[jonneymendoza]

Hi. i am thinking on when it is the best time to go job hunting as i am growing tired and frustrated where i am at the moment and not really motivated that much any more.

I am a software developer and been here for a couple of years now. My dilemma is that i have just booked a holiday to go to the Philippines for the whole of February next year.

I am wondering if i should look for a job now and if i land one will my new employer grant me permission to take that holiday, look in january and try to get a new job before i go on holiday and start in a months time when i come back from my holiday(i still need to give 1 month notice), Or start looking after I come back on holiday?

[Gunhawk]

Hye JM, personally i dont think an employer would be to impressed if you went off for a whole month on holiday so soon, but then again if you informed them about it in the interview then they can factor that in to their decision on employing you.

Id say wait until your back, then go job hunting

[jonneymendoza]

Cool thanks. yea i was thinking of that. I also thinking if i could see if i can land a job just before i go on holiday as even if i land one after my holiday, i still need to give 1 months notice

[Shoka]

Hand your notice in before you go on holiday and use that as your notice period?

[orpheus]

Originally Posted by Shoka

Hand your notice in before you go on holiday and use that as your notice period?

Most contracts have clauses about what you are entitled to regarding accrued days holiday. You can't simply hand in your notice on the 1st Jan and expect to take 25 days holiday as your notice period.

If you'd worked 6 months without taking holiday, and handed in your notice, you'd be entitled to 12.5 days holiday, which could be taken as part of your notice period (assuming annual holiday entitlement was 25 days)

[unique]

i'd suggest waiting until you come back from holiday to look for another job. for a number of reasons really. i'm not sure when your holiday year starts and ends, but if it's the calendar year then you would start accruing from january, so taking a month off in feb would use up more entitlement than you would have accrued or could accrue, so if you leave just after then you may have to repay overtaken entitlement

once you've handed in your notice your employer may not want you to take holidays, certainly not a months worth at once, thus you wouldn't really be working any notice. this depends on your post and employer. some employers are happy about employees doing this, some insist employees use up holiday entitlement before they leave, but in your case you would have only accrued about a weeks holiday entitlement from the start of the year to the end of february, so knowing you are due to leave you may not have the entitlement to take

at this time of year there are normally more jobs available to cope with the peak christmas period. you may find you get a job now, but you are laid off at the start of the year if business is poor. come january/february there is an increase in people changing jobs as part of new year resolutions or after ending xmas jobs, but come about march/april things calm down a bit so if you get a job after you come back from holidays it's possible more secure a post. if you did get a new job now you may not accrue enough holiday entitlement to go away in february, and your new employer may not allow you the time off then, even if you had accrued enough entitlement. realistically if you started looking for a job now and found one within a week or two, and handed in your notice, you wouldn't realistically be starting the new post until january

they way the economy etc is at the moment, waiting a few months for things to get better and settle is probably your best bet. perhaps you can look at alternatives to making your existing job more interesting and challenging?

[dudeness]

I wouldn't bother it's still as tough out there job wise as it was a year ago! Stay where u are for now esp with your holiday coming up, that could be the reason they'd pick someone else for a job over you. What with Xmas coming up it'll soon be January and then time for your month off... Never know, you may be refreshed after your hols and enjoy your job again. Don't throw it away that's my advice.