When to tell holiday booked in December

jill36_2

Ok this is a tricky one. I recently went for an interview for a temporary position through a recruitment agency. Getting the job was easy until the interviewer mentioned commitment until the end of January. That's when it all went wrong.

I said that I had a 2 week holiday booked the first 2 weeks of December. The interviewer was not at all happy and said it wouldn't be possible to take me on as they would have to take someone else on and train them in my absence.

I blame my husband. He said 'honesty is the best policy' etc. If I had kept quiet at least I would have had 6 weeks work/pay.

I had 1 interview last week for a permanent job - I never mentioned the holiday (company making decision after this weekend)

I have another interview on Monday again permanent.

What should I do?

Jill

MissSarah1972

It's better to be up front no? What if you got the job and then told them and they said you couldn't take the time? Then what?

bryanb

Why not ask at interview if they would honour pre booked holidays?

DCFC79

Honesty is always the best policy.

BristolBob

I would inform them at the time of the job OFFER (but in my field that is generally the same day as interview)

Uncertain

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

It's better to be up front no? What if you got the job and then told them and they said you couldn't take the time? Then what?

Well, as the OP said "If I had kept quiet at least I would have had 6 weeks work/pay" I imagine she would have left had they refused the holiday.

Regarding the next interview, it is difficult and depends on the OP's bottom line and a judgement call on whether telling them of the holiday will preclude getting the job.

Obviously she will not have accrued enough holiday by then to cover two weeks so will be relying on the firm to allow holiday to be taken before it is earned. Some will and some won't.

If the OP is going to be away those weeks come what may then she also needs to be wary of what period of notice her contract requires. If she signs up to a month's notice this would need to be issued very soon after starting if holiday is refused.

view

Your husband is completely right. You need to state that you have holidays booked. Most companies will be ok with this if stated up front. There are always ways around taking you on and having someone cover whilst you're away. Why would you not say you're away?? Silly idea to not mention it. Do you think a company would just say "oh ok, off you go then have a lovely trip" when you've not forewarned them?

Be honest, I did with my last job when I had a two week holiday in USA 3 weeks into the role. I forewarned them and I, and the agency, had time to find someone I could train for the two weeks whilst I was away. The company was grateful that I was honest and told them and organised to train someone up. The agency was grateful to have another person employed, albeit for a short time.

Savvy_Sue

I'd say it's more likely to be a problem with a temp job than with a permanent one: if a company is paying the agency premium for someone to do a job, it's because they want and need to have someone doing the job.