What's your situation at work?

never burn bridges, networking rule #1, you never know your connection at your old job can lead you to

Great thread. My situation is a little different. I have been accepted to my school of choice and would love nothing more than to quit tomorrow. I have other opportunities that I could take advantage of immediately after leaving my current job. However, I work on a relatively small project team and we are approaching the end of a two year project (substantially complete 12/21). Things are crazy right now but will hopefully start to slow down after New Years as we get more into the project closeout phase. I don't feel that I'm really need for that part of the project and could be replaced pretty easily. However, it would be more of an inconvenience to my coworkers because they would have to bring in someone less familiar with our project. I want to leave on good terms, but I'm so over my current job and really excited to pursue other things. My bosses know I've been accepted and would probably prefer me to stay though March. I sort of feel like there will never be a "good" time to make the break and it may be best just to get it over with late Jan/early Feb.

Anyone else have experience with this. Do bosses take it personally and hold grudges or will they get over it?

Is it too much to ask to just get laid off with a couple months severance!!

hmm. that's a good question. did anyone ask to be laid off (or did anyone's managers agree to lay them off) so that you could collect unemployment? i know it's ethically wrong, but to collect a few checks for the month or two before school, that would be sweet

I let my company know over the summer. I got an LOR from my manager, and then I also told the owners directly right after (it's a smallish company, 60-70 people). I also told quite a few of my friends at work, and it spread pretty quickly. Everyone has been very supportive from the execs all the way down, which is great. There was some risk in telling early, but I thought it would help my company a lot more if they knew in advance, and it looks like they appreciated the warning.

Right now my last project is scheduled to run through the week of June 18th. Normally, there are few months of post-event reconciliation that I work on, but I'll be leaving right after this project operates. The truth is, I'd like to leave earlier, but we have a lot of business for 2010 and we'll be pretty short-staffed even with me working. My manager jokingly asks me every couple of weeks if I'm sure I want to leave, as she would rather have me stay. But she can see an MBA would benefit me a great deal, and makes a lot more sense for my career than chugging along here. I feel a little obligated to stay until June at least - if I leave earlier, it will create a staffing nightmare that she would have to deal with, and I owe it to her to help as much as I can. And my clients don't know anything about it yet...

Ideally, I'd like to have 2 months off, but it looks like I'll stop working at the very end of June, travel for most of July, then move in August. Here's hoping to good health this summer!

RE: References

I believe that you will need to have references for recruitment during your MBA program, but I could be wrong. Most companies are very mum about reference checks on former employees these days, due to litigation risks, and I'm not sure whether reference checks play a big role in the process. Personally, I know that if I was looking to hire a six-figure employee, I wouldn't do it without a fair amount of reference checks.

RE: Finding a pre-MBA internship

This is indeed easier said than done. It's something that I hope I never have to do. I would assume it's comparable to "networking for a job" -- i.e. you're just going to have to cold call and cold e-mail alums of the program that you've been accepted to, and hope to strike gold somewhere. It may very well be unpaid. Either that, or you have some family/personal connections that can get you in somewhere.

I believe that some people have taken voluntary buyouts in the past after they got admitted. Generally, this only happens if their company is actually conducting real lay offs/reductions in force and is actually offering this to employees.

What you mentioned would be highly unethical and also very short-term thinking. Is a few thousand $ worth a tainted record at one of your employers? To me, it isn't.

in case anyone is curious, here is the thread regarding pre-mba internships: pre-mba-internship-87881.html

It wouldn't taint your record if your manager/organization agreed to it. If your company would rather "let you go" than let you leave on your own, then obviously they agreed to the arrangement...and I'll be honest, I don't work with the most ethical people. I'm personally not going this route as I feel my profile could benefit from the added months of experience, but it's a viable option if someone wanted to collect income while using the month before b-school to decompress or travel.

My situation is different than most, I guess. I'm coming directly from academia and I have to wrap up a PhD thesis before I leave. I'm currently writing on research paper number 3 and trying to write on the thesis at the same time. I told my boss already last summer when I needed recommendations. He was very supportive even when I let him understand I would not continue to make a career in research science. He could've made my last year difficult, thinking "no use to be nice to her, she's a lost cause", but instead he's been perfectly supportive and enthusiastic.

I'm going to have to work full-time until a couple of weeks before I leave. I will also have to brush up on some business and management skills, been thinking of getting myself some study books or CD-ROMs. I will have to do all this while preparing to defend my thesis in the first weeks of August. Going to be a tough summer.

I agree with eminent. I can't even image of how you would phrase it to ask your employer that... The only time it could work is during a lay-off, which actually happened to one applicant I know at my company back in 2007. In that case, she volunteering to be laid-off actually saved another colleague's job. Everything is situational I guess.

We had a layoff in 2007 where a guy got laid off after getting into an MBA program... worked out extremely well for him, essentially had a free summer getting paid analyst money.

On the flipside, I'd never expect / request this...

PBateman,

I'm hoping that you really don't care about your situation at work anymore after today

E

I think I agree with 2012dreams on this one. If you're working at a company that was conducting layoffs and was willing to offer a buyout package then I don't think it will "taint" your record if you take it. If this issue comes up during an interview, you can say you already had plans to go to bschool and felt it was fair for you to take it and let another one of your collegues who did not have such plans keep his/her job. You can go on to talk about how you used the time constructively by traveling and learning more about your target industry after bschool. The past couple of years have been brutal in terms of layoffs, and leaving room at the firm for your collegues is a pretty considerate thing to do. I know someone who elected to take a buyout package from a top ibank he was working at bc he got into HBS. He's in school right now, and I haven't heard him complain this problem coming up during conversations with potential employers.

Situation not good, with potential for rapid deterioration...

I think my bonus (banking) was low this year because they know I am applying and not coming back. Has anyone heard of asking for a pro-rated bonus for the half year that I am going to work in 2010? I think I got ripped off with my bonus and now I'm going to be working another 6 months w/o bonus possibly.

My immediate supervisor as well as one of our department heads knows as both are doing LORs for me. I spoke with them and said that if I go through interviews with my schools, I would officially let the rest of upper management know. I don't think it will hurt my position at all. My supervisor was very supporting and said there would always be a job waiting for me - nice to hear!

I think this is good advice. I just sent the email below to my companies head of HR this morning...

Dear XXXX,

I left you a voicemail earlier this morning and would greatly appreciate the chance to speak with you at your convenience about my future with XXXX. I want to be completely forthright with you as it may affect some of your upcoming decisions. I was just accepted earlier this month to the University of Texas MBA program for the fall of 2010. We’re nearing completion at the XXXX and it is my preference that once my obligations are fully completed for this project, I would like to move back to XXXX and pursue other opportunities. I have been hearing rumors about the possibility of upcoming layoffs and if my resignation (as soon as deemed prudent by you and my project team) may enable someone who potentially has a long term future with XXXX to maintain their job I wanted you to have this information. This is my first time in this situation and I just wanted to be completely straight forward with you.

Best Regards,

texasorbust