Am I burning the bridge between two jobs?

January 1, 2012 5:32 PM

A few months ago, I accepted a new job at a different company in town. I left my old job on good terms, and my boss said that if my new job doesn't work out, I can come back. It turns out she was serious and has recently offered me a new position. Should I take it? Details inside.

Jobs 1 and 2 are at two of three major companies in my industry, in my city. Turns out that Job 2 was not a good fit for me (not good at all), but there is potential to move around within the company to some different areas. The position that has been offered to me at Job 1 is better than what I had previously, and is also better than what I could hope for at Job 2 for several years, so I'm inclined to take it. The catch is that the company that supplies Job 1 is much less stable of a company.

If I left Job 2 after less than three months, and then needed employment at that company again in the future, would there be any hope for that? I'm wondering if there is some internal policy that would actually prevent it, but obviously, I'm not inclined to ask them. Any thoughts?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Are Company 1 and Company 2 the only companies in your area that would have the type of employment you're in/will be in during the next few years? I think that leaving Company 2 after such a short amount of time might be frowned upon for future employment with them, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, given that you'd have a hefty promotion for going back to Company 1.

However, if there are no other major players in your industry/job type in your immediate area and you don't want to relocate, that's a huge thing to weight your decision.
posted by xingcat at 5:36 PM on January 1, 2012

Feels like a big questio: How unstable is Company 1? No guess about the industry and the companies, but far from unprecedented that stable companies have layoffs, too.

Also dunno how nichy your work is, how competitive it is from the employee perspective, how big your city is, how much you might be willing to relocate if you end up with no job and prospects in your area, but unless people doing your job are real rare, hard to feel confident that you could get hired again at Company 2.
posted by ambient2 at 5:53 PM on January 1, 2012

I also don't think it would be sensible to rely on your Job 2 company as a possible future employer if things did fall through with Job 1 company, although that would depend on your industry - some are much more flexible than others about hiring and rehiring people who'd left. As for company policy, I don't think it would necessarily be spelled out as such - it would probably manifest more as a reluctance to rehire someone who'd left because of a poor-fit situation (even if you don't spell that out if / when you leave, people can generally tell if someone has been unhappy or unsettled). Is there any way of sounding out colleagues about whether anyone has left and come back? That might give you an idea of how the company views this sort of situation.

If Job 2 wasn't a good fit but they are willing to move you to another area of the company, would this overcome your ambivalence? Do you still like the idea of working for Company 2 in general? It's sometimes very hard leaving somewhere you've been happy and starting up all over again with new colleagues and responsibilities, and we can look back with something approaching nostalgia for our old Job 1s, but just be certain that Company 2 is not a complete washout before going back to Company 1.

Disclaimer - this actually happened to me a few years ago. I had been promised a workload and opportunities that simply weren't there at my equivalent of Job 2 and my Job 1 was very happy to have me back in my old role. It was the right thing for me to go back in my personal circumstances and I didn't regret it at all.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 5:57 PM on January 1, 2012

Go back to Job 1 for sure. One never knows what the future will hold. So what if Job 2 won't accept you in the future. You've already said it isn't a good fit for you. You have an option to get out so go - go now - go quickly. Any employer would want you to leave rather than stay in a position and job that isn't a good fit. Down the line if Job 1 company falls apart you will have more experience and could consider jobs with other companies and in other places. I think that you need to find a company that suits you best - did you like company/job 1 - were you leaving because of increased salary and job prospects? Have you now got them sitting right in front of you.

I consider myself the epicurian of jobs. You need to be in a position to enjoy and savour them. The best meal you've ever had may not have taken long to get through but the memories of it linger. If Job 1 is a happy place that you savour by all means go back and enjoy some more. Job opportunities are always available for those with skills and who are willing to work for them.

Take a read of any of Richard Florida's books about the creative class and open yourself up to the opportunities that are in your city and beyond.

There are a few employers I would happily go and work for again. By moving around I think I've put myself at a competitive advantage and have moved up the salary and benefits scale. Others have said you can never go back once you leave - only you know what will feel right for you but I am struck by your first sentence where you say job 2 is really not a good fit for you. Run, run away...
posted by YukonQuirm at 6:09 PM on January 1, 2012

The determining factor for whether or not company 2 will re-hire you in the future is probably limited to whether or not your departure will screw them over in some way with a potential caveat that maybe there is a vindictive manager somewhere in your reporting chain that might be offended. If you can rule these out (to the extent possible with the latter) you can probably be confident that they'll be okay. If you flip the situation and it wasn't a fit for them, they'd probably let you go in a heartbeat and feel no shame calling you up 2 months later when they realize they made a mistake.
posted by feloniousmonk at 6:23 PM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

"My old company made me an offer I just couldn't refuse; I love you guys, too, so how can I help make the transition to my successor easier?"
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:34 PM on January 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Are there things Company #2 could do that would make you want to stay? If so, tell them about the offer from Company #1 and explain what you want them to do to keep you.
posted by PueExMachina at 9:16 PM on January 1, 2012

It's only been a few months. Are you on any sort of official or unofficial probationary period at Job 2? You have to know that they'd dump you in a second if they thought you weren't working out.

What sort of hiring process did they go through? How many candidates did they interview? They probably had a #2 or #3 choice if you'd said no. For that matter, you could have been their #2. Regardless, they can return to that list now and in the current economy quite likely make a successful offer, even to someone who turned them down then.

If you're a very narrow industry and it was a months-long process and you were such a gem in the wilderness that they were that lucky to find you, you'd probably be getting better compensation and/or assistance in fitting in. You probably aren't their special snowflake.
posted by dhartung at 11:35 PM on January 1, 2012

I just did this.

Job 1: Not stable, very likely ending soon. A good offer came along. So I left for
Job 2: Which looked every bit like the best possible fit but wasn't at all. I can't even tell you how wrong it turned out to be, but I also couldn't have known that until I did it.

Job 1 had been calling the whole time, and I went back to them after 6 months unsuccessfully trying to make something good happen at Job 2.

Coming back to Job 1, where I was WANTED, and my skills are being USED (heavily exploited is more like it), and the pay is less than Job 2 but DECENT, and the people LOVE me, and my manager RESPECTS me, and knows how to use my talent: well, coming back was perhaps the best thing I've done all year. I feel great about it. I strongly suggest you do the same.

Martha My Dead Prudence and YukonQuirm have great advice above.
posted by fake at 10:21 AM on January 2, 2012 [1 favorite]