In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

Two questions about job market etiquette:

1) Is it considered “rude,” “in poor taste,” or in violation of relevant norms to leave a job after only one year? One the one hand, I believe in employee freedom in a labor market; on the other, I get that people might be offended by this.

2) Is is a valid worry that your current employer might find out that you’re on the market? I would hope that application materials are confidential, but I also imagine that philosophers, like the rest of humankind, like to gossip. Does anyone have experience of their employers retaliating in any sort of way after finding out they were applying out?

Good questions! Another reader submitted the following response:

I had a colleague who we hired leave after one year. I did not consider her rude … I understood her motives quite well. But I am sure some of my colleagues absolutely hated her. We spent a lot of time doing the search, time we did not have. And then we choose her from among a number of fully qualified candidates – she deserved the job, but others were deserving as well. And then when she left we did not get the line renewed. It was lost … for good! So do not expect your colleagues to be endeared to you if they find out you are on the market.

This sounds right to me, but here are my hot takes:

Sure, people will probably get upset if you leave after a year, as they hired you hoping and expecting you’d stay. But you have a right to leave for another job at any time (though if they asked during the hiring process whether you’d stay if hired and you were dishonest, then that seems bad, right?).
It’s a worry for sure, but a “valid” one? I have no idea. I’ve never heard of employers finding out about this kind of stuff through the proverbial grape-vine, and think it would be an enormous wrong for anyone to compromise the confidentiality of a job application. Does it ever happen? I have no idea.

But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? It would be great to hear from people who have some experience with this kind of scenario, both on the job-candidate and hiring sides of things.

Originally appeared on The Philosophers’ Cocoon Read More