?
  • ...

Edit to answer some of the questions:

  • By full contract I mean an actual "non internship without a term contract" (full contract is probably a bad literal translation from my part)

  • I have accepted the new offer, but was left wondering how I could've handled the situation better

ricardo silva
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  • What is this "full contract"? Were you rehired? Was there actual paperwork involved? Does it have any legal significance or is merely an internal procedure your company follows when assigning people to clients? – Lilienthal Jan 10 '18 at 12:10
  • Your question is still a bit fuzzy.....did you accept this other more lucrative offer yet? – Neo Jan 10 '18 at 12:19
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    Your contract is there to make sure you fulfil any expectations. If it doesn't, that's your employer's problem. It's not your responsibility to plan when you leave such that it's at the best time for your employer, or give more notice than required - they wouldn't have extended you the same courtesy if your time were to have come. – Bernhard Barker Jan 10 '18 at 12:34
  • I've added an edit answering some of the comments. @Dukeling it is definitely related but in this case there was an added factor which was the fact I had just signed a contract with my company plus I was assigned to a new client – ricardo silva Jan 10 '18 at 13:07

1 Answers1

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This will probably get closed as a duplicate since it's probably been largely covered by the linked questions (it's not far off a combination of this and this) but I'll try and cover the aspects of your situation that they don't quite address:

Did my manager overreact?

Doesn't sound like it if they didn't cross into rude or abusive words or actions. It's not unreasonable to expect a certain amount of frustration from them since it's going to cause them a fair bit of hassle to accommodate your unexpected departure given the situation with the new client etc. They are only human after all.

Should I stick with the current company to not defraud any expectations they may have with clients?

No. I don't mean to sound callous but you have to look out for yourself first - a level of loyalty to an employer is good and can help you in your career as well but there have to be limits and I think this is one of them. You were suitably generous with your notice period and I think once the initial irritation at having to re-arrange things for the client has passed they will understand that it's nothing personal.

motosubatsu
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