Managing the exit strategy

Q: I’m planning to retire some time in the New Year and I want to give my employer more notice than people in entry-level jobs do. In the past, when people in my position left, it took the company three months to replace them.

I’m sure they’ll be filling my position. Should I give them three months’ notice?

A: Two weeks’ notice is the absolute minimum when you resign, wherever you are on the organizational chart. Three months’ notice may make you happy that you’ve done the dirty deed and you may begin to move forward, but you risk becoming persona non grata – kept out of meetings, other office functions, in other words, The Loop. People will naturally withdraw when they know you’re on the way out.

Even with good, longstanding relationships, some employers tell employees to pack up their belongings and leave immediately. (Some even call in Security to make certain customer lists and intellectual property don’t disappear.) If your experience there leads you to believe you can risk everything, decide what will be best for you, including how and when to resign.

PREPARATION

Q: I received a phone call from a corporate recruiter. He works for an international leader. He’d found my resume on a large job site. The phone interview is coming up in five days.

I have no knowledge of this company, because I’m in a very different field. What should I do to prepare?

A: Explore the company website to learn more about it in general and specifically about the function for which you’ve being recruited. Call friends in the industry about what they’ve heard about working there. Ask for referrals to anyone they know working there now or in the recent past.

If no one knows anyone at the company, find employees through LinkedIn or go to restaurants they frequent for lunch or coffee. Put on your interviewing cap and dig out a list of questions to ask.

After you think about what people said, prepare a new list of questions specific to the job and the company. Let the interviewer see you’re sufficiently interested to have been researching the company. Listen carefully, formulating more questions as you go.