You’ve been searching for months and are finally closing in on your dream job. There’s just one problem. The hiring company’s timeline for onboarding you is on a direct collision course with your long-anticipated vacation. Your trip has been locked in for months, maybe longer. 

Preplanned vacations are unavoidable. Itineraries must be coordinated. Transportation and accommodations must be booked well in advance. And the dates are fixed when a vacation is planned around a reunion, wedding, major holiday, or overseas journey. 

Accepting a new job when you have a vacation commitment, especially from June through August, can bring on the summertime blues – for you and your travel companions. 

What’s the most professional way to handle this without putting your dream job at risk? How and when should you address it with your potential new employer or talent recruiter? 

Allow us to help you out here. 

Your predicament is more common thank you think 

If you find yourself in the grips of this seemingly impossible situation, the first thing to do is take a deep breath, or maybe three. Stay calm and know you’re not alone. We can tell you that this comes up quite often during the interview and hiring process, particularly if the process stretches over weeks or months. Most employers and talent recruiters expect that candidates may have pre-existing travel plans. 

Unlike planning and booking a vacation, which we can all see coming months in advance, new career opportunities and job offers are not so predictable. After all, job seekers have no control over the job market, hiring decisions, or hiring timelines. Try to keep in mind that hiring managers and talent recruiters deal with personal commitments and scheduling conflicts just like everyone else. We get it. 

Here’s some solid career advice: If you handle this situation professionally and at the right time, you’ll likely be met with understanding and flexibility from the hiring company.  

Following are a few simple guidelines to help you navigate your timing and approach. 

Top tips on the right time to bring up your vacation plans 

Your timing may be the most sensitive part of the process. In most cases, it doesn’t make sense to bring up your vacation commitment too early. Initial job interviews are about getting to know each other and assessing mutual interest, and talking about vacation time too soon could send the wrong message. 

However, once an employer or talent recruiter clearly indicates serious interest in you as a candidate, or asks about your availability for a start date, and certainly if they make a job offer (even in the first interview), it’s time to have that conversation! This is the time to share your vacation commitment and the dates of your trip. 

It’s very important to frame your preplanned vacation as a scheduling consideration and not an expectation or demand that must be met. It’s also important to avoid being apologetic or defensive. As mentioned, most hiring managers and talent recruiters view preplanned vacations as normal life events. 

Simply let them know your trip was booked before you began interviewing and that you’re excited about the opportunity – and that you would love to discuss the best way to make the scheduling work. 

If you’re upfront, timely, and professional in discussing your prior commitment, it will generally be accepted without issue – provided there is no extreme urgency to fill the role. 

How do employers work around a new hire’s pre-existing travel plans? 

Given this is such a common circumstance in talent acquisition, and because hiring companies need the right talent on their teams, many (although not all) employers offer great flexibility in accommodating the vacation commitments of top candidates. 

Most companies do not offer paid vacation time in the first few weeks or months on the job, and candidates should not expect it. That said, there are many that do offer time off with pay, but this is likely the exception rather than the rule. Whether or not you are paid for preplanned vacation time when you start a new position depends on the policies at your new company and the specific role. 

Here are several options that employers offer new hires today: 

• Set the official start date after the new hire returns from vacation: This is typically the most common and cleanest solution because it allows the new employee to be fully available, refreshed, and focused on the new job. It also avoids disruptions for other team members and daily workflows. 

• Onboard the new hire before their vacation and let them take the trip: This option is usually invoked for short vacations that are just a few days or a week at most; however, it is sometimes unpaid time off since vacation time has not yet accrued. 

• Grant the new hire advanced paid time off (PTO): This option is fairly common for professional and executive roles. The employer allows the new hire to use paid vacation time before it is officially earned. Many companies also negotiate extra paid time off into executive compensation packages, and the time off can usually be taken at will. 

• Take a hybrid approach to working around pre-existing travel plans: Some companies will proceed with the onboarding process by having the new hire attend only orientation and essential meetings before going on their planned vacation. This may or may not constitute paid time off. 

Again, employers are often more flexible with job candidates they’re eager to hire, and accommodating a preplanned vacation is less costly and less time-consuming than restarting a search for the right talent. 

What if your vacation dates don’t work for the hiring company and new job? 

If your potential employer makes it clear that your vacation dates are an issue, then you will have a difficult decision to make. Companies place high value on getting the right people on board, but there may be factors that prevent them from offering you flexibility, such as an immediate need to fill a job vacancy, or critical events that must be attended, or rigid deadlines that must be met. 

So, you may need to be the one offering flexibility. Perhaps you can shorten your trip to make things work. Dream jobs don’t come along every day. If an accommodation cannot be reached and it truly is your dream job, hopefully your family or friends will understand and support your decision to go for it. 

Ease your professional challenges with guidance from an expert recruiter 

To avoid the summertime blues, or any time of year, you need an advocate who is on your side throughout the job-hunting journey and especially during the hiring process – someone with expertise in all facets of talent acquisition and who can serve as a liaison between you and a hiring company. At Goodwin Recruiting, we are that advocate for our job candidates. 

Connect with one of our recruiters today and let us help you navigate the next step in your career.