Finding a new role while serving a long notice period can be difficult, especially when many companies prefer candidates who can join quickly.
Recently, a full-stack developer opened up on Reddit about resigning from a job without securing another offer after repeated rejections from recruiters over a long notice period.
“I resigned without an offer in hand because everyone wants an immediate joiner,” the caption of the post reads.
The developer, with 4.5 years of experience in Java, Spring Boot, microservices, and React, said recruiters often ended the call after hearing about the notice period, which was 90 days.
“Everyone wants an immediate joiner, or at least someone who is serving the notice period,” the developer adds.
According to the post, most companies were looking either for “immediate joiners” or candidates who were already serving the notice period.
Because of this, the developer said applications were rejected early in the hiring process.
Frustrated by the situation, the developer eventually decided to resign from the job despite not having a new offer.
“Everywhere I applied, I got rejected on the call itself because of my notice period. So I resigned without any offer,” the developer wrote in the post.
After resigning, the developer contacted some of the same recruiters again in the hope that faster availability would improve the chances of getting hired. However, the search for a new role has continued to be challenging.
“I am not good at lying, so I didn’t want to lie about my notice period. I called the same recruiters back. Now they want a joiner within 30 days,” the post adds.
Companies are now asking candidates to join within 30 days, according to the post. The developer said the job search is still ongoing and expressed concern that time is running out.
“Looks like March is also slipping out of my hand now,” the developer wrote, highlighting worries about the situation.
Here’s how people reacted to the post:
Reddit users quickly reacted to the post, with many sharing similar experiences about long notice periods becoming a hurdle during job searches.
Several users said companies often prefer candidates who can join immediately, while others advised the developer to keep applying and remain patient.
One of the users commented, “Did the same thing, resigned in September, and joined a company at the end.”
A second user commented, “Once you reach the last days, you may get more calls.”
A third user commented, “Just focus on upskilling and interview questions theory + coding. Java has too many openings for immediate joiners; you just need to be decent in the interview.”
“Resigned twice without an offer, got calls at the end of the np , last 15-20 days,” another user commented.