Money & Ethics
Is it Wrong to Ditch a New Job for a Better Offer?
Show the company that hired you the respect that they deserve.
By Knight Kiplinger, Editor in Chief, Kiplinger publications
October 2009
- Comments
- Email This Article
- Print This Article
- Order a Reprint
Advertisement
Q: A friend of mine just went through a long job search, applying to dozens of companies and getting turned down every time. He finally got a good offer and quickly accepted it. After he had been there a month -- getting trained and enjoying the work and his new colleagues -- he heard from another firm where he had interviewed during his search and was offered what he called his dream job. He quit the first job and jumped to the second. Do you think this was ethical?
No, I don’t. Call me old-fashioned, but I think he owed his first employer longer service in return for the good faith shown in hiring him and the cost of training him. How much longer? Hard to say, but more than one month. He should have told the second firm that he was honored by the offer but felt an obligation to stay where he was. He could have kept in touch with the company and hoped that another position would open up later.
Q: Recently I learned that a school-board member in my region applied and interviewed for a librarian/business teacher position at a school under her board’s jurisdiction. Only after she was hired did she resign from the board. Everyone involved says she was shown no favoritism in the process, but I think the appearance of impropriety is terrible. How about you?
I agree. I am astounded that the school board’s ethics rules permit a member to apply for a paid school position while sitting on the board. If a board member wants to compete for a school job on the same basis as all other applicants, she should be required to resign first and take her chances. Otherwise, it’s impossible to refute a charge of favoritism. The policy should be changed.
Have a money-and-ethics question you'd like answered in this column? Write to Editor in Chief Knight Kiplinger at ethics@kiplinger.com
.Topics:
- Comments
- RSS
Permission to post your comment is assumed when you submit it. The name you provide will be used to identify your post, and NOT your e-mail address. We reserve the right to excerpt or edit any posted comments for clarity, appropriateness, civility, and relevance to the topic.
View our full privacy policy
Reader Comments (3)
Posted by: SNS at 11/03/2009 12:58:24 PM
Dear Knight Kiplinger, This is in response to (your column). Case#1 About 7 years ago, I was in a similar situation. I had just accepted the offer with company A, when I received a call from another company B, which was my dream job. My ethics then said that it would be improper to ditch and take the dream job. I stayed with company A for 3 years and was let go when the company A got acquired. Keeping in touch and hoping that an opportunity would open up is really bad advice, especially in the current economic condition. The cost of lost opportunity can be huge. Ethics and moral obligations only seem to hold for individuals and not for companies. Case#2 - Prior to this, I stayed with a company for 11 years, out of a sense of loyalty. I even tried to convince others to stay. But then I saw that the company got rich, people who ditched and joined other companies got rich, and I stood to lose either way. I felt let down that I did not get the returns for my loyalty. My advice now? Take the dream job. Hope the current employer will understand. Besides, your current employer is not going to blink twice before throwing you out, when the bottom line is in question. best regards, Skanda
Posted by: Daniel at 11/12/2009 12:46:16 PM
If you're planning to move on anyway, there's no need to stay with the company. Spending a year with them before switching jobs again is probably worse. After only one month, there are worse things. If you won't be happy in that job, and if you know you're only going to be staying with a company for a matter of months, you might as well move on. The company is looking for long-term commitment.
Posted by: Rich at 11/15/2009 05:14:45 AM
Knight, I love your magazine but you completely missed the mark on this one: Accepting a more lucrative position is not sacrificing one's integrity or morality, regardless of time spent in his current position.