Interviewing for Jobs with Vacation Coming Up

March 13, 2015 2:40 PM

How (and when) should I handle an upcoming one-week vacation when I'm interviewing for a new job?

I was laid off in late January and I'm now in the second round of interviews at a couple of new employers. I have a one-week vacation April 12-18 that we booked and paid for months ago. How and when should I bring up the vacation?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (12 answers total)

You shouldn't say anything until and when you have an offer. Then use it to negotiate your start date. It's a completely regular thing for people to have obligations that were previously scheduled and paid for.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:42 PM on March 13, 2015 [19 favorites]

Once you have an offer then you mention it. You might push back your start date or just take the vacation early on. Totally normal.
posted by radioamy at 2:44 PM on March 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Nailed it in one.

ONCE YOU GET AN OFFER you say "I have a previous obligation these dates" and depending on how that falls, either start afterwards or take a week unpaid. If they offer to advance you a week of vacation, it's a plus, but not really required.
posted by Oktober at 2:45 PM on March 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yes. Totally unimportant unless there's an offer, and even then totally routine. Just be matter-of-fact about it.
posted by zennie at 2:46 PM on March 13, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yup. I just accepted a job offer today and when I nailed the initial interview, I let them know that I had a previous obligation that would require me to be out of town for a week in April. They thanked me for telling them and said it was no problem, we could schedule around it.
posted by Kitteh at 2:49 PM on March 13, 2015

I was recently in the same position. It was no problem AND they paid the week after I'd been working two weeks.
posted by readery at 2:51 PM on March 13, 2015

Also, if your vacation creeps up on you and the interview process is going slowly, don't be afraid to give them a heads-up. Just an email or a call, "By the way, I'll be out of the city/state/country/whatever April 12-18, so I may only be in sporadic contact with you during that time. But I wanted you to know I am still very interested in the position etc."

I did that when applying for my current position and it was not a problem at all.
posted by craven_morhead at 3:10 PM on March 13, 2015 [3 favorites]

Everyone is right, and it's perfectly fine to wait until you're hired to disclose your vacation. That said, in the past I have addressed this sort of thing during the interview process. My reasoning was, if this was the kind of position where I would get a hard time from my supervisors for trying to take a week off, that's something I want to know upfront.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:10 PM on March 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Say nothing or else you will look pretty presumptuous, in my opinion. When and if they offer you the job, say you can't start until April 20 because of pre-booked travel. The hiring process takes longer than you think -- my guess is this won't be a big issue and will at most delay your start by a week, if at all. They are not going to ask you to start next week. I wouldn't be surprised if you're a month away from a realistic start date anyway, assuming they hire you.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:14 PM on March 13, 2015

I have run into this situation twice before, and both times I have mentioned it in passing (usually as part of a question about how PTO works at the company) during the last round of interviews, and then confirmed it when I received an offer. I prefer to handle it that way, but I also don't think waiting until you actually have an offer in hand is bad advice.

It's never been a big deal, and if the potential employer is so short-sighted as to make a huge fuss about you taking a little bit of time early in your employment, well, that's valuable information to have when evaluating whether you want to take an offer, should it be extended.
posted by firechicago at 4:36 PM on March 13, 2015

I had this exact situation once and not only did the company not care that I needed the third week of employment off, they let me go in the hole on vacation days so that it was paid vacation.
posted by COD at 5:57 AM on March 14, 2015

As a hiring manager who had recently hired some people, I'd prefer to know before the offer comes up. It also depends on when the vacation is and how long it will be. One candidate was going to be gone for a month in June. That was a non-starter and I would have been pissed to learn about it after the offer.

However, delaying a start date by 2 weeks or so, or even potentially 3 weeks, not a problem.

So, it all depends on the details both of your leave and of the job. Remember, they're trying to sell you on working for them as we as vice versa. So if they really like you and the job can allow it, it's in their best interests to be flexible. But you have to gauge things yourself.
posted by reddot at 6:11 AM on March 16, 2015