By Dilip Saraf

Tweet: When exiting for new job you must heed these. Most deal with them with Unconscious Incompetence. Now, try these hacks.

Clients often come to me to pursue new jobs because of a variety of reasons: No promotions, despite countless promises; bad boss; no recognition for all the hard work and delivering great outcomes on challenging tasks; and so on. During their transition I help them with their résumés, interviews, salary negotiations, and finalizing their offers, including the title that is appropriate for the role they will assume in the new company. You’d think that anyone who has come this far would be now out of the “trouble zone” ready to land their new job and get relaxed about having almost accomplished their mission.

Wrong!

What I observe in majority of these cases is intense client anxiety after all the major formalities are already done and landing for their new job is almost a certainty. What are some of the sources of this anxiety? Well there are many, but the following are the key ones. The reason I list them below is because I find that when it comes to these final steps of a transition, most operate from a state of “Unconscious Incompetence” or Blind Ignorance, greatly jeopardizing their otherwise smooth transition:

1. Reference checks
2. Background checks
3. Counter offer from current boss
4. When to resign to protect the required start date
5. Lurking surprises on day-1 at the new job

In this blog I plan to present some hacks that will allay your anxiety around the final “clear to land” instructions after moving you from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence.

Reference Checks: Avoid giving references early in the process so as not to impose on your valued sources. If you’re doing extensive interviews your references can be approached multiple times when the employers, as some do, start doing this prematurely. So, stave them off by giving only the position and relationship—no names—of each reference when the potential employer requests them too early in the process. That way the employer can ascertain the level of your reference and be assured that when it comes time, such a reference would provide the required background check to clear the reference hurdle.

Yet another strategy is to get some of your key references to write you a LinkedIn Recommendation with enough specificity that, for initial scrutiny by the potential employer, it provides them sufficient assurance to allay their concerns. So, these two factors can be combined to defer premature reference checks by the potential employers.

Before you embark on your transition journey carefully audit ALL your LinkedIn connections and kick out any that may be a source of trouble for you. What has happened in some cases is that early in the process after a candidate was qualified for further scrutiny the hiring manager visited the candidate’s LinkedIn Profile and looked for common connections. If those connections could not provide a clear “blind” reference to your potential boss, you were out of the race. So, be vigilant about who is in your LinkedIn network as common connections.

Background Checks: Most companies outsource this task to some third parties and rely on their inputs to make the final assessments. To prevent surprises go ahead and do a background check by paying (~$45) to get a background report on yourself before you come to this point. This will allow you to preempt any adverse finding resulting from the routine background check, which can put you out of the running. Just Google Background check and pick one source.

In the case of one recent client, as he had reached the terminal stage of the hiring process, he found, to his surprise, that there was an arrest warrant for him because of his failure to appear in traffic court. He found out that the lawyer took his money and never appeared in front of the judge to plead his case, after which a warrant was issued. Since it was a traffic case no one came to his door to take him in, but if he had been stopped on the road the next time, he would have been hauled into jail. Once we knew this we preempted the situation by notifying the company about the mistake, paying the pending fine, and taking care of the warrant. He soon was cleared to land.

 Counter offers: Once you decide to move on and get an offer you should not look back. Many bosses wake up after an employee has exhausted all avenues to remedy their situation and do end runs when they learn about the employee’s departure. In most cases you should not even put your boss through the trouble of going for a counter. The best way to convey this is to clearly convey to the boss—in a face-to-face meeting—that you are leaving not for a better package or a title, but for a better opportunity, which they cannot easily counter. Also, if the boss goes through the trouble of rounding you up a counter offer and you do not accept it, your relationship with that boss may sour. So, preempt that by scripting your exit statement as you resign, so that you do not have to go through that ritual.

Resignation and Timing: Most employees are under the misapprehension that they must give two weeks’ notice before leaving their employer. It is a good idea to give sufficient time so that an orderly transition can be made, but your main focus must be the required start date for your new job. If you are in the middle of a critical project provide your boss an orderly transition plan and offer to be available if any critical need arises after you are gone. This is just a gesture of good will and you will mostly not be called once you exit. Also, phrase your formal resignation letter in a positive tone and thank your boss and others for their support during your tenure, despite all the abuse you endured.

Do not be surprised if you are walked out as soon as you notify your boss, as it has happened in cases where the employee had joined a competitor. So, before making any exit pronouncements wipe out your laptop, BYOD, and other gadgets that you use for both company and personal needs.

Lurking Surprises: Despite what is said and promised during the interview do not place all your faith in what you heard during your selection rounds. Things change, people are misinformed, and company’s priorities shift in a matter of days. So, before you turn in your resignation at the current employer make sure that if you have any afterthoughts and unfinished business despite the lengthy interview process call your future boss and allay any concerns before you resign. This is your last chance before you cross the “event horizon.”

Changing jobs can be an exciting process. Most people focus on the early part of this process up to and including the offer stage, but then are surprised by how they are not able to consummate the transition because of some of the factors listed above. If you heed the advice of this blog then you’re be less likely to be surprised.

Good luck!