New job offer, letter of resignation

[cleback]

Would you submit a letter of resignation to your old job before receiving a written offer from the new job?

I received a verbal offer of employment from the hiring manager early this week. I accepted over the phone. I asked the manager if I needed to come in and sign anything, and she said no but that she forwarded my information to hr. I took this to mean I'd be hearing from hr. Nothing yet. I'm getting nervous because next week I'd have to submit my resignation letter to my current employer if I am to start on the day that was agreed upon over the phone. In all other jobs I've had an official letter from hr confirming my wages pretty much straight away. Am I just being a nervous Nelly or would you badger the manager/hr for a more official offer?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Would you submit a letter of resignation to your old job before receiving a written offer from the new job?

No no no no no no NO.

It doesn't matter what your prospective new manager says to you: until you get that written offer, you do NOT have a job.

While the odds are good that you will probably end up receiving that offer, you should actually have that offer in hand before you give up your current job. You can find lots of stories in this forum from members--myself included--who were verbally offered the sun, moon, and stars during the interviewing process, yet no official job offer ever came through for us.

IMO, I would wait until you get that offer--and accept it and, even better, get a start date--before you resign your current position.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[Libby1987]

Confirming the offer is important but a concern of mine would be whether this a position that is hard to fill and/or they only want you so will postpone the start date due to your availability?

[cleback]

Confirming the offer is important but a concern of mine would be whether this a position that is hard to fill and/or they only want you so will postpone the start date due to your availability?

Not sure. It's a non bedside nursing job so I imagined there would be plenty of competition... honestly a little surprised I was the chosen candidate. The manager mentioned a few start dates over the phone but we mutually agreed on the one at the end of the month. I'm in a little bit of a rush to start since I'm also expecting and want to get in as much work time before baby. But that also makes me more concerned about crossing all my Ts and dotting my Is and not do anything hasty. The responses here were definitely reassuring that I am correct to approach the offer in a careful manner.

[Alex_RN, BSN]

Would you submit a letter of resignation to your old job before receiving a written offer from the new job?

Never.

Hiring managers are not the last word. Your verbal job offer can go away due to budget, a last-minute in-house candidate, or any random or unrelated reason possible.

[Aunt Slappy]

Let us know when you have an update.

I have never given and would never give notice at my job until I had a final offer and defined starting date in writing for the new one. I learned the hard way how quickly a verbal offer from an ADON can turn into "we've never heard of you, resubmit your application." I did not, by the way. If they had their heads that far up their butts, I didn't want to work there.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I compromised when I was in a similar situation and HR wasn't cooperating. I asked the person who would be my boss to send me an e-mail confirming that I was being hired. She probably shouldn't have done it, but she did -- understanding that I was being reasonable and that HR was not. In this case, not only did I have to resign my old job, but I also had to move to a new state. She understood that I wouldn't want to do all that without something in writing.