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Just tell the new gig that you have a big bonus coming that you can’t miss out on and that if they match it you are happy to start early but if not then you want to wait to receive your bonus. They’ll understand.
Employers are generally aware of this situation at this time of year and will be willing to make you whole or wait for you to get your bonus unless it is more than a few months.
Rising Star
Same boat. Explained the situation and they pushed my start date.
I got an offer in late October, accepted around Nov 1, and pushed my start to Jan 1. Best professional decision I’ve ever made.
Just ask them to make you whole on your bonus - if they can’t, negotiate a prolonged start date post bonus payout
It may take a lot longer for the offer to be final than you think. I was worried about an Oct 1 bonus when I got a verbal offer mid august, but the offer didn’t end up being fully signed until like sept 23. You’re getting the formal offer, but you still need to negotiate it, and going back and forth about specific terms could take a week or 2. At that point it will be November and you can say you need 4 weeks from signed offer anyways, and since it’s close to bonus season jan makes more sense to start
Yeah you’ll want to give notice after bonus. Mine was different because it was already owed
Last time I did this years ago I demanded and got 30 days to start after I left my previous firm. I tried to postpone it further, but got “no, we really need you to take over this huge case we hired you for.” But 30 days was good. For some unknown stupid reason, the first time I switched big law firms I didn’t take any time off, so the second time I perhaps tried to over correct my previous mistake.
Pushing into next year is tough if they are on a calendar fiscal year. For budget purposes they likely need you to start this year