How late is too late to quit

B31ace

Hi, first post here but have been lurking over a year!

Background.
I was made redundant end of May being on garden leave since the middle of April. I had several interviews and started a new job a week ago. The job was attained via an agency. I work in the financial sector.
I am really not enjoying this job. I can afford about 6 months with no income at this stage. I don't fully know how agents work but I know my new work will pay a finders fee for me. I have assumed this finders fee is valid regardless of how long I work? (For any agents here). I am thinking to just abandon this job take a month or 2 abroad and come back. Untill I get a job I want do temporary work. Is this stupid? The new work have treated me fairly. Although I feel very unhappy is there it is more a case of taking the job as I thought it would not be such a formal culture. Is there a period of time I should work for them so they get a reasonable return on me? It's not the end of the world as I could save a fair amount each month I work but don't want to waste my life, but also want to Be honorable as they have not been bad to me

[Deleted User]

I have found 'temporary' employers to be very and moreso harsh of late - they have no time to show you anything and it's cut throat for a higher wage.

I walked into two places this year alone that were temporary - neither place had any time for me and there was an expectation I should know what I was doing within hours. The last place colleagues didn't want to show me what to do or get to know me as they were sick of temps and I felt for what they were saying. If the job had gone permanent or been extended then the employer would have saved bucks on getting a temp in under total disguise of not really having to provide any training. Be careful thinking temp'ing is easy if you really aren't use to it.

TELLIT01

Check any contract you signed with the agency and/or the employer. One or other may try to claw back the Agency fee if you simply walk out.

Nicki

In my experience, the agency will usually either rebate the fee or waive the fee for finding a replacement if the candidate leaves within a certain period of starting. This is usually I think tied to the probation period.

If you know you are going to leave anyway, you could always just ask the agency what their position is.

General_Grant

You probably would not be the most popular candidate as far as the agency which placed you is concerned - they most likely either have to re-pay what they charged their client or do further work to find a replacement without getting a bigger return (unless the next person earns a higher salary). They won't be so keen to place you in the future if you caused them hassle by walking out fairly quickly.

Best to stay in the post and look for something else while you are in work unless, then you don't have a gap in your CV where you walked so quickly. Less explaining to do. In my opinion, going abroad, unless you have verifiable justification for doing so, doesn't help.

TBagpuss

It will depend on the contract which the agency has with the employer. I think that for the agency we have used most recently, the cut off was 3 months.

That said, it's generally easier to get a job if youare working, and if you are applying for jobs where you are saying that you left your job due to redundancy and then left the next post within a very short space of time, even if you say it was down to the jo not you, it may make it harder for you to find a new post as some potenatial employers will see it as a red flag that you lost 2 jobs in sich quick sucession.

(If the redundancy was due to the employer closing completely this is less of an issue)

engineer_amy

Agency here - for most permanent placements, the standard REC guidelines are a sliding scale refund for 12 weeks/ 3 months from the start date. Ours is 75% refund if candidate leaves within month 1, 50% within month 2, 25% within month 3, 3 months and 1 day then no refund. Theres also the option to leave the fee in place and find a suitable replacement within a certain timescale, but that only works if there was a high demand for the job, or the role wasn't too specialised.


Other agencies can have their own terms which could differ, but that is between the client and the agency. They cant claw anything back from you unless this was expressly stated in your contract with the agency.


if you really don't want to be there, then resign sooner rather than later, for your own sake, and also before the client puts too much time and effort into training etc. They may still have a pool of available candidates that were second or third choice that they could call upon to fill the role, who may not be available if you hang on for another month or two.


Don't panic about the agency, this is par for the course in permanent recruitment and your agent should be well used to it. And there are plenty of agencies about, so if you blacken you name with one after pulling out of this job, you still have many many options

jonnygee2

I am really not enjoying this job. I can afford about 6 months with no income at this stage. I don't fully know how agents work but I know my new work will pay a finders fee for me. I have assumed this finders fee is valid regardless of how long I work?

Different agencies have different contracts, our main agency is six months for permanent jobs. That's a recruitment agency though, I'm not sure if you are talking about a recruitment agent or you are actually employed through the agency?

But, honestly, not your problem. Nice of you to think of them, but the agency and the employer have negotiated the contracts and have accepted the risk that someone might leave (after 3, 6 months or whatever they signed up to). It's something for the business, not you, to deal with / worry about.

Whether you leave now or in a few months, someone - either the employer or the agency - is still going to lose out.

Of course the agency might not want to deal with you again if you leave early. Or then again they might, depends what their situation is.