The last couple of days at a job

Ugh 2 more days, my final day is Thursday but they graciously allowed me to use one of my vaca days to take off Thursday, and in the US 4th of July is a holiday so all is well.

I find myself disengaging with the work force and starting to forward think about the free time I have coming up and some of the offers I have on the table and some of the interviews I still have pending, (for instance) I have another Thursday.

What do you do to manage the situation? Do you take long lunches or go for walks at work? Visit co workers etc?

Just wondering what strategy you use

Thanks!

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Comments

da_vato

I can definitely sympathize with your situation, been there done that. I usually go tinker in the garage when I have too much free time and need something to keep my mind occupied. At times when I was deployed and had too much on my mind and nothing to do I would take the long way to get everywhere and spent more time in the gym.

Chitownjedi

I used to take nice walks....

jobes23

Today is actually my last day at my current job. My new job starts 7/7. How I keep busy is training my replacement, but if she wasn't here, I would take long walks to pass the time.

JoJoCal19

At every job where I was in my notice period, I pretty much surfed the net all day as I never had to train a replacement, and I was not in a position of needing to finish up a project or anything.

As for your time after this job, have you thought of taking a trip somewhere to refresh your mind? I've always tried to stagger jobs by a week or two to be able to take a nice break before jumping right in to something.

blargoe

The last time I served notice, I was too busy interviewing candidates for the position I was leaving, and handing off knowledge to the poor souls I left behind.

iBrokeIT

I created and updated documentation, provided training in some areas and lots of time spent chatting with coworkers

jvrlopez

FIGMO....**** it, got my orders.

I'd do whatever made the time easier. There's nothing much they can do...fire you? Hah...Of course there's always the adage of not burning bridges.

Iristheangel

I spent my last 2.5 weeks at my old job documenting the hell out of everything so they weren't completely SOL. Just a courtesy and it lets the higher ups know there aren't any hard feelings and that you still cared even though you were leaving.

petedude

I usually end up cleaning up before heading out. That is to say, wrapping up projects/tickets, shipping stuff to HQ, that kinda thing. Even the last few days. Increasingly, I like to try to leave gigs better than I found them when I can.

ande0255

I tied off any loose ends I had from my last job, I found my documentation wasn't really taken seriously after I put in my notice, they probably figured it was all half-assed since I was on my way out.

I did go for walks on my lunch breaks, and kind of soak in where I was in my life, and embrace where my life was about to go. I found you can't really plan or predict what the next step is going to bring, all you can really do prior to the change is accept the fact that it is coming, and embrace it as an opportunity to take a step upwards in your career and your life.

And possibly think about all the sh*t your going to blow up over the long holiday weekend

N2IT

Ande poetry.

Last day, just got done with a 1 hour walk. That was nice, a perfect day to do that. I am looking forward to tomorrow, going hiking for 4 hours and then burning a fat cigar. I can't freaking wait.

I have an interview tomorrow at 1 pm. I'm kind of on the fence to be honest, I know I should probably go but I really want to relax for at least a long weekend. Ugh.....

Anyway hopefully if I go I land it and I can put my two weeks in, oh wait nevermind I did that already

jibbajabba

It actually depended on the role. If i left because I hate the job , the people and all around it, I surfed the web all day and had extended lunches. When I felt bad because I technically loved the job and people but couldn't go anywhere and the only way up - was going out - I tried to get as much knowledge transferred as possible.

Speaking of:

Work like you've quit

Plantwiz

Many of the above responses help to justify the reason I strongly feel the need to let the employee go once they give notice. Their heart is rarely in their work, and it am paying them to sit around and drag down those around them. In some case, certainly it is beneficial of I keep them around to tie-up loose end, but also why it is important to not have loose ends and have a little overlap.

One thing worse than a good employee quitting is one dying...puts things in perspective and the importance (as a manager) to have overlap so that clients do not suffer because your company is all of a sudden unable to service their needs.

Employee gives notice, say thank you, here is your two weeks pay (or whatever the notice is, obviously not six months worth

) and send them home....then follow all the other protocols of employee termination. If the employee willing wishes to "tie-up" loose ends, make certain this is necessary before permitting them do so (and it should not be necessary, but there may be some exceptions such as introducing new rep to existing clients and such)...but simply let the employee leave.

As always, things depend on the specific situation, but I have yet to see a problem from letting someone terminate the moment they give notice.

Polynomial

I don't think I would ever quit a job before lining something else up.

Lot easier to get a job when you currently have one.

N2IT

Polynomial wrote: »

I don't think I would ever quit a job before lining something else up.

Lot easier to get a job when you currently have one.

I used to agree but once you get some skills and years of service once you put your resume out there in a fairly large market you have to take off day after day.

I have 2 interviews this week alone and 2 lined up for next week. How would you manage that leaving every other day or in this case back to back then back to back next week?

When I commit to a job search I am fully committed it becomes a full time job, not some one off effort.

N2IT

@Plant - In a small unorganized effort you really can't afford to do that. You have to buy time to get someone else ramped up. This is of course if you are unorganized.

Either way I would love for you to be my boss. Take the two weeks pay and go.

Polynomial

N2IT wrote: »

I have 2 interviews this week alone and 2 lined up for next week. How would you manage that leaving every other day or in this case back to back then back to back next week?

I just did this during my last job. I had to white lie. Its not ideal, but it got the job done.

Also, you don't ever get fired in higher education. Ever. I knew what I was doing

N2IT

That's the beauty of it, there isn't one size fits all for individuals or markets.

I know what I am doing as well. I'll keep you posted on my status I should hear something next week. I have a contingency for next week, a couple of report writer positions for some fortune 500 companies. I'd rather get the tech role though, designing and integration sounds like a lot of fun. Plus I get a chance to develop my C# skills which I am looking forward too.

Zorodzai

@N2IT - I admire your courage leaving a 'sure' thing and taking the chance in the 'wild'. Please do keep us updated and remember quitting your job does not mean quitting the forum

All the best

N2IT

Oh no I am all in on the forum.

My job scope was literally flipped upside down. I gave the example earlier, it would be like going from System Admin (sitting on cloud 9) then being told the business needs you handle accounts payables and receivables. That's how much the role changed within a month. I followed up with my previous boss to ask him if this was temporary etc, if I would go back etc. I received no communication etc, and since the CIO was fired or left on his own, still not sure, he has been over matched. It has greatly effected the confidence of the team etc. No structure, anti process free wheeling rebel. The guy is incredibly gifted but his ability to manage is not very good. In fact it's really bad.

So with all that and some other items that I won't bore you with I made the transition. I had some buyers regret at first but now I feel excellent and at peace. The forum really helped me out in this area. Very supportive thank you!

I had 3 interviews last week one turned me down, thankfully it was the one I wanted the least.

The other two went really well and I should hear something next week. I have 2 more lined up next week both report writer position, not what I am exactly looking for, but still employment and much better pay ~20% more. The last piece was the pay was below average at the last job.

It was a great job to get SQL experience and that was about all to be honest. Everything else was old news and stale.

jibbajabba

Problem with more senior positions though - it rarely is a one-shot interview process.

Last few companies I applied for was at least 3-4 face to face interviews, phone interviews and whatnot. And even then you might not get the job.

Longest process i have been through (I got the gig but was the worst job ever): 3 months !!

That's corporates for you - massive roll of big red tape .. Now I would never leave and then start looking, unless I have enough savings to be able to stay home for 2-3 months.

Having said that - that is if you look for a job without having a paycut and a job where you intend to stay longterm .. If you just need a paycheck I suppose you could take anything .. but then again, I was never desperate enough to live at a loss - If I am bored in my job and hate it to bits then I just get on with it - 9 to 5 - and concentrate on job interviews having quite a few "doctors appointments", "sick days", "family emergencies" and so on ...

N2IT

I prefer to be transparent and honest with my approach. It works for me and I am fine. I always have at least 3-6 months contingency set aside to handle a situation as such. My wife works as well and make decent coin now that she was promoted so all is well.

I am assuming you all have more than one revenue stream in place? If not I would highly encourage it, only having one paycheck to count on makes me cringe.

I try not to make decisions based on fear and assuming you can't get a job right away is being guided by fear. The machine is designed to prey on the weak, but honestly if you put a good plan in place and prep accordingly you can come out just fine with this strategy.

There are different strategies for all folks this one works for me. What can I say I like to go against the norm, it makes it more fun.

@Jibba I am not a senior level technician so I do understand your point of view, less positions available. Even though I am older than most in this forum (still in my 30's)

I am not a senior level engineer etc, so your point is taken and it makes sense.

I keep updating this post LOL

The lesson learned here is each situation is different for each person. In my household we have 3 sources of revenue, a 4th would be my new position. I like to keep diversity to offset any potential risk, such as a bad job or being fired or having that stream severed.

N2IT

Didn't want to make a big stink about it but I did secure the position I went for.

Pros - straight 40 hours a week under a union which I find fantastic. No more 60 - 70 hours a week. Even though the pay is slightly less it' actually more since there my salary is being spread so thin among 50 - 60 hours a week sometimes 70.

More opportunities to touch server technologies and work with developers on delivering end to end solutions. Not to mention free training for job specific roles which is cool.

i'm really happy and I wanted to share my blessing with TE.

Thanks

coffeeluvr

Congratulations!!!

Devilry

Congrats on the new position! Hope it all turns out the way you hope

N2IT

Yeah me too. The last couple of efforts have been humbling to say the least. This last one was crazy my job role literally switched over night without my consent. Crazy stuff man just absolutely crazy.

JoJoCal19

Congrats on the new position! I bet it will be like a breath of fresh air compared to the last role.

N2IT

I think so this new role has a certain element of infrastructure, development and business analysis. I don't mind some administrative functions like building out Visio diagrams etc, but doing nothing but admin nonsense over and over again drove me mad.

Thank God I was able to secure a position so quickly.

I'm excited to start to learn web services and get my hands dirty. Not to mention I'll be building some reports using SQL etc. It should be a good position. Hopefully my expectations aren't to high and I deal with the daily grind. This is a large company in an FTE position, I have generally lasted the longest in these types of positions. I made it 13 months at my last job, would of stayed longer but doing inserts and updates in a database all day long gets really freaking old.

NotHackingYou

Congratulations. Glad you like the new gig.