Dear Andi,
I recently applied for a job and I was hired. I really need this money but I won’t be in Towson for the entire summer. I didn’t tell the manager I would be, but I didn’t necessarily say I wouldn’t. I know that I was chosen over other people, so I feel bad, but I still want it. What do I do?
Sincerely,
-Employee of The Month (Minus Summer!)
Dear Employee of The Month (Minus Summer!),
I think it is fair to say that most of us at the college level have been in that position or at least know someone who has. Whether it be a job back home that you can only work over breaks, or opposite, a job near campus that you can only work during the academic year, your predicament is not unique. My point in saying this is that because this is a common dilemma for students who go away for school, chances are that the business that has hired you has also, at least once, encountered the same issue with another employee.
The best thing that you can do is be honest. Besides honesty being the “right thing to do” it is also an attractive quality, especially to an employer who makes an investment when hiring someone. Honesty is always respected and if you are responsible and honest and let your boss know A.S.A.P. only good can come out of it! I say *only* good because there are no bad options.
Say the employer figures that because you can’t work over the summer you would not be the best choice to hire- then you are back where you started because you couldn’t work right away anyways! That explains the lack of harm in this scenario, but the benefit comes in when considering that they find you to be honest and responsible, but unfortunately they need a worker A.S.A.P. That doesn’t mean they won’t look into hiring you once you’re back in town. At the very least, they can recommend you for your next job. They saw your application and they deemed you worthy to hire. Although it didn’t work out, they can vouch that you are honest and responsible. If you wait until school ends and disappear, you might risk the possibility of not being able to reapply in the fall and also losing a potential recommendation for future applications!
In the best case scenario, they will thank you for your honesty and admire your work ethic even more than they did when they hired you. They may still need someone over the summer, but they could hold you highly enough to reserve a spot for you when you come back! Either way, it can’t hurt you to be honest, it can only help you!
So really, honesty is the best policy.
xoxo Andi