Does Your Employer Know You Are Job Hunting?
This can be a tricky situation. In an ideal world, most likely you don’t want your boss to know that you’re searching for a new job. But what if he found out anyway?
It really depends on the relationship that you have with your boss. Are you friends? Do you feel comfortable with him enough that you can talk about it? Is he discontent in his own job so you know he may be a little envious? If so, you may choose to tell him that you’re keeping your options open, that you’re actively looking , or even interviewing for jobs.
Then again, if you don’t have that trust, that kind of close relationship with your boss, it’s best to keep your aspirations quiet. You can minimize it by saying that you were just testing the waters, keeping your eyes open, they approached you…that sort of thing. Explain that you aren’t unhappy with your job but you came across something interesting and wanted to investigate it a little further. You know your boss best so you have to say what will work with him in particular. You don’t want him to start constantly wondering if you’ll be turning in your notice.
As a rule, you have to be very careful about who who you tell you’re searching for a new job. Even your colleagues can use the information against you. For instance, if you’re up for a promotion against a co-worker, they might mention the fact that you won’t be around for long anyway since you’re looking for a new job.
Even though you may be excited about your job prospects, refrain from telling everyone the news. It’s better to be safe than sorry while searching for a new job. You don’t want to count your chickens, so to speak, before you have an offer in hand. And even then, not until you have the offer that you want 