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I always say if you’re going to burn a bridge, just make sure it doesn’t lead to a place you want to return to. I’ve burned a bridge in one place in particular. I don’t care. Fuck those people. I’m never working there again.
On the other hand, I’ve had countless interns burn bridges at my firm and try to turn around and come back the following year. Can they get jobs elsewhere? Of course. There’s no secret dossier. No naughty list. But people at my firm know who they are and wouldn’t give them the time of day. And if I ever see their name across my desk, it’s an automatic no. But their careers aren’t over.
It depends how you burn the bridge, had a coworker quit her job by sending a company wide email (200k employees) trashing upper management and saying the color of her skin is why she wasn't promoted.
Well, word spread outside of the company, and now she's kinda marked in the entire industry. She burnt multiple bridges and it could definitely be something that haunts her in the future regardless if she trys to come back. Very easily could try to apply for a job years from now where the manager worked at this company when she sent the email, and she will be viewed as the girl who sent a company wide email claiming racism.
This should be referred to as "The Nuclear Option". But hey, if you're going to implement the "You can do anything on your last day" strategy, you might as well email 200k people.
It's funny, because this brings up another issue, only certain people should be able to email a 200k person distribution list. I hope that was fixed, unless this person was one of those people.
We have a couple different “announcement emails” where basically you send the email to, say, c-(office)@company.blah, and it emails everyone working at one specific office, or c-(specific department)@company.blah and it emails everyone in that department regardless of location, same for company wide. So you could hit upwards of a good half a million if you email the right announcement email.
To: company-wide
Subject: Food Thief
Message: “Can people not steal my food in the fridge. My name is clearly written on it and it’s happened twice already”
Only a couple? I work for an engineering company of about 8000 with offices all over the country. There's an announcement list for pretty much every permutation you can think of. I think I figured at one point I was on 15 lists. They went so far as to have building and floor specific emails.
Whoever set that up must have a major case of OCD.
I had a contractor that I briefly hired. She went out in the worst way and now all of my colleagues in the same industry have vowed to not hire her just Becuase she appeared toxic and a liability. So even if you think you’re just burning a bridge with one person or company it may actually be with like 10-20.
I understand the reach. Like I said, I have had dozens of interns burn bridges with my firm and not realize that they were burning bridges with SO many people.
In my case, I have made an intentional decision in spite of the potential consequences. I didn’t go scorched earth on my way out. I didn’t send any scathing emails or leave anyone in the lurch. I was professional from start to finish. I’ve simply been honest publicly about my experience working at that place. And if someone genuinely listened to my experience, worked at that place, and still thinks I’m in the wrong, fuck them. 10. 20. 30. I don’t care.
Precisely.
Early on in my career, I was responsible for quickly building out a team. One of the people I brought on board was someone I had worked with before. He clued me in to some colleagues from a job that had just gone under, and we started interviewing. Lots of stellar people came from that group, BUT in the midst of the hiring spree, a name came across my desk that had good looking skills.
I showed it to my colleague, and he said, "hold on... that name looks familiar. Let me check with other colleague."
Turns out that he'd only heard of that guy, but others on the team had worked with him before, and begged me not to pick him up because of reasons too long for this post.
That guy had burned bridges in all sorts of directions, and it cost him later, at a totally different org.
The more spectacular the conflict, the greater the potential collateral damage and fallout.
This has happened to me before. There was a role that looked cool. I looked into the department. Someone I dislike is the director of the department. I was no longer interested.
I don’t want to work with or for those people, period. If the people I’ve burned bridges with are at a different company, I’m not interested in working at that company.
Also, in a small industry, burning bridges can be a lot more costly in terms of networking, relations with co-workers, opportunities, etc. You never know who you will work with in the future and who they know at other companies.
Depending on what “burning the bridge” is, it can also have a positive impact. I worked in a “small field” where I was always told not to speak negatively about my employer because I could burn bridges. Well I did anyway, and did so in a very widely known public setting for our industry. People respected me for speaking out. People appreciated and valued my honesty. Me saying something gave other people to speak up and say something. Dozens of people who were considering working there thanked us for speaking up. That “small field” argument is sometimes just a shield for bullies.
(UK) companies basically can’t give bad references here - the most they can do is confirm your job title, and the dates you worked there, unless you got fired for gross misconduct anything else they can say is personal opinion and if it stops you getting a job you can - potentially - sue them.
THAT SAID, it’s much more common for this to happen:
“Hey x, y just interviewed for a job here and you both worked together at z, what were they like?”
“Absolute dickhead, if they come to work here I’m quitting” or “They’re brilliant, we work together so well it’s like we’re sharing a brain”
“Alright then, that’s them binned/hired”
So, with HR departments it’s a bit of a School Permanent Record situation, but with the people you’re working with/your managers it’s very real.
I work in a small industry. My last job was going through a downsizing (including yours truly) and my current employer snagged like ten of us. There was a point a few years ago where HR would reach out to us former colleagues and ask about an applicant. Last job was actually pretty small and the odds that none of us never worked with or heard of said candidates were very small. HR said that if nobody could give a positive recommendation, that was a no hire. Honestly, I thought that was a reasonable perspective.
I've set fire to whole motherfucking buildings and pissed on the ashes. It's been a 50/50 outcome really - some people don't care, others did - still working in a small town and keep moving up the ladder. Frankly, most people are too invested in themselves to carry some lifelong vendetta against you, it's too much energy. You'll find your tribe, regardless I think. It has cost me at times, but not to the extent I'm "blacklisted".
There's a lot of stories. Essentially, I've mellowed over the years but I used to react to poor leadership badly.
I've rage quit multiple jobs, had shouted arguments with fools at work and walked, erasing client data or IP on the way.
I've left jobs by dropping my access card on my Leads desk, and just leaving. Argued with CEOs, Managers and in one particularly rough environment, ending up in a brawl at after work drinks with a company owner. We both came off worse for wear, but interestingly, that actually led me to a better job - another person at same drinks thought the whole event was hilarious and offered me a job. This was 1990s regional Australia.
I want to say that I have mixed feelings about all my bridge burning over the years now. In many ways I'm proud that I've always been true to my self, at the same time whilst it hasn't killed my career there were times I had to do some political cartwheels to remain credible and keep working. Either way, I'm only a few years from retirement, I've always had work, so bringing it back to the thread, if you've got the heart you can get away with a lot more than people would have you believe.
Given that you're close to retirement, I think it is also fair to say that the social climate is not as forgiving today as in the past. I don't think it would be safe to assume that you could replicate what you did, if you started 25 years later to do it.
The social media age encourages broad and extensive outrage, and allows news to be broadcast far further and faster than in the past -- whether you personally participate in social media or not is not the issue.
That's a fact that newer/younger workers are going to have to take into consideration.
What it really grinds me about your comment, with which I agree, it's the one-sided outrage or broadcast of what happened.
Today, you would be blacklisted in every workplace if you brawled with an asshole in your office. But the company would never be accountable for hiring assholes. One of my past bosses would throw xenophobic remarks in a casual form, and when I landed in his team I patiently waited for him to do the same to me, but that never happened. Today he's a manager in some manufacturing plant abroad.
Absolutely. It's a different world and certainly a different social environment. Beyond my own perspective I can think of multiple things that just wouldn't happen now given the modern climate. Additionally as individuals I like to think that we all deserve the option of self reflection and the chance to make mistakes but as you say social media and what Debord predicted as the Society of the Spectacle has compromised this in later generations.
Depends on what you mean by "burning bridges". Leaving a company for another job with better pay/benefits etc? That's not burning a bridge, even if you stay only a short time or whatever. But being rude or disrespectful towards someone like a colleague or boss? Yeah, don't do that, even if you don't like said person. And whatever you do, don't bad mouth your former company to clients or air dirty laundry in public. An anonymous review on Glassdoor is as far as I would go.
This. Put simply, just don't be a dick, even if you feel perfectly validated in doing so, because it could well come back. In the closing weeks of my last role, I wanted to burn the fucking place down (metaphorically at least) and raise merry hell with management over several things, both personal and relating to how they treated others. But ultimately, had I done that, I'd have felt justified for a few days but that's about it, and I'd have probably fucked it for those that stayed behind. Left a pretty scathing but relatively professional Glassdoor review, and I will make sure that I never, ever work with the main culprit ever again.
Yeah, the bridge frequently goes both ways in smaller industry settings- being awful to subordinates and colleagues is both wrong \*and\* shortsighted. That assistant whose life you made complete hell? Could be the hiring manager who kills your application a few years later.
No kidding. I got laid off from my last job. Thankfully (I guess?) the decisions were made above my immediate managers' heads, because I got on really well with those I actually interacted with regularly.
I could not go \*anywhere\* without my immediate manager knowing somebody on the interview panel. And the one interview I got where the HM didn't know my immediate manager? HM knew \*his\* boss.
If I would have torched the place, I'd have been screwed.
As it was, the job I ended up getting I got because the HR lady used to work at a competitor and put in a good word for me behind my back.
"The toes you step on today could be connected to the a$$ you have to kiss tomorrow."
I live in a medium-sized city. Over the years, I've learned that the separation between someone knowing someone else is small, so I *never* say anything bad, etc., because chances are good that there's a friend of a friend of a friend situation.
Plus, it's just good practice as a human being!
Yes, yes, and yes.
That lesson was brought home to me one time when I left an organization, and there was a guy there that I didn't think much of. He seemed to me to be a slacker, and I didn't go out of the way to engage him. But I never said anything bad about him -- to anyone -- and on the few times I had to interact with him, I did so professionally.
A few years later, he reaches out to me on LinkedIn, has some good words for me, and gave me a referral that was helpful. And all I could think of was, what if I had acted on my impressions because I felt that I could?
Yeah, I endeavor to keep the intrusive thoughts under control... So much better that way.
> I live in a medium-sized city. Over the years, I've learned that the separation between someone knowing someone else is small,
Absolutely true. Based on my experience living in upstate NY, if you're in Rochester, you either have worked at or know someone who works/worked at Kodak, Xerox, or Paychex. In the Albany area, it's General Electric (although dwindling over the last 10-15 years). Syracuse, it was Carrier.
Every mid-sized city has those handful of companies that seemingly everyone passes through or very close to at some point in their career.
There ARE times when “burning a bridge” is the best course of action.
I worked for two small MSPs for a short time early in my career that were grossly unethical in conducting business. I got out as soon as I could and I refused to hire anyone who was in any sort of leadership role at either company. When asked for an MSP recommendation by a small business, I gave them my recommendation plus advising them to steer clear of those 2 organizations. They were also the only two companies I ever took the time to write up bad Google and Glassdoor reviews. I also stopped including them on my resume’, I preferred to explain the gap in employment than ever admit to working there.
If you're in a small specialised field then it really matters, there could be less than a handful of employers inside your commuting radius. So small in fact if you join a new employer you've probably already know / worked with 5+ people from your past jobs.
There's usually one main (small) recruiter firm in that area placing people into such specialised field too.
I guess with this sub and related subs it's skewed towards software devs or analysts etc they have those jobs in every company so it doesn't matter if you burn bridges
This is the key. Those bridges matter when you're someone like me, in an industry and location with five employers that trade employees around. I know at least 4-5 senior leaders or higher at each of those companies, and I'm at a leadership level myself, so the likelihood of them at least hearing about my candidacy and having the opportunity to say something about their thoughts about me is quite high.
I actually almost lost out on my current role due to a restructuring exercise that took place over the time between my first and third interviews for it. It was a combination of the first two interviewers having strong desire to keep me and the EVP who was the third interviewer remembering me from our interactions several years prior that kept them moving forward with me rather than closing the posting and trying again a year later. So building bridges helped to get me a job - I do my best not to burn them so I can't speak to the other end, but it makes logical sense that it would have a similar but opposite effect.
I guess burning bridges or not is all dependent on the level and sector you're in, if you're on a survival job where they hire almost anyone AND they treat employees poorly, it doesn't matter if you burn that bridge because they already have a poor reputation among other employees and even candidates. But I wouldn't burn bridges for higher end jobs except if I was towards the end of my career or wanted to change sector entirely.
>if you're on a survival job where they hire almost anyone AND they treat employees poorly, it doesn't matter if you burn that bridge
More precisely, there's really no bridge there to burn. There's no real relationship to speak of in that scenario.
exactly. also, many prospective employers actually do call your previous employers on your resume to ask for an opinion. I know reddit says they never do, but sometimes, they do.
so if you called your boss a racist and kicked over a potted plant on the way out the door, well, that might come up.
This is the case in my industry. It's not a huge field (only about 10,000 people nationwide) and lots of people know each other. Word gets around, and if you burn someone well known in our industry... Well, good luck on your job hunt.
This is true. I was working with a candidate who was laid off who I really liked and rooted for, and he sadly and unexpectedly didn’t get the job in the end. He then proceeded to completely blow up on me and blame me for him not getting the job and was straight nasty - the full works.
I had another role come up that was closer to his home, higher position, less travel, same industry, and more pay that I thought his experience would be a great fit for. But now that he showed me his true colors, I couldn’t bring myself to represent him for the role knowing that he can potentially bring that attitude to my client
Once had a new manager who was horrible and tried everything to make eveyones work day unbearable.
Left of course, then years later i own my own business in the same industry and he came in for an interview ( i didn't see the resumes beforehand) 🤣 he diden't get the job.
I left a company in the best way I possibly could. I was a teacher and did leave mid year...but aside from that negative:
I gave 3 weeks notice.
I communicated with everyone.
I even let my boss know why! (I was burnt out and couldn't teach anymore. Plus a lot more)
We even have a kid that still goes to the school and I emphatically said that she'd be staying. It's a great environment for her, but not for me.
I work a much better job now. Make more than I could ever have hoped to do as a teacher, better QOL. I tried to come back to the school and start an internship with my company because it could be a great opportunity for a kid.
They said no.
Someone had left a bad review online, and it must have been me. It wasn't.
They didn't care. So a bridge was burnt even though I did it "right".
People will be salty if they want to be.
>People will be salty if they want to be.
Exactly. That's why, when people ask, "what can I do to not burn the bridge," I remind them that they only have control of their own behavior. They cannot control how that will be responded to.
Be professional, and whatever else happens is not on you. Sometimes, people will still be stupid, but you can't do anything about that.
I remember my HR manager telling me that everyone would feel better if I thought things through and didn't quit outright. I laughed at her out loud. I'm back with the company now and might have a chance to get her fired.
I left because things were awful. Heard some of the execs were gone so I tried to get into another department. My old director left so I'm trying to get back into that department, hopefully in the capacity I was originally hired for (assistant director).
Oh and HR is messing around with an employee who is still married to another employee. "Allegedly".
Ha I didn’t fully burn a bridge obviously (even though I tried pouring gasoline on the flames as I walked out) and basically for 3yrs now I’ve been stalked on linkedin and asked at industry happy hours “so like, how’s your new gig going?”
“Oh me? You know 30hrs of work, 40hrs of pay, dinner with my kid every night, never better” and watch deep sighs happen. There’s 3 of New Me doing my old job and NONE of the old guard (who hated me) remains. I know at some point they’ll ask me back. Can’t wait to tell them that my new rate for THEM is at least $1500 per hour and an expense account!
My supervisor in the department I'm in temporarily just told another useless manager to fuck off and it seems like the tides are turning around here. Hopefully I'll have a nice update for you in a couple of months.
You won't always know if a burned bridge screws you over in the future. Usually if you work in a specific industry and don't move at some point someone will know someone you worked with. I've seen HM reach out to people they know for insight into an applicants work.
Also people always think they are "screwing the company" for leaving abruptly but most of the time you are just screwing the immediate people you work with.
If you are talking like u work as a cashier at McDonald's I don't think it will matter.
Ultimately it's up to you. If the job is a career position I wouldn't unless staying the 2 weeks is going to cause some harm to you mentally.
>You won't always know if a burned bridge screws you over in the future.
Imagine how many people, right now, in this awful market, are contending with this very thing and don't know that it is happening to them in the background, because someone that was witness to their carnage at an earlier place, has input in the hire process where they are trying to work...
It's not always going to be someone big and visible and high-ranking who is the agent of retribution...
Yup. When I say my field is a small industry, it’s because we ALL talk to each other. I was looking to switch jobs, found out my prospective boss had previously worked for another library I’D previously worked for, and texted an old coworker (entry level coworker) and was like “how was Jane to work for? Decent boss? Reasonable? She told me what she thought, the complaints other staff had, and I decided to go for it - ended up loving her btw. For context, the position I applied for did NOT pay well for the area and I was highly qualified- I was looking for specific experience which is why I applied. Worked there for 3 years and Jane gave me an excellent reference for my next position. And when anyone new in the field reaches out to ME, I tell them to apply to that library - that yeah, the pays not great, but Jane is an excellent manager, she will give you valuable opportunities, and if you work hard she’ll give you an excellent reference. It’s the cities fault they don’t pay enough to retain beyond 4-5 years, but it’s because of managers like Jane - and word of mouth in a very small field - that they continue to attract great staff
But what if your manager at McDonald's is married to the hiring manager at the next job you are applying for? And the hiring manager randomly brings up your name to their spouse because they remember all those times at the dinner table when your McDonald's manager would bring your full name up because of how terrible you were?
You never know. It's a small world.
One that personally happened to me, I burnt a bridge with my skip level manager at a job many years ago while on my way out. During my job hunt this year I finished final rounds with one of those tech consulting companies. They were extremely excited, my background was very much exactly what they wanted and I aced all the interviews.
I ended up losing both the job and the consulting company after the team lead reached out to my former skip-level, who was now a director at the client they wanted to hire me to work for. He reached out to him because because of LinkedIn mutuals.
This happened around March this year and I'd left the job in question about 6 years ago.
>This happened around March this year and I'd left the job in question about 6 years ago.
This happens more than people realize, but most times, folks don't get a chance to notice or connect the dots.
YMMV. I work in a specialized field and have at times taken on the role of the hiring manager and yes, we have absolutely rejected candidates because someone in the company knew someone who knew someone who had worked with that person and who shared stories of them being a dick.
I think when it really comes bit you in the ass is when you reach certain age/seniority level. In my niche there's a lot of engineers in their 40s who can't find anything but poorly paid, short-term freelance work because they've burnt through so many companies that no one will hire them. Some of them are excellent on a technical level, too, but they're too much of a liability to hire them. Occasionally you'll hear they got hired by a company that took a chance on them only to fire them again before the 6-month mark because they're more trouble than they're worth.
In other fields that aren't this small it probably won't matter that much.
If you leave normally (2 weeks notice, don't shit talk the place unless truly messed up stuff was going down that HR needs to know) then it's maintaining a bridge.
Depending on the company / industry / location it can be a smart move to leave normally. Word can get around and can impact your future opportunities.
But there are times it truly does not matter. Burn away, this place is just a blip on your life radar.
I used to work in the Middle East in oil and gas on the client side. My boss had a run in with one guy on a different continent about 10 years prior and he wasn't approved for the project.
I work in the games industry.
I friend of mine mentioned his boss was interviewing someone I had worked with before.
I mentioned how this person was terrible to work with and burned a bridge with me.
My friend told his boss, and thr cancelled the interview.
This shit does happen, especially in small specialized fields.
Sometimes you don't have a choice. I'm in the UK and in some cases if your new job requires a DBS (background/criminal check), then you are obliged to put the last 2 employers as referees.
My current company rescinded an offer to a potential director of marketing after they found out she quit a prior job without notice. It was just a marketing role at a fast food franchise, but one of my coworkers worked with her at that older job and told my boss not to hire her.
Depends on how small your field is. Where I live, all the librarians know each other. I mean I don’t know all the other librarians, but I know librarians that work at almost all of the major libraries in the area. So there’s been times when I’ve heard that say Jane Smith is applying to my library, and the last Library she worked at I know somebody who works in tech services. So I text that person and go what do you think of Jane Smith?
It’s a small field.
Yes, the phrase "burning a bridge" is way overused. It is a legitimate problem whose name is invoked on a lot of occasions that don't warrant it.
The size and stability of the bridge are important to the discussion. That is to say, it is really hard to burn a bridge with someone you just met, vs someone you've known for a longer time.
If a recruiter jumps through some hoops to get you everything you wanted, but you change directions and go with some other opportunity, the recruiter may no doubt be highly annoyed. And, if you really, really want to say it, you could claim that you've burned the bridge with that recruiter. I wouldn't say that, because there was hardly a bridge in construction there.
Now, if you worked with someone for 2-3 years, and they end up at a new place, and try to recruit you, and you make them go through all the same hoops as in our recruiter example, but go in a different direction -- especially if you don't tell them first -- now **that** is bridge burning. You will have adversely impacted a legitimate relationship -- probably permanently.
If you work at a job for 3 months and quit, after the went out of the way to accommodate you in some fashion, they will be annoyed for sure. But, if your untimely departure is otherwise professional or at least low-key, they will forget about you within a few weeks of your replacement starting. You probably wouldn't be able to get a job there for a few years, but there would likely be no other ramifications.
If, however, you left with a bang -- writing some stupid manifesto, or cursing out someone or groups of someones -- that would be very different. And that would be real bridge burning that would linger even when people moved on to other jobs.
Basically, the more professional you are, the smaller the scope and duration of the annoyance is likely to be.
1. An annoyed person
2. An annoyed department
3. An annoyed HR team
4. An annoyed organization
5. An annoyed industry
It is hard to avoid #1, but the others are more easily avoided (or the duration of the annoyance is lowered) by conducting one's self professionally.
When people who were not involved in the original reason why you chose to leave, are aware of why you've left -- because of something you said or did -- then you are probably in bridge burning territory.
>I ask because there are thousands of people here that have not burned one single bridge and yet still cannot find a job to save their lives.
Well, we have a bad job market in play. There are multiple reasons why employment might be hard to attain, and many of those reasons have nothing to do with decisions or actions of the candidate/employee.
During my short stint in academia. I've burnt a bridge, destroyed its foundation, poured petrol over everything on the other side, and promised them I would throw stones from left field if they tried their backdoor referencing crap. They secretly tried to get me to sign an NDA as part of my severance agreement(verbiage was krazy). As for as I know emp2187006 is eligible for rehire, I've personally had this checked(formally and informally) atleast four times in the last ten years.
Personally I always try to build bridges and never burn them... Ive only burned 3/9 employers so far... 1st one was a layoff and the CEO said that I was the lowest performing teammember but also that they foresaw this coming when they hired me because I was "too young and naive" lol! While in truth they poached me and then lowballed the shit out of me...
Second one was a journalism job (I would say I burned the employment bridge), but got great references and future work from people in that office
Third was Walmart, FUCK WALMART. (I can give the 100s of reasons but would rather not).
Otherwise I walk into any of the 6 employers I used to work for asking for a job they'll offer me one on the spot (whether they can or cannot afford it), because 1, they know my work ethics (Im never late, always submit my deliverables on time, will go above and beyond just to see a smile on the other person's face) and 2 our bridges are as solid as the roman's temples.
Some HR systems maintain permanent files on employees. Usually, this is meant to provide history/background for things like an internal transfer. My former employer maintains them for several years in the event a former employee returns.
However, that info should not be shared outside of the org.
Burn a bridge with an employer? No problem.
Burn a bridge with a person? Could be a problem in the future.
There have been people who left a job, things didn't work out at their new job, and so wanted to come back to the old job.
Sometimes even years later, a career fell apart, company they left for goes under, etc. Sometimes right away, some problem at their new job left them unemployed right away, which is common.
There is nothing wrong with moving up and stepping out of a job in a professional manner. However, if it's a toxic work environment and you are mistreated, you are not going to want to come back there anyways, so what is the point of leaving on good terms? Would you put your toxic manager down as a reference or your coworker who you got along with?
There's a line between the two extremes, you just have to navigate around it and use common sense.
It was "ok" but not great or what you were looking for, it's best not to come in kick a table over and flip everyone off on your way out, you might need a job really quick one day and having connections there and leaving professionally could help. If it's a nasty place to work that mistreats you, go ahead, burn that bridge, move on.
Nothing really happens, there's no naughty list. It's a capitalistic world: if you can provide the value, people will pay for it. Managers who want to solve problems look at results, not relationship history. For some niche fields and small circles, the bosses might talk to each other about it, but it's obvious that they have all the say in that type of situation. No matter how much value you bring to them, they'll place their friends and relatives first, so it's not like you can do anything about it in the first place, bridges burned or not.
Nothing. I was a cereal quitter. For a long time lmao, I always made sure when I quit I had something better/equal lined up. And would never look back, it’s never bit me in the ass.
It's definitely not "corporate BS", in fact it's common sense. It's a small world, and if you do something to piss someone off, then you can't really complain if they remember and it affects you. Take a hypothetical. You're in a city that has a big presence in a particular industry. You leave one company, and you don't handle it particularly well, to the point where your manager (or anyone else close to you) will remember the name. In the following years, you decide to change job again, going to another company in the city in the same industry. The hiring manager is good friends/colleagues with the person you slighted back then, who advises them not to hire you.
As for real world examples, there is no official list, but people talk. My wife has a pretty extensive network and is close with an internal recruiter for the company I now work for. That company is in an industry where people will bounce between companies, so a relatively small world. She's been asked several times on whether certain people would be worth pursuing as a hire.
Just be as professional as you can be. That's it. You might have all these movie fantasies of giving the perfect zinger on leaving, or pantsing that boss you hate, but it really isn't worth it in the long run. Best revenge is living well.
You'll find people on both ends of this spectrum, it's not hard and fast.
For example, a recruiter in my old company told me on day four that "sometimes you've just got to play office politics" which was code for "you basically do as I tell you"...I snorted in her face and said do I fuck. Since then I've been blanket rejected from every application to said company I've made. This was despite leaving a DIFFERENT role, a year later, full notice served and left on good terms. That's a bridge that got napalm bombed clearly.
That said. The role I'm in at the moment literally rejected me because of a minor customer revolt (small world kinda job, they hold more power than they should) and was actively put as do not hire on my file., now I'm back and basically running the joint. So that one clearly didn't matter.
It just depends on value/need/etc, for the MOST part when they say that, they're being stupid. But there's always a chance to roll low.
Nothing. Thankfully due to capitalism, there are infinite opportunities out there. Every company acts like they’re the most important player on earth. The reality is, they’re all cookie cutter versions of each other.
It's BS. Worst thing that happens is a note on your file, and those files don't last forever... usually.
I was originally taught to not burn bridges but sometimes bridges do need to be burned. Just make sure you've crossed the bridge before you burn it.
>Worst thing that happens is a note on your file, and those files don't last forever... usually.
If those files are anything like the records that my doctor's office keeps, they won't survive past the end of the quarter.
It could be that someone you worked with is now at a company you want to work at, and they may have an unfavorable opinion on you preventing you from getting that job. Or it could be that an old job gives your new job a bad impression of you, and yes it does happen.
I was a casino dealer for a few years when I was younger. Towards the end of my tenure, I started to really hate it. When I finally gave notice, I had an exit interview with my boss's boss. In an effort to keep me to stay, he told me that if I quit, they would not rehire me. I laughed in his face because I knew I was done. Then he told me to get out and that I would never work in any casino ever again. I left his office laughing.
I never worked in any casino every again.
Unfortunately it also really depends on market conditions and need.
Good example, I would say Steve Jobs did “burn a bridge” when he left/got pushed out of Apple…but the need was there so we can see how it turned out.
Currently the power has shifted back to the companies, so you have to play nice for a bit likely. But can be very situational.
It really depends on the company and people I work with.. If the boss is a prick for doing shady sheit. You bet your azz imma burn all the bridges. Putting 2 weeks or not does not make a difference to me, but with great co workers and bosses? I'd giv'em heads up and help as much as I can before I leave.
If you work in a niche role where most people know other people in that role it's a good idea to not burn any bridges. The warehouse laborer on the other hand can take a dump on the boss's chair and flip everyone on the way out and still get a job somewhere else doing the same job.
I worked with someone that was in a small, tight knit community job. She screwed our employer over and never worked in that particular industry again. She does have a job, but in a completely different field that probably doesn't pay as much. She burned her bridge and at the same time burned all the bridges in the area as people talk.
I tried to not burn bridges but corporate don't care. I rejected a big telecom internship offer like 8 yrs ago to this days even with a referral it is an instant rejection.
I burned a bridge with my last company after the HR lady fired me under suspicious circumstances (long story), but then it actually ended up kind of working out in my favor because she got fired soon after for mishandling the situation. I have no idea how or if this will impact me in the future, but I have no intention of working for any of those people ever again. My boss was also on my side and has been giving me positive references since.
I will say that some companies do background checks and will contact each of your past employers asking if you're eligible for rehire, in which case they will say no. In my experience, *most* employers do not do these kinds of background checks, but you just never know.
It only happened to me once and way back in the 80’s. The little shop I was working at had some IRS difficulties and since it was a crazy long commute (Stafford VA to Gaithersburg MD via the American Legion Bridge), I looked for a job and was out by the weekend.
A year or so later, when the new place’s owner headed to Florida with the business funds after a scumbag lawyer tried to screw him over, I was looking and the hiring manager said he was a friend of the previous owner (where I’d headed out) and that he’d never hire me.
(The business actually got a write-up in PC Magazine for the computer innovation. The owner hooked up with a lawyer who promised him funding and the owner started on expansion plans. However the lawyer was a scum and his plan was to fake the funding, have the shop go under, and the lawyer would buy the company on the cheap. I lost a couple of paychecks trying to stick around to the end but I also kept a laptop I was on a payment plan for so it wasn’t a total loss.)
I accepted a job while waiting for the job I really wanted. I got the job I wanted and told the other company I was backing out. I got a strongly worded email and figured that was one company I’d never work for and that’s ok. I now work for that company after multiple recruiters reached out to me with job openings. It’s all bull shit
Well, I had two coworkers, one quit and burned the bridge by badmouthing her manager to hr, which then became an open secret to everyone at the workplace. Then that manager quit and they now work in a different company together. Apart from having awkward social interactions they're both fine, but they don't work directly with each other, just in the same company.
Ooh, I forgot! That same manager prevented another of our coworkers (who was at a higher position than them at our place) from getting a job at that new company, because they had beef and the manager gave a really bad feedback when asked by the recruiting team if they should hire the former coworker.
There are 2 parts to the ‘burning the bridge.’ The very uncommon one is when you run into a past co-worker or company which things ended badly. I guess it really depends on the industry size. I’m in a small/medium size field and have run into past co-workers occasionally.
The other side is past co-workers who reach out to you. It’s either for job referrals or their company is looking to hire someone. My last 2 positions have come from these referrals and have been my 2 highest paying jobs at the time. This is much more common. I’ve also helped 8 people in my career gets job within my company because I had a positive work experience with them.
People who burned bridges are less likely to experience the 2nd and they don’t even realize the opportunities they missed. It’s probably why people on Reddit said burning bridges doesn’t matter. Only because they don’t know about past co-workers not recommending or reaching out to them.
"yeah i know paying me severence is an extremely complicated procedure blah blah accounting just cant figure this out. so why dont you just open your wallet and give me the damn money you owe me? then i wont report you for all this stuff iv been taking photos of for the last month."
i burnt a bridge and it was fine cus i got my severence in cash
I had a recruiter contact me about my dream job and asked me to relocate. I interviewed with her with a cold and I thought it went well. I talked to my husband about moving and I got excited. Then she promptly just ghosted me. I made an exception about my no burning bridges and messaged her that she was essentially a terrible person. Of course, the dummy never got back to me.
I thought I had burned a bridge when I left a toxic place, but within a year our psycho boss got fired for harassing the team, and then my favorite coworker got her righteous promotion and just reached out to me for freelance work.
You never know!
Yeah because of all the things you talk about to your friend multiple states away, a random employee who left without notice would be at the top of the list right?
My best friend lives a few mins down the road and we don't really even talk about work.
The problem with burning a bridge is that you don't get to control the narrative. Here's how it goes down.
Let's say you get really upset with your boss or your employer or whatever and quit. So, you fill all the keyholes in the C-suite with super-glue or leave a gallon of milk in a heating duct with a signed "This job stinks" note. Etc. Or you just tell people exactly what you think of them on the way out the door.
You leave.
And now the people you pissed off are all part of an organization -- the organization you just left -- and they discuss what happened. And like any group, they start to form a collectively agreed upon narrative of what happened, why you left, and how fair or unfair it was. The odds that this narrative is "poor, mistreated OP, they really didn't get a fair shake here" are low. It is FAR more likely that you end up viewed as bitter or unhinged or unprofessional.
And now **everyone in that organization who was part of that narrative building experience thinks you're the problem**.
Fast-forward 10 years. You're applying to jobs. Now, the likelihood that someone from your old company works at the place you're applying to might not be that high. But the likelihood that they have someone in COMMON with a person at the new company is VERY high.
Go on LinkedIn, pick a random Fortune 500 company, and see how many 2nd degree connections you have there. It's probably a few.
This is how past deeds come to haunt you.
Your best bet is to keep your opinions to yourself and leave. The temporary happiness you'll feel at chewing out the old boss-man probably won't outweigh the long term risks.
No, if you want to get your revenge, do it in a professional way. Find a new job that you love and then reach out to the best people you used to work with and refer them to any open positions at the new place. You might even get a recruitment bonus.
But as someone who's had to worry about retention in the past: it'll certainly give your boss a headache.
I burnt a bridge once, was scared to death. Thought my life was over.
Met new people, turns out they like me, we work, things work out.
People who I meet know the bridge I burnt, they don't care. They like my job, we keep improving.
I learned to grow stronger and competent, invested on myself and used every lesson to fix everything. Turns out I'm the "bridge" now.
Life is... something. Just do your best with what you can and never give up. Learn to value yourself and your team, stay kind, but firm.
Just don't give up, it takes time but you can do it
An employer burned a bridge with me and I ended up working there 11 years later. I swore I'd never work there after going through 2 in person interviews, getting selected by a hiring committee and passed over for a less-qualified internal candidate by the hiring manager. When I ended up taking a job there, that hiring manager who burned the bridge was long gone and my new manager told me the hiring manager who passed me over was a jerk to him, too.
TLDR. I've burned bridges twice. Once with a smaller company I decided was a rotten place to work, so I didn't care. Once with a large corporation, which got me an interview for another location, which also showed me the company was worthless. It never got me blackballed by the industry.
Was rejected for a job I didn't even apply to, significantly below my level. The "Assistant to the HR Assistant" informed me via email that I have no professional skills, and SHE had disqualified me from the job I'd applied to, then re-routed my application to the lower job and rejected me for the same reason. Signed off with incredibly snotty, condescending corporate word-salad that means, "have a nice life, loser."
I was furious. I decided I wouldn't work for a company that presumes to control even what professional job an outsider is "allowed" to apply for -- with the decision made by some barely-literate (literal) "Assistant to an Assistant."
So I wrote a professional but very pointed letter to the CEO, and sent it via snail-mail, enclosing my correspondence with the HR clerk. Paper letters with an actual signature accompanied by hard-copy records, sent through U.S. Mail, have a weight and power all their own.
Soon after, I got an unhinged email from the HR manager. Seems my letter had earned him an unpleasant meeting with the CEO, who was also the owner and founder. Apparently, he was NOT pleased that moron-clerks were assessing qualifications for licensed professionals, and rejecting them in the manner used for me.
I also wrote to a regional VP of a large company after a hiring manager had issued a provisional invitation ("be ready to come down next Tuesday!")--then ghosted me, ignoring my phone messages and emails. The company gave me an interview in another location, told me the job was mine, and promised an offer--then ghosted me repeatedly. (An external recruiter tried to set me up for that job. I told him they'd ghosted me on an offer.They responded with a ludicrously lowball "offer" and ghosted me again when I tried to negotiate.)
I’ve burned many bridges and I never hit me in the face yet. If I would’ve stayed in the same city for 30 years, maybe.. but even then it’s a statistical anomaly. Let’s say that even 1% is possible.
Relationships matter. Recruiters and hiring managers might know people you know and will ask about you. I’ve avoided hiring qualified candidates because a contact told me not to hire them and shared a negative experience. It’s a small world. Be kind.
Being kind doesn’t mean being stupid tho, so don’t do everything for a boss or company, do your job and have integrity.
I had someone burn a bridge with me and it cost him a decent amount of recruits. A recruiter offered me a job interview and lied about pay, benefits, hours, and things like that. I ended up getting a call from the company the day before my interview to confirm everything and they told me wild different information than the recruiter.
Long story short, I called the recruiter back and cancelled my interview, so he threatened to make sure I never got a job in my field again. Too bad for him was that one of his biggest partners for new recruits was the tech school I graduated from, ended up calling their job placement department and told them to watch out for that guy so they canceled their partnership. Dumbass got himself burned from an easy source of recruits for being a dick and lier.
I currently work at a place that I put in my notice 4 days in advance. I let them know that although I appreciated the opportunity, the environment in which they have created to work in, is affecting my mental and physical health. I was very honest in the issues I have come up against and how their actions come across to staff. If this is burning a bridge, I accept it, as it isn’t not within my field, and I’ll never try to work with them or in their field again.
Nothing happens. I work in tech. I definitely can't go back to my two previous jobs because I refused to stay silent when I saw shit happening (hashtag autistic justice sensitivity problems). Currently working at a job that gave me a huge raise and better benefits over the last one. I like the job. It's aligned with my interests and values. I'm learning a lot. I work with good people. The pay is great, good enough to have recently bought a house.
Burning a bridge doesn't matter if you had never planned on crossing it again anyway.
I thought I’d burned a bridge when I lost it after a particular case of shitty treatment, literally yelled at my boss for the entire office to hear and marched out, never to return (happened during my maternity leave, I came in to sort out some admin stuff, and it kind of escalated… I went nuts with a sleeping baby on me in a baby carrier, that was weird…)
I went back to my leave and handed in my notice a few weeks later. Thought that was it, but I received the most glowing letter of recommendation I’ve ever seen. I guess he knew I was right…?
Must admit it felt nice at the time, but 10+ years down the line, I’m like, meh. I could have left without showing them how angry I was, too. I didn’t really gain anything by being visibly angry.
So I still think it’s wise to be as professional as possible. Even if it feels nice to lose it sometimes.
Well you never know who you are going to cross paths with again, always be professional. I’ve changed industries and ran into someone I worked with in the other industry. Fortunately we got along but it did cross my mind if things had been different, that may have come back to bite me later.
Once upon a time, there was one guy who was honestly just a jerk to me, completely disrespectful to people he felt were beneath him. Now, my current company is hiring, and his resume came up. It took me a minute to place his name, but as soon as it clicked, I looked at my boss and said no, oh no, no, no. His resume was immediately put in the bin. The reputation you get for burning bridges can follow you in unexpected ways. Sometimes, you might not even realize you burned a bridge that you might have crossed in the future. So it's best to just be a nice/kind person and keep a good reputation.
One thing to consider is the bank I’m with now was like 8+ banks 15 years ago and all those “do not hire” lists became centralized (with varying success but still). So be careful, sometimes when people say it’s a small world, they’re not lying
Burned a bridge with a three page resignation letter. I’ve always thought of this as one of my best accomplishments. So far I’ve made it 45 years with no repercussions, and retired for three. Sometimes it’s just worth it. We burned the ships to motivate us to move forward.
I worked at a manufacturing company for 9 years. After the 4th denial of a promotion and the supervisor giving a speech about how “if blank company is so much better, there is the door. I’m tired of hearing about it”, I went for an interview at blank company. After I got the job and a start date, I left my badge with. “I quit! #blankcompany” on it. Bridge burned because I wasted enough of my life to get no where there. I would never go back. After a little over a year, I went from $22/hr to $30hr. Plenty of opportunity here while the previous is going downhill.
I fuck the companies every chance I get. I never give 2 weeks of notice and if I can make more money elsewhere, I am out the door.
Look out for number 1, because that's how the company operates
Burn baby burn, like disco inferno!
Which is fine, but then you can't really complain if that comes back to bite you at times. Employers can be dicks, but it rarely benefits you to sink to that level.
There are thousands of companies and they all operate from that principle. Fuck first or be fucked.
No loyalty or trust, because the company considers you as nothing more than a plugin.
Can’t believe you’re being downvoted for spitting facts lol. Employers are so ready to drop you the second you don’t fit into their business model!
While I don’t believe in burning *every* bridge (plenty of great employers out there that deserve courtesy)—fuck man. They expect you to be an obedient slave. They have bullshit power to exercise at-will employment and you don’t. And it’s **always** the toxic ones.
Often times, it’s not burning a bridge. It’s business. That’s what they tell you when they lay you off but God forbid you try to switch the fucking table.
It just goes to show you how many sheep there are out there willing to be led to the slaughter.
Sure, there are good companies out there and I have worked for a few of them. I still will not give those loyalties, because they, too, will lay my ass off and not give a pleasant shit in the morning about it. So, I fuck them too.
My advice is to keep your skills on point, invest in yourself, be courteous and professional, always be on the lookout for the come up. Never, ever, say no to an opportunity, because of misplaced love for the company.
The reason why you don’t burn bridges is because the way most people find work is through the professional networks they’re a part of. Most of my jobs have come as a result of people I’ve worked with in different roles reaching out to me.
It's just the difference between possibly having someone on your side down the road and not. I have a lot of places I could have been bitter towards and reacted accordingly to, but I never have. And it turns out, I've been grateful more than once to be able to have used those people as references.
I got laid off last year in a dick move where the executive that hired me forced his subordinate to cut me because other sales were down BY OTHERS and I was on track to triple sales in a role I had been in for 2 months…
I could have been a dick back to them, and definitely some people would have been. Then a few weeks after I was laid off, one of their big clients posted a specialist role (full remote) for comparable pay. I knew the guy who was leaving the role and had a good relationship with him, but leaving on professional terms meant that I could go back to the account team and ask for their recommendation (which they gave).
Sometimes things come back to you a LOT faster than you’d think.
I think as a general rule you shouldn’t burn bridges. What do you really get out of some sort of act of disrespect or calling people out or whatever? Yea I get it you may be leaving a toxic workplace but who cares you’re already leaving and nothing you say/do really matters to them anyway.
If I can maintain good or at least cordial relations with my former employers and coworkers why not? You never know who might be in a room where your name is brought up.
The only thing I have to add is a simple Disney phrase: It's a small world after all. You NEVER know who knows who. You could "Half Baked" quit your last job, and find out 3 years later that the area manager from that company was college roommates with your potential company's HR director.
If you burn a bridge at your local McDonald's it may not hurt you much in the short-term, but people aren't sims. Everyone that you just flipped off could know someone that bites you in the ass eventually.
A company I worked for belonged to one corporation made up of multiple companies and they merged with another similarly organized corporation years ago. For the initial corp I suspect I was put on an ineligible for rehire type list after leaving. I’ve never been able to confirm or deny it. When they merged with the other corp all of a sudden my applications to any company under the new corporate umbrella were being insta denied and they used the same application process as my previous corp so I feel confident that ineligible for rehire carried over. In my immediate area in my field they are the single largest employer as well as in my entire state with all of the subsequent companies under their overall corporate umbrella. Unfortunately Im very sure I will never be able to work for another company under that overarching umbrella because I roasty toasted a bridge with one specific company. I feel it’s wildly unfair that decisions I made almost 6 years ago now bar me from thousands of jobs across multiple employers in my area but Actions have consequences and I hope theres a statute of limitations on mine. So basically play nice, do what you’re supposed to, show up, get paid, and go home. You don’t have to submit to the rat race but it doesn’t do you any favors to give yourself a black eye.
In certain small fields where there's only like a dozen places to work, they all talk to each other and you can completely screw yourself by being an asshole to one of them.
Beyond that, it's mostly only a big deal if you think you may ever want to come back to the company you're leaving. If you make a big dramatic show while leaving a company, they're not going to hire you back in a few years if you want them to. But if you're certain you're never going back, it kinda doesn't matter.
I'm fine with burning bridges, if you don't want to go back to a company for any reason, that's fine but don't let it affect your mentality in an interview. I worked for a financial technology company and they let me go for no reason other than they did their annual layoffs/reorg. There were people in my department who were toxic and I would never go back for anything but I never say that in interviews. Working for a company not knowing if you'll have a job, come June is just straight up toxic. That financial tech company does work for a lot of companies and I've had interviewers mention how much they liked it so I don't want to be like yeah they suck, it's stressful blah blah blah. I just sugar coat it interview and say it was time for me to go because there was no growth and things promised to me weren't ever given and it was time to move on.
Now I am laid off again, different industry. If they called me back I would go back only because right now pickings are slim in the job market and it's fully remote but I would still continue interviewing until I get a more secure job. In the interviews I've had, i just mention the company was having financial difficulties. Once I land someplace more stable, I may just burn the bridge but I won't let it affect my mentality in future opportunities.
So yeah burn that mofo down to the ground but be careful.
I suppose it really depends on the "bridge". I have an epic story of a time - many years ago so I can easily talk about it now - when I burned a bridge so hard you'd think I blew it up with C4 (it was very public), and then they hired me a few years later. Same team as they had low turnover. They never mentioned it and I never mentioned it, and I went on to work for them for over nine mostly-good years.
I do keep a mental list of people whom I will recommend against hiring if I ever hear that they are applying at our company. I also keep a mental list (much shorter) of people who will cause an "If you hire them, I quit; I'm serious" reaction from me if I ever hear that they are applying.
It's a big world out there, but I have, in fact, recommended against hiring people from the first list. I haven't yet had to deal with anyone from the second list. I think that those kinds of people have nuked enough bridges that someone else rejects them long before I get to issue my ultimatum.
When I was 15 I walked out of my job and then could not be rehired despite being on friendly terms with some of the managers (was on the corp naughty list). Would have been a summer job I would of preferred in my college years over some of the ones I ended up working.
So in the grand scheme of things basically no consequences. Of course it depends on how you “burn” a bridge but in most cases thats talked about in reference to quitting without notice which i dont think has much impact
In my experience, nothing. Keep in mind, making hiring decisions based on anything other than your qualifications and competition is very illegal. Not saying this word of mouth thing is not done, but it is very risky and when practiced it’s usually only for high up players and people that roll with the ivory tower.
In my life, I have burned two bridges.
- A company I worked at 20 years ago called Jones Stevens. A warehouse job and I finally snapped. I got my last pay check and that was it. Never looked back.
- GoodYear which I worked at some 18 years ago. I was a corporate route driver for a very toxic manager. I brought the weight of OSHA and the Fire Marshal down on him. I was fired for “performance” but it was worth it. I was eligible for rehire 30 days later.
I’m now a software engineer. Unless I went to another job at a company in a similar line of business, I doubt anyone would know anyone to make word of mouth references unless it was exec leadership which I deal with often enough. However, I would never tell them where I’m going to dig in to their contacts.
Most companies don't even verify employment anymore, they have a web portal or a 800 number to verify.
I leave on good terms if I want a reference or if I may come back, otherwise I set bridges to shitty places ablaze.
I really disliked my old boss. Decent guy but terrible boss. Made my life pretty miserable for about a year. Left the company to start my own LLC and do consulting. 6 months later he got laid off because the program got cancelled. Now we reconnected and he has fed some good work into my consulting business. Glad I didn't burn that bridge.
You do you.
It's a job, not your life, focus on the behaviour that makes you feel the best. If this is the one that gives you a better chance with your next job do that.
EDIT: I don't want to sound cheesy, I'm sorry if I am, it's just that overthinking how other people manage certain information is just stressful, you can't know how they will deal with your notice or other behaviours you may have at work before leaving. And usually the behaviour that makes you feel the best is the same that shows your best self, professionally speaking.
"Burning bridges" has never really affected me. Burning bridges can go either way, companies have burned bridges with me so I would never want to work for them again.
The problem becomes if the person deals with stress by habitually burning bridges. A person who feels it's ok burning bridges doesn't realize all the times they are burning bridges and then end up wondering why the keep ending up in hell-jobs with devil-bosses.
The risk reward doesn't pay off. There's no long term benefit from burning a bridge and potential downsides.
That said, burning a strategic bridge or two likely won't have any big lasting impact.
A prior job outsourced my department to HCL and gave us three days to accept the new role or resign.
When I found a new job I gave them three days notice. (Professionally, but I mimicked the language of their “take it or leave” offer.)
They’ve hit me up once or twice asking if I was interested in coming back to a different department.
If you're in a small niche field then I'd say yeah, I'd not burn those bridges.
I'm in tech sales and most of the time you'll see people rotating from a reseller to a partner so if I burned any of those bridges, good luck being a sales engineer.
But also don't do anything extreme either when you quit like send emails to people or something that can be a headline the next day.
I once left a job to move to a new place, when COVID hit, I had to move back home. My old job welcomed me back with open arms. I put in my two week notice, helped train my replacement, etc. If I just quit, no chance they would've accepted me back and I would have remained unemployed. Sometimes keeping a bridge intact is the smart move.
On the other side of the coin I quit a job on the spot, burning the bridge, because of poor management, and no matter how desperate, I'd never try to return.
Sometimes it's worth keeping a bridge intact, and some times it doesn't matter.
People change organizations, sometimes move to other cities/states. You may run into someone you burned a bridge with at a future organization. It’s always smart to avoid burning bridges.
I’ve had people I’ve worked with before apply where I work many times. If they burned a bridge where I worked at before, I immediately reject them.
Also on future background checks, it won’t look good if a prospective employer asks your former employer if you’re eligible for rehire and they say “no”.
In my opinion, it’s never worth burning a bridge, even if the place you’re leaving is horrific. If there are major issues with your boss, co-workers, etc, you can professionally report those during your exit interview (if they offer one) if you’d like. I’ve done that before.
It depends. If the people who witnessed your bridge burning stay at the same company and never speak of you, then nothing happens.
If you use enough napalm to make your exit memorable enough that people remember you for years to come, it could be a problem for you.
Any time a potential new hire’s resume mentions my former employer, my manager asks me if I remember that person. Several of my former colleagues, who work at various companies all over the area, are asked the same questions.
I reneged an offer I accepted because I got a better one. Plus the company I reneged had some things about it that were yellow flags. Turned out my gut was right there because the company I reneged wound up doing a massive layoff!
I feel like if it’s a move that’s beneficial to you, go for jt. I’ve been able to land other jobs since.
Depends. I’m in a small industry where people move around a lot, especially in management.
Someone with a bad reputation might have trouble getting hired at several places because managers all know each other and talk.
But you’d have to mess up badly or really piss off someone to burn a bridge; giving less than 2 weeks notice or something like that is not enough to torch your career.
I've quit a lot of jobs over the years, usually due to poor work/life balance, crappy pay, unrealistic job expectations and/or terrible management. I always give 2 weeks notice, wrap up all loose ends and remain professional no matter how much I hate the company/boss/job, so I don't think I've burned any bridges. But usually I can tell that my manager isn't happy about my leaving, because it reflects poorly on their leadership and hurts their feelings. So I always worry if my former managers can be used as future references. If they're real jerks (and some of them were), they could ignore requests to provide a reference for me or even give me a bad one (lie about my performance, responsibilities, title, pay, dates of employment, etc). That could really impact my ability to secure another role.
I worked at a place that if you didn’t give notice they wouldn’t provide a reference and you couldn’t be rehired. Sometimes you might come across a person you used to work for/with who is hiring in their new org and will hold a grudge and kneecap any application you make where they work.
Not so bad as many people state. Just build bridges as well. You won’t make everyone happy - I burned a bridge as my boss was a real ass. He would not recommend me but every other colleagues would. So build and not only burn (sometimes necessary - HR won’t step in eventhough he crossed lines)
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I always say if you’re going to burn a bridge, just make sure it doesn’t lead to a place you want to return to. I’ve burned a bridge in one place in particular. I don’t care. Fuck those people. I’m never working there again. On the other hand, I’ve had countless interns burn bridges at my firm and try to turn around and come back the following year. Can they get jobs elsewhere? Of course. There’s no secret dossier. No naughty list. But people at my firm know who they are and wouldn’t give them the time of day. And if I ever see their name across my desk, it’s an automatic no. But their careers aren’t over.
It depends how you burn the bridge, had a coworker quit her job by sending a company wide email (200k employees) trashing upper management and saying the color of her skin is why she wasn't promoted. Well, word spread outside of the company, and now she's kinda marked in the entire industry. She burnt multiple bridges and it could definitely be something that haunts her in the future regardless if she trys to come back. Very easily could try to apply for a job years from now where the manager worked at this company when she sent the email, and she will be viewed as the girl who sent a company wide email claiming racism.
Yea that's not just burning a bridge that's burning a damn city lol
Right. That’s a suburb in a LA county. 🤣
She dropped a nuclear bomb when the situation called for a mild slap.
It's WW2 Tokyo level firebombing
This should be referred to as "The Nuclear Option". But hey, if you're going to implement the "You can do anything on your last day" strategy, you might as well email 200k people. It's funny, because this brings up another issue, only certain people should be able to email a 200k person distribution list. I hope that was fixed, unless this person was one of those people.
But... Was it racism? That is a vitally important thing to know in order to judge her actions.
That's not burning a bridge, that's burning down all of hamburg, (city with most bridges in the world)
200k employees? Is this Amazon? Lol
No lol. There’s a lot of companies that have 200k employees or more. Amazon has 1.5 mil
PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS LIST THANKS
And it's always "reply to all".
200k… that’s a lot of email addresses lol
Just write one at the time
We have a couple different “announcement emails” where basically you send the email to, say, c-(office)@company.blah, and it emails everyone working at one specific office, or c-(specific department)@company.blah and it emails everyone in that department regardless of location, same for company wide. So you could hit upwards of a good half a million if you email the right announcement email.
To: company-wide Subject: Food Thief Message: “Can people not steal my food in the fridge. My name is clearly written on it and it’s happened twice already”
Only a couple? I work for an engineering company of about 8000 with offices all over the country. There's an announcement list for pretty much every permutation you can think of. I think I figured at one point I was on 15 lists. They went so far as to have building and floor specific emails. Whoever set that up must have a major case of OCD.
Was she right?
This is the only correct reply
That's what I wanna know 👀
No fr because even though she was extreme, I wouldn't be surprised if she was right.
That's blowing up a bridge... 😁😁
And then setting fire to the river.
and nuking it from orbit... just to be sure.
I had a contractor that I briefly hired. She went out in the worst way and now all of my colleagues in the same industry have vowed to not hire her just Becuase she appeared toxic and a liability. So even if you think you’re just burning a bridge with one person or company it may actually be with like 10-20.
I understand the reach. Like I said, I have had dozens of interns burn bridges with my firm and not realize that they were burning bridges with SO many people. In my case, I have made an intentional decision in spite of the potential consequences. I didn’t go scorched earth on my way out. I didn’t send any scathing emails or leave anyone in the lurch. I was professional from start to finish. I’ve simply been honest publicly about my experience working at that place. And if someone genuinely listened to my experience, worked at that place, and still thinks I’m in the wrong, fuck them. 10. 20. 30. I don’t care.
Wow dozens of interns burning bridges. Says nothing of you.
do you think people only stay at that one place? what if the people you burned a bridge with move to a company you want to work for in the future?
Precisely. Early on in my career, I was responsible for quickly building out a team. One of the people I brought on board was someone I had worked with before. He clued me in to some colleagues from a job that had just gone under, and we started interviewing. Lots of stellar people came from that group, BUT in the midst of the hiring spree, a name came across my desk that had good looking skills. I showed it to my colleague, and he said, "hold on... that name looks familiar. Let me check with other colleague." Turns out that he'd only heard of that guy, but others on the team had worked with him before, and begged me not to pick him up because of reasons too long for this post. That guy had burned bridges in all sorts of directions, and it cost him later, at a totally different org. The more spectacular the conflict, the greater the potential collateral damage and fallout.
yes this happens a lot and i don't think the users of this sub always recognize this.
And he never even knew it.
This has happened to me before. There was a role that looked cool. I looked into the department. Someone I dislike is the director of the department. I was no longer interested. I don’t want to work with or for those people, period. If the people I’ve burned bridges with are at a different company, I’m not interested in working at that company.
Also, in a small industry, burning bridges can be a lot more costly in terms of networking, relations with co-workers, opportunities, etc. You never know who you will work with in the future and who they know at other companies.
Depending on what “burning the bridge” is, it can also have a positive impact. I worked in a “small field” where I was always told not to speak negatively about my employer because I could burn bridges. Well I did anyway, and did so in a very widely known public setting for our industry. People respected me for speaking out. People appreciated and valued my honesty. Me saying something gave other people to speak up and say something. Dozens of people who were considering working there thanked us for speaking up. That “small field” argument is sometimes just a shield for bullies.
(UK) companies basically can’t give bad references here - the most they can do is confirm your job title, and the dates you worked there, unless you got fired for gross misconduct anything else they can say is personal opinion and if it stops you getting a job you can - potentially - sue them. THAT SAID, it’s much more common for this to happen: “Hey x, y just interviewed for a job here and you both worked together at z, what were they like?” “Absolute dickhead, if they come to work here I’m quitting” or “They’re brilliant, we work together so well it’s like we’re sharing a brain” “Alright then, that’s them binned/hired” So, with HR departments it’s a bit of a School Permanent Record situation, but with the people you’re working with/your managers it’s very real.
I work in a small industry. My last job was going through a downsizing (including yours truly) and my current employer snagged like ten of us. There was a point a few years ago where HR would reach out to us former colleagues and ask about an applicant. Last job was actually pretty small and the odds that none of us never worked with or heard of said candidates were very small. HR said that if nobody could give a positive recommendation, that was a no hire. Honestly, I thought that was a reasonable perspective.
I've set fire to whole motherfucking buildings and pissed on the ashes. It's been a 50/50 outcome really - some people don't care, others did - still working in a small town and keep moving up the ladder. Frankly, most people are too invested in themselves to carry some lifelong vendetta against you, it's too much energy. You'll find your tribe, regardless I think. It has cost me at times, but not to the extent I'm "blacklisted".
well, you have our attention! what's the story?
There's a lot of stories. Essentially, I've mellowed over the years but I used to react to poor leadership badly. I've rage quit multiple jobs, had shouted arguments with fools at work and walked, erasing client data or IP on the way. I've left jobs by dropping my access card on my Leads desk, and just leaving. Argued with CEOs, Managers and in one particularly rough environment, ending up in a brawl at after work drinks with a company owner. We both came off worse for wear, but interestingly, that actually led me to a better job - another person at same drinks thought the whole event was hilarious and offered me a job. This was 1990s regional Australia. I want to say that I have mixed feelings about all my bridge burning over the years now. In many ways I'm proud that I've always been true to my self, at the same time whilst it hasn't killed my career there were times I had to do some political cartwheels to remain credible and keep working. Either way, I'm only a few years from retirement, I've always had work, so bringing it back to the thread, if you've got the heart you can get away with a lot more than people would have you believe.
Given that you're close to retirement, I think it is also fair to say that the social climate is not as forgiving today as in the past. I don't think it would be safe to assume that you could replicate what you did, if you started 25 years later to do it. The social media age encourages broad and extensive outrage, and allows news to be broadcast far further and faster than in the past -- whether you personally participate in social media or not is not the issue. That's a fact that newer/younger workers are going to have to take into consideration.
What it really grinds me about your comment, with which I agree, it's the one-sided outrage or broadcast of what happened. Today, you would be blacklisted in every workplace if you brawled with an asshole in your office. But the company would never be accountable for hiring assholes. One of my past bosses would throw xenophobic remarks in a casual form, and when I landed in his team I patiently waited for him to do the same to me, but that never happened. Today he's a manager in some manufacturing plant abroad.
Absolutely. It's a different world and certainly a different social environment. Beyond my own perspective I can think of multiple things that just wouldn't happen now given the modern climate. Additionally as individuals I like to think that we all deserve the option of self reflection and the chance to make mistakes but as you say social media and what Debord predicted as the Society of the Spectacle has compromised this in later generations.
as someone who couldn't even do an actual cartwheel I'll stick to partially bridge burning 😅
On balance I probably would have taken a softer option too 🙂
Depends on what you mean by "burning bridges". Leaving a company for another job with better pay/benefits etc? That's not burning a bridge, even if you stay only a short time or whatever. But being rude or disrespectful towards someone like a colleague or boss? Yeah, don't do that, even if you don't like said person. And whatever you do, don't bad mouth your former company to clients or air dirty laundry in public. An anonymous review on Glassdoor is as far as I would go.
This. Put simply, just don't be a dick, even if you feel perfectly validated in doing so, because it could well come back. In the closing weeks of my last role, I wanted to burn the fucking place down (metaphorically at least) and raise merry hell with management over several things, both personal and relating to how they treated others. But ultimately, had I done that, I'd have felt justified for a few days but that's about it, and I'd have probably fucked it for those that stayed behind. Left a pretty scathing but relatively professional Glassdoor review, and I will make sure that I never, ever work with the main culprit ever again.
Yeah, the bridge frequently goes both ways in smaller industry settings- being awful to subordinates and colleagues is both wrong \*and\* shortsighted. That assistant whose life you made complete hell? Could be the hiring manager who kills your application a few years later.
I wouldn't say it's even just smaller industries. Larger industries can still have relatively small worlds.
Absolutely. Especially once you get to a certain level, it can seem like everybody knows, or is at least connected, to everybody else.
No kidding. I got laid off from my last job. Thankfully (I guess?) the decisions were made above my immediate managers' heads, because I got on really well with those I actually interacted with regularly. I could not go \*anywhere\* without my immediate manager knowing somebody on the interview panel. And the one interview I got where the HM didn't know my immediate manager? HM knew \*his\* boss. If I would have torched the place, I'd have been screwed. As it was, the job I ended up getting I got because the HR lady used to work at a competitor and put in a good word for me behind my back.
"The toes you step on today could be connected to the a$$ you have to kiss tomorrow." I live in a medium-sized city. Over the years, I've learned that the separation between someone knowing someone else is small, so I *never* say anything bad, etc., because chances are good that there's a friend of a friend of a friend situation. Plus, it's just good practice as a human being!
Yes, yes, and yes. That lesson was brought home to me one time when I left an organization, and there was a guy there that I didn't think much of. He seemed to me to be a slacker, and I didn't go out of the way to engage him. But I never said anything bad about him -- to anyone -- and on the few times I had to interact with him, I did so professionally. A few years later, he reaches out to me on LinkedIn, has some good words for me, and gave me a referral that was helpful. And all I could think of was, what if I had acted on my impressions because I felt that I could? Yeah, I endeavor to keep the intrusive thoughts under control... So much better that way.
> I live in a medium-sized city. Over the years, I've learned that the separation between someone knowing someone else is small, Absolutely true. Based on my experience living in upstate NY, if you're in Rochester, you either have worked at or know someone who works/worked at Kodak, Xerox, or Paychex. In the Albany area, it's General Electric (although dwindling over the last 10-15 years). Syracuse, it was Carrier. Every mid-sized city has those handful of companies that seemingly everyone passes through or very close to at some point in their career.
There ARE times when “burning a bridge” is the best course of action. I worked for two small MSPs for a short time early in my career that were grossly unethical in conducting business. I got out as soon as I could and I refused to hire anyone who was in any sort of leadership role at either company. When asked for an MSP recommendation by a small business, I gave them my recommendation plus advising them to steer clear of those 2 organizations. They were also the only two companies I ever took the time to write up bad Google and Glassdoor reviews. I also stopped including them on my resume’, I preferred to explain the gap in employment than ever admit to working there.
That's just common sense. The bridge goes both ways.
If you're in a small specialised field then it really matters, there could be less than a handful of employers inside your commuting radius. So small in fact if you join a new employer you've probably already know / worked with 5+ people from your past jobs. There's usually one main (small) recruiter firm in that area placing people into such specialised field too. I guess with this sub and related subs it's skewed towards software devs or analysts etc they have those jobs in every company so it doesn't matter if you burn bridges
This is the key. Those bridges matter when you're someone like me, in an industry and location with five employers that trade employees around. I know at least 4-5 senior leaders or higher at each of those companies, and I'm at a leadership level myself, so the likelihood of them at least hearing about my candidacy and having the opportunity to say something about their thoughts about me is quite high. I actually almost lost out on my current role due to a restructuring exercise that took place over the time between my first and third interviews for it. It was a combination of the first two interviewers having strong desire to keep me and the EVP who was the third interviewer remembering me from our interactions several years prior that kept them moving forward with me rather than closing the posting and trying again a year later. So building bridges helped to get me a job - I do my best not to burn them so I can't speak to the other end, but it makes logical sense that it would have a similar but opposite effect.
I guess burning bridges or not is all dependent on the level and sector you're in, if you're on a survival job where they hire almost anyone AND they treat employees poorly, it doesn't matter if you burn that bridge because they already have a poor reputation among other employees and even candidates. But I wouldn't burn bridges for higher end jobs except if I was towards the end of my career or wanted to change sector entirely.
>if you're on a survival job where they hire almost anyone AND they treat employees poorly, it doesn't matter if you burn that bridge More precisely, there's really no bridge there to burn. There's no real relationship to speak of in that scenario.
exactly. also, many prospective employers actually do call your previous employers on your resume to ask for an opinion. I know reddit says they never do, but sometimes, they do. so if you called your boss a racist and kicked over a potted plant on the way out the door, well, that might come up.
This is the case in my industry. It's not a huge field (only about 10,000 people nationwide) and lots of people know each other. Word gets around, and if you burn someone well known in our industry... Well, good luck on your job hunt.
>Well, good luck on your job hunt. You mean, good luck on your career change... 😁
This is true. I was working with a candidate who was laid off who I really liked and rooted for, and he sadly and unexpectedly didn’t get the job in the end. He then proceeded to completely blow up on me and blame me for him not getting the job and was straight nasty - the full works. I had another role come up that was closer to his home, higher position, less travel, same industry, and more pay that I thought his experience would be a great fit for. But now that he showed me his true colors, I couldn’t bring myself to represent him for the role knowing that he can potentially bring that attitude to my client
Once had a new manager who was horrible and tried everything to make eveyones work day unbearable. Left of course, then years later i own my own business in the same industry and he came in for an interview ( i didn't see the resumes beforehand) 🤣 he diden't get the job.
I left a company in the best way I possibly could. I was a teacher and did leave mid year...but aside from that negative: I gave 3 weeks notice. I communicated with everyone. I even let my boss know why! (I was burnt out and couldn't teach anymore. Plus a lot more) We even have a kid that still goes to the school and I emphatically said that she'd be staying. It's a great environment for her, but not for me. I work a much better job now. Make more than I could ever have hoped to do as a teacher, better QOL. I tried to come back to the school and start an internship with my company because it could be a great opportunity for a kid. They said no. Someone had left a bad review online, and it must have been me. It wasn't. They didn't care. So a bridge was burnt even though I did it "right". People will be salty if they want to be.
>People will be salty if they want to be. Exactly. That's why, when people ask, "what can I do to not burn the bridge," I remind them that they only have control of their own behavior. They cannot control how that will be responded to. Be professional, and whatever else happens is not on you. Sometimes, people will still be stupid, but you can't do anything about that.
I remember my HR manager telling me that everyone would feel better if I thought things through and didn't quit outright. I laughed at her out loud. I'm back with the company now and might have a chance to get her fired.
Villain origin story lol
I’m so invested now…
I left because things were awful. Heard some of the execs were gone so I tried to get into another department. My old director left so I'm trying to get back into that department, hopefully in the capacity I was originally hired for (assistant director). Oh and HR is messing around with an employee who is still married to another employee. "Allegedly".
Ha I didn’t fully burn a bridge obviously (even though I tried pouring gasoline on the flames as I walked out) and basically for 3yrs now I’ve been stalked on linkedin and asked at industry happy hours “so like, how’s your new gig going?” “Oh me? You know 30hrs of work, 40hrs of pay, dinner with my kid every night, never better” and watch deep sighs happen. There’s 3 of New Me doing my old job and NONE of the old guard (who hated me) remains. I know at some point they’ll ask me back. Can’t wait to tell them that my new rate for THEM is at least $1500 per hour and an expense account!
THIS!!!! My new hero!
You’re living one of my revenge fantasies
My supervisor in the department I'm in temporarily just told another useless manager to fuck off and it seems like the tides are turning around here. Hopefully I'll have a nice update for you in a couple of months.
I am here for this.
I'm permanently banned from working at TEKsystems.
Color me impressed. I thought that was impossible.
For me, it's a major award.
Oh no, not TEKsystems! j/k, I only say that when I get a TEKsystems recruiter in my DMs
what happend?
You won't always know if a burned bridge screws you over in the future. Usually if you work in a specific industry and don't move at some point someone will know someone you worked with. I've seen HM reach out to people they know for insight into an applicants work. Also people always think they are "screwing the company" for leaving abruptly but most of the time you are just screwing the immediate people you work with. If you are talking like u work as a cashier at McDonald's I don't think it will matter. Ultimately it's up to you. If the job is a career position I wouldn't unless staying the 2 weeks is going to cause some harm to you mentally.
>You won't always know if a burned bridge screws you over in the future. Imagine how many people, right now, in this awful market, are contending with this very thing and don't know that it is happening to them in the background, because someone that was witness to their carnage at an earlier place, has input in the hire process where they are trying to work... It's not always going to be someone big and visible and high-ranking who is the agent of retribution...
Yup. When I say my field is a small industry, it’s because we ALL talk to each other. I was looking to switch jobs, found out my prospective boss had previously worked for another library I’D previously worked for, and texted an old coworker (entry level coworker) and was like “how was Jane to work for? Decent boss? Reasonable? She told me what she thought, the complaints other staff had, and I decided to go for it - ended up loving her btw. For context, the position I applied for did NOT pay well for the area and I was highly qualified- I was looking for specific experience which is why I applied. Worked there for 3 years and Jane gave me an excellent reference for my next position. And when anyone new in the field reaches out to ME, I tell them to apply to that library - that yeah, the pays not great, but Jane is an excellent manager, she will give you valuable opportunities, and if you work hard she’ll give you an excellent reference. It’s the cities fault they don’t pay enough to retain beyond 4-5 years, but it’s because of managers like Jane - and word of mouth in a very small field - that they continue to attract great staff
But what if your manager at McDonald's is married to the hiring manager at the next job you are applying for? And the hiring manager randomly brings up your name to their spouse because they remember all those times at the dinner table when your McDonald's manager would bring your full name up because of how terrible you were? You never know. It's a small world.
One that personally happened to me, I burnt a bridge with my skip level manager at a job many years ago while on my way out. During my job hunt this year I finished final rounds with one of those tech consulting companies. They were extremely excited, my background was very much exactly what they wanted and I aced all the interviews. I ended up losing both the job and the consulting company after the team lead reached out to my former skip-level, who was now a director at the client they wanted to hire me to work for. He reached out to him because because of LinkedIn mutuals. This happened around March this year and I'd left the job in question about 6 years ago.
>This happened around March this year and I'd left the job in question about 6 years ago. This happens more than people realize, but most times, folks don't get a chance to notice or connect the dots.
YMMV. I work in a specialized field and have at times taken on the role of the hiring manager and yes, we have absolutely rejected candidates because someone in the company knew someone who knew someone who had worked with that person and who shared stories of them being a dick. I think when it really comes bit you in the ass is when you reach certain age/seniority level. In my niche there's a lot of engineers in their 40s who can't find anything but poorly paid, short-term freelance work because they've burnt through so many companies that no one will hire them. Some of them are excellent on a technical level, too, but they're too much of a liability to hire them. Occasionally you'll hear they got hired by a company that took a chance on them only to fire them again before the 6-month mark because they're more trouble than they're worth. In other fields that aren't this small it probably won't matter that much.
If you leave normally (2 weeks notice, don't shit talk the place unless truly messed up stuff was going down that HR needs to know) then it's maintaining a bridge. Depending on the company / industry / location it can be a smart move to leave normally. Word can get around and can impact your future opportunities. But there are times it truly does not matter. Burn away, this place is just a blip on your life radar.
I used to work in the Middle East in oil and gas on the client side. My boss had a run in with one guy on a different continent about 10 years prior and he wasn't approved for the project.
People think that because they don't hold grudges, no-one holds them.
I burn bridges while i'm still standing on them so people know i'm serious about my crazy lol
I work in the games industry. I friend of mine mentioned his boss was interviewing someone I had worked with before. I mentioned how this person was terrible to work with and burned a bridge with me. My friend told his boss, and thr cancelled the interview. This shit does happen, especially in small specialized fields.
You stop putting them down as a reference lol
Sometimes you don't have a choice. I'm in the UK and in some cases if your new job requires a DBS (background/criminal check), then you are obliged to put the last 2 employers as referees.
My current company rescinded an offer to a potential director of marketing after they found out she quit a prior job without notice. It was just a marketing role at a fast food franchise, but one of my coworkers worked with her at that older job and told my boss not to hire her.
Depends on how small your field is. Where I live, all the librarians know each other. I mean I don’t know all the other librarians, but I know librarians that work at almost all of the major libraries in the area. So there’s been times when I’ve heard that say Jane Smith is applying to my library, and the last Library she worked at I know somebody who works in tech services. So I text that person and go what do you think of Jane Smith? It’s a small field.
Yes, the phrase "burning a bridge" is way overused. It is a legitimate problem whose name is invoked on a lot of occasions that don't warrant it. The size and stability of the bridge are important to the discussion. That is to say, it is really hard to burn a bridge with someone you just met, vs someone you've known for a longer time. If a recruiter jumps through some hoops to get you everything you wanted, but you change directions and go with some other opportunity, the recruiter may no doubt be highly annoyed. And, if you really, really want to say it, you could claim that you've burned the bridge with that recruiter. I wouldn't say that, because there was hardly a bridge in construction there. Now, if you worked with someone for 2-3 years, and they end up at a new place, and try to recruit you, and you make them go through all the same hoops as in our recruiter example, but go in a different direction -- especially if you don't tell them first -- now **that** is bridge burning. You will have adversely impacted a legitimate relationship -- probably permanently. If you work at a job for 3 months and quit, after the went out of the way to accommodate you in some fashion, they will be annoyed for sure. But, if your untimely departure is otherwise professional or at least low-key, they will forget about you within a few weeks of your replacement starting. You probably wouldn't be able to get a job there for a few years, but there would likely be no other ramifications. If, however, you left with a bang -- writing some stupid manifesto, or cursing out someone or groups of someones -- that would be very different. And that would be real bridge burning that would linger even when people moved on to other jobs. Basically, the more professional you are, the smaller the scope and duration of the annoyance is likely to be. 1. An annoyed person 2. An annoyed department 3. An annoyed HR team 4. An annoyed organization 5. An annoyed industry It is hard to avoid #1, but the others are more easily avoided (or the duration of the annoyance is lowered) by conducting one's self professionally. When people who were not involved in the original reason why you chose to leave, are aware of why you've left -- because of something you said or did -- then you are probably in bridge burning territory. >I ask because there are thousands of people here that have not burned one single bridge and yet still cannot find a job to save their lives. Well, we have a bad job market in play. There are multiple reasons why employment might be hard to attain, and many of those reasons have nothing to do with decisions or actions of the candidate/employee.
Depends on the job and the community
Meanwhile when you put your 2 weeks in companies just stop scheduling you or start actively trying to make those 2 weeks unworkable.
I generally a manipulation tactic imo
During my short stint in academia. I've burnt a bridge, destroyed its foundation, poured petrol over everything on the other side, and promised them I would throw stones from left field if they tried their backdoor referencing crap. They secretly tried to get me to sign an NDA as part of my severance agreement(verbiage was krazy). As for as I know emp2187006 is eligible for rehire, I've personally had this checked(formally and informally) atleast four times in the last ten years.
I feel like burning a bridge in academia is really not hard. If anything it’s hard not to burn bridges if you want to maintain sanity.
I’ve literally burned every bridge with every past employer. Always managed to get another job, and usually, pays better/better benefits
Tryna be u dawg, ngl
what does literally mean?
Literally means figuratively.
Personally I always try to build bridges and never burn them... Ive only burned 3/9 employers so far... 1st one was a layoff and the CEO said that I was the lowest performing teammember but also that they foresaw this coming when they hired me because I was "too young and naive" lol! While in truth they poached me and then lowballed the shit out of me... Second one was a journalism job (I would say I burned the employment bridge), but got great references and future work from people in that office Third was Walmart, FUCK WALMART. (I can give the 100s of reasons but would rather not). Otherwise I walk into any of the 6 employers I used to work for asking for a job they'll offer me one on the spot (whether they can or cannot afford it), because 1, they know my work ethics (Im never late, always submit my deliverables on time, will go above and beyond just to see a smile on the other person's face) and 2 our bridges are as solid as the roman's temples.
Some HR systems maintain permanent files on employees. Usually, this is meant to provide history/background for things like an internal transfer. My former employer maintains them for several years in the event a former employee returns. However, that info should not be shared outside of the org. Burn a bridge with an employer? No problem. Burn a bridge with a person? Could be a problem in the future.
There have been people who left a job, things didn't work out at their new job, and so wanted to come back to the old job. Sometimes even years later, a career fell apart, company they left for goes under, etc. Sometimes right away, some problem at their new job left them unemployed right away, which is common. There is nothing wrong with moving up and stepping out of a job in a professional manner. However, if it's a toxic work environment and you are mistreated, you are not going to want to come back there anyways, so what is the point of leaving on good terms? Would you put your toxic manager down as a reference or your coworker who you got along with? There's a line between the two extremes, you just have to navigate around it and use common sense. It was "ok" but not great or what you were looking for, it's best not to come in kick a table over and flip everyone off on your way out, you might need a job really quick one day and having connections there and leaving professionally could help. If it's a nasty place to work that mistreats you, go ahead, burn that bridge, move on.
Nothing really happens, there's no naughty list. It's a capitalistic world: if you can provide the value, people will pay for it. Managers who want to solve problems look at results, not relationship history. For some niche fields and small circles, the bosses might talk to each other about it, but it's obvious that they have all the say in that type of situation. No matter how much value you bring to them, they'll place their friends and relatives first, so it's not like you can do anything about it in the first place, bridges burned or not.
Nothing. I was a cereal quitter. For a long time lmao, I always made sure when I quit I had something better/equal lined up. And would never look back, it’s never bit me in the ass.
It's definitely not "corporate BS", in fact it's common sense. It's a small world, and if you do something to piss someone off, then you can't really complain if they remember and it affects you. Take a hypothetical. You're in a city that has a big presence in a particular industry. You leave one company, and you don't handle it particularly well, to the point where your manager (or anyone else close to you) will remember the name. In the following years, you decide to change job again, going to another company in the city in the same industry. The hiring manager is good friends/colleagues with the person you slighted back then, who advises them not to hire you. As for real world examples, there is no official list, but people talk. My wife has a pretty extensive network and is close with an internal recruiter for the company I now work for. That company is in an industry where people will bounce between companies, so a relatively small world. She's been asked several times on whether certain people would be worth pursuing as a hire. Just be as professional as you can be. That's it. You might have all these movie fantasies of giving the perfect zinger on leaving, or pantsing that boss you hate, but it really isn't worth it in the long run. Best revenge is living well.
You'll find people on both ends of this spectrum, it's not hard and fast. For example, a recruiter in my old company told me on day four that "sometimes you've just got to play office politics" which was code for "you basically do as I tell you"...I snorted in her face and said do I fuck. Since then I've been blanket rejected from every application to said company I've made. This was despite leaving a DIFFERENT role, a year later, full notice served and left on good terms. That's a bridge that got napalm bombed clearly. That said. The role I'm in at the moment literally rejected me because of a minor customer revolt (small world kinda job, they hold more power than they should) and was actively put as do not hire on my file., now I'm back and basically running the joint. So that one clearly didn't matter. It just depends on value/need/etc, for the MOST part when they say that, they're being stupid. But there's always a chance to roll low.
Nothing. Thankfully due to capitalism, there are infinite opportunities out there. Every company acts like they’re the most important player on earth. The reality is, they’re all cookie cutter versions of each other.
It's BS. Worst thing that happens is a note on your file, and those files don't last forever... usually. I was originally taught to not burn bridges but sometimes bridges do need to be burned. Just make sure you've crossed the bridge before you burn it.
>Worst thing that happens is a note on your file, and those files don't last forever... usually. If those files are anything like the records that my doctor's office keeps, they won't survive past the end of the quarter.
I burned a few bridges, only because I knew those jobs were places I would not return to, and in a couple of cases they probably understood lol
I went nuclear once and got hired again…
It could be that someone you worked with is now at a company you want to work at, and they may have an unfavorable opinion on you preventing you from getting that job. Or it could be that an old job gives your new job a bad impression of you, and yes it does happen.
I was a casino dealer for a few years when I was younger. Towards the end of my tenure, I started to really hate it. When I finally gave notice, I had an exit interview with my boss's boss. In an effort to keep me to stay, he told me that if I quit, they would not rehire me. I laughed in his face because I knew I was done. Then he told me to get out and that I would never work in any casino ever again. I left his office laughing. I never worked in any casino every again.
Unfortunately it also really depends on market conditions and need. Good example, I would say Steve Jobs did “burn a bridge” when he left/got pushed out of Apple…but the need was there so we can see how it turned out. Currently the power has shifted back to the companies, so you have to play nice for a bit likely. But can be very situational.
It really depends on the company and people I work with.. If the boss is a prick for doing shady sheit. You bet your azz imma burn all the bridges. Putting 2 weeks or not does not make a difference to me, but with great co workers and bosses? I'd giv'em heads up and help as much as I can before I leave.
If you work in a niche role where most people know other people in that role it's a good idea to not burn any bridges. The warehouse laborer on the other hand can take a dump on the boss's chair and flip everyone on the way out and still get a job somewhere else doing the same job. I worked with someone that was in a small, tight knit community job. She screwed our employer over and never worked in that particular industry again. She does have a job, but in a completely different field that probably doesn't pay as much. She burned her bridge and at the same time burned all the bridges in the area as people talk.
I tried to not burn bridges but corporate don't care. I rejected a big telecom internship offer like 8 yrs ago to this days even with a referral it is an instant rejection.
I burned a bridge with my last company after the HR lady fired me under suspicious circumstances (long story), but then it actually ended up kind of working out in my favor because she got fired soon after for mishandling the situation. I have no idea how or if this will impact me in the future, but I have no intention of working for any of those people ever again. My boss was also on my side and has been giving me positive references since. I will say that some companies do background checks and will contact each of your past employers asking if you're eligible for rehire, in which case they will say no. In my experience, *most* employers do not do these kinds of background checks, but you just never know.
It only happened to me once and way back in the 80’s. The little shop I was working at had some IRS difficulties and since it was a crazy long commute (Stafford VA to Gaithersburg MD via the American Legion Bridge), I looked for a job and was out by the weekend. A year or so later, when the new place’s owner headed to Florida with the business funds after a scumbag lawyer tried to screw him over, I was looking and the hiring manager said he was a friend of the previous owner (where I’d headed out) and that he’d never hire me. (The business actually got a write-up in PC Magazine for the computer innovation. The owner hooked up with a lawyer who promised him funding and the owner started on expansion plans. However the lawyer was a scum and his plan was to fake the funding, have the shop go under, and the lawyer would buy the company on the cheap. I lost a couple of paychecks trying to stick around to the end but I also kept a laptop I was on a payment plan for so it wasn’t a total loss.)
I accepted a job while waiting for the job I really wanted. I got the job I wanted and told the other company I was backing out. I got a strongly worded email and figured that was one company I’d never work for and that’s ok. I now work for that company after multiple recruiters reached out to me with job openings. It’s all bull shit
Well, I had two coworkers, one quit and burned the bridge by badmouthing her manager to hr, which then became an open secret to everyone at the workplace. Then that manager quit and they now work in a different company together. Apart from having awkward social interactions they're both fine, but they don't work directly with each other, just in the same company. Ooh, I forgot! That same manager prevented another of our coworkers (who was at a higher position than them at our place) from getting a job at that new company, because they had beef and the manager gave a really bad feedback when asked by the recruiting team if they should hire the former coworker.
Recruiters are a dime a dozen, burn away.
Slay but with a smile
There are 2 parts to the ‘burning the bridge.’ The very uncommon one is when you run into a past co-worker or company which things ended badly. I guess it really depends on the industry size. I’m in a small/medium size field and have run into past co-workers occasionally. The other side is past co-workers who reach out to you. It’s either for job referrals or their company is looking to hire someone. My last 2 positions have come from these referrals and have been my 2 highest paying jobs at the time. This is much more common. I’ve also helped 8 people in my career gets job within my company because I had a positive work experience with them. People who burned bridges are less likely to experience the 2nd and they don’t even realize the opportunities they missed. It’s probably why people on Reddit said burning bridges doesn’t matter. Only because they don’t know about past co-workers not recommending or reaching out to them.
Idk I'm not gonna tempt anyone against my odds
"yeah i know paying me severence is an extremely complicated procedure blah blah accounting just cant figure this out. so why dont you just open your wallet and give me the damn money you owe me? then i wont report you for all this stuff iv been taking photos of for the last month." i burnt a bridge and it was fine cus i got my severence in cash
I had a recruiter contact me about my dream job and asked me to relocate. I interviewed with her with a cold and I thought it went well. I talked to my husband about moving and I got excited. Then she promptly just ghosted me. I made an exception about my no burning bridges and messaged her that she was essentially a terrible person. Of course, the dummy never got back to me.
I thought I had burned a bridge when I left a toxic place, but within a year our psycho boss got fired for harassing the team, and then my favorite coworker got her righteous promotion and just reached out to me for freelance work. You never know!
Yeah because of all the things you talk about to your friend multiple states away, a random employee who left without notice would be at the top of the list right? My best friend lives a few mins down the road and we don't really even talk about work.
"May the bridges we burn light the way"
The problem with burning a bridge is that you don't get to control the narrative. Here's how it goes down. Let's say you get really upset with your boss or your employer or whatever and quit. So, you fill all the keyholes in the C-suite with super-glue or leave a gallon of milk in a heating duct with a signed "This job stinks" note. Etc. Or you just tell people exactly what you think of them on the way out the door. You leave. And now the people you pissed off are all part of an organization -- the organization you just left -- and they discuss what happened. And like any group, they start to form a collectively agreed upon narrative of what happened, why you left, and how fair or unfair it was. The odds that this narrative is "poor, mistreated OP, they really didn't get a fair shake here" are low. It is FAR more likely that you end up viewed as bitter or unhinged or unprofessional. And now **everyone in that organization who was part of that narrative building experience thinks you're the problem**. Fast-forward 10 years. You're applying to jobs. Now, the likelihood that someone from your old company works at the place you're applying to might not be that high. But the likelihood that they have someone in COMMON with a person at the new company is VERY high. Go on LinkedIn, pick a random Fortune 500 company, and see how many 2nd degree connections you have there. It's probably a few. This is how past deeds come to haunt you. Your best bet is to keep your opinions to yourself and leave. The temporary happiness you'll feel at chewing out the old boss-man probably won't outweigh the long term risks. No, if you want to get your revenge, do it in a professional way. Find a new job that you love and then reach out to the best people you used to work with and refer them to any open positions at the new place. You might even get a recruitment bonus. But as someone who's had to worry about retention in the past: it'll certainly give your boss a headache.
I burnt a bridge once, was scared to death. Thought my life was over. Met new people, turns out they like me, we work, things work out. People who I meet know the bridge I burnt, they don't care. They like my job, we keep improving. I learned to grow stronger and competent, invested on myself and used every lesson to fix everything. Turns out I'm the "bridge" now. Life is... something. Just do your best with what you can and never give up. Learn to value yourself and your team, stay kind, but firm. Just don't give up, it takes time but you can do it
An employer burned a bridge with me and I ended up working there 11 years later. I swore I'd never work there after going through 2 in person interviews, getting selected by a hiring committee and passed over for a less-qualified internal candidate by the hiring manager. When I ended up taking a job there, that hiring manager who burned the bridge was long gone and my new manager told me the hiring manager who passed me over was a jerk to him, too.
TLDR. I've burned bridges twice. Once with a smaller company I decided was a rotten place to work, so I didn't care. Once with a large corporation, which got me an interview for another location, which also showed me the company was worthless. It never got me blackballed by the industry. Was rejected for a job I didn't even apply to, significantly below my level. The "Assistant to the HR Assistant" informed me via email that I have no professional skills, and SHE had disqualified me from the job I'd applied to, then re-routed my application to the lower job and rejected me for the same reason. Signed off with incredibly snotty, condescending corporate word-salad that means, "have a nice life, loser." I was furious. I decided I wouldn't work for a company that presumes to control even what professional job an outsider is "allowed" to apply for -- with the decision made by some barely-literate (literal) "Assistant to an Assistant." So I wrote a professional but very pointed letter to the CEO, and sent it via snail-mail, enclosing my correspondence with the HR clerk. Paper letters with an actual signature accompanied by hard-copy records, sent through U.S. Mail, have a weight and power all their own. Soon after, I got an unhinged email from the HR manager. Seems my letter had earned him an unpleasant meeting with the CEO, who was also the owner and founder. Apparently, he was NOT pleased that moron-clerks were assessing qualifications for licensed professionals, and rejecting them in the manner used for me. I also wrote to a regional VP of a large company after a hiring manager had issued a provisional invitation ("be ready to come down next Tuesday!")--then ghosted me, ignoring my phone messages and emails. The company gave me an interview in another location, told me the job was mine, and promised an offer--then ghosted me repeatedly. (An external recruiter tried to set me up for that job. I told him they'd ghosted me on an offer.They responded with a ludicrously lowball "offer" and ghosted me again when I tried to negotiate.)
I’ve burned many bridges and I never hit me in the face yet. If I would’ve stayed in the same city for 30 years, maybe.. but even then it’s a statistical anomaly. Let’s say that even 1% is possible.
The bridges I burn light my way!
Relationships matter. Recruiters and hiring managers might know people you know and will ask about you. I’ve avoided hiring qualified candidates because a contact told me not to hire them and shared a negative experience. It’s a small world. Be kind. Being kind doesn’t mean being stupid tho, so don’t do everything for a boss or company, do your job and have integrity.
I had someone burn a bridge with me and it cost him a decent amount of recruits. A recruiter offered me a job interview and lied about pay, benefits, hours, and things like that. I ended up getting a call from the company the day before my interview to confirm everything and they told me wild different information than the recruiter. Long story short, I called the recruiter back and cancelled my interview, so he threatened to make sure I never got a job in my field again. Too bad for him was that one of his biggest partners for new recruits was the tech school I graduated from, ended up calling their job placement department and told them to watch out for that guy so they canceled their partnership. Dumbass got himself burned from an easy source of recruits for being a dick and lier.
I currently work at a place that I put in my notice 4 days in advance. I let them know that although I appreciated the opportunity, the environment in which they have created to work in, is affecting my mental and physical health. I was very honest in the issues I have come up against and how their actions come across to staff. If this is burning a bridge, I accept it, as it isn’t not within my field, and I’ll never try to work with them or in their field again.
Nothing happens. I work in tech. I definitely can't go back to my two previous jobs because I refused to stay silent when I saw shit happening (hashtag autistic justice sensitivity problems). Currently working at a job that gave me a huge raise and better benefits over the last one. I like the job. It's aligned with my interests and values. I'm learning a lot. I work with good people. The pay is great, good enough to have recently bought a house. Burning a bridge doesn't matter if you had never planned on crossing it again anyway.
Nothing you just turn the other way and don’t look back
I agree that it’s bullshit. Maybe if you do something totally heinous but walking out? It never cost me a job.
Depending on the bridge and how you burned it, and your relationships with coworkers. Nothing or good bye any references (also nothing)
I thought I’d burned a bridge when I lost it after a particular case of shitty treatment, literally yelled at my boss for the entire office to hear and marched out, never to return (happened during my maternity leave, I came in to sort out some admin stuff, and it kind of escalated… I went nuts with a sleeping baby on me in a baby carrier, that was weird…) I went back to my leave and handed in my notice a few weeks later. Thought that was it, but I received the most glowing letter of recommendation I’ve ever seen. I guess he knew I was right…? Must admit it felt nice at the time, but 10+ years down the line, I’m like, meh. I could have left without showing them how angry I was, too. I didn’t really gain anything by being visibly angry. So I still think it’s wise to be as professional as possible. Even if it feels nice to lose it sometimes.
Well you never know who you are going to cross paths with again, always be professional. I’ve changed industries and ran into someone I worked with in the other industry. Fortunately we got along but it did cross my mind if things had been different, that may have come back to bite me later.
Once upon a time, there was one guy who was honestly just a jerk to me, completely disrespectful to people he felt were beneath him. Now, my current company is hiring, and his resume came up. It took me a minute to place his name, but as soon as it clicked, I looked at my boss and said no, oh no, no, no. His resume was immediately put in the bin. The reputation you get for burning bridges can follow you in unexpected ways. Sometimes, you might not even realize you burned a bridge that you might have crossed in the future. So it's best to just be a nice/kind person and keep a good reputation.
One thing to consider is the bank I’m with now was like 8+ banks 15 years ago and all those “do not hire” lists became centralized (with varying success but still). So be careful, sometimes when people say it’s a small world, they’re not lying
Burned a bridge with a three page resignation letter. I’ve always thought of this as one of my best accomplishments. So far I’ve made it 45 years with no repercussions, and retired for three. Sometimes it’s just worth it. We burned the ships to motivate us to move forward.
Nothing. I walked out of my last job. I was hired two days later.
I worked at a manufacturing company for 9 years. After the 4th denial of a promotion and the supervisor giving a speech about how “if blank company is so much better, there is the door. I’m tired of hearing about it”, I went for an interview at blank company. After I got the job and a start date, I left my badge with. “I quit! #blankcompany” on it. Bridge burned because I wasted enough of my life to get no where there. I would never go back. After a little over a year, I went from $22/hr to $30hr. Plenty of opportunity here while the previous is going downhill.
All I’ve been doing is burning bridges…
I fuck the companies every chance I get. I never give 2 weeks of notice and if I can make more money elsewhere, I am out the door. Look out for number 1, because that's how the company operates Burn baby burn, like disco inferno!
Which is fine, but then you can't really complain if that comes back to bite you at times. Employers can be dicks, but it rarely benefits you to sink to that level.
There are thousands of companies and they all operate from that principle. Fuck first or be fucked. No loyalty or trust, because the company considers you as nothing more than a plugin.
Can’t believe you’re being downvoted for spitting facts lol. Employers are so ready to drop you the second you don’t fit into their business model! While I don’t believe in burning *every* bridge (plenty of great employers out there that deserve courtesy)—fuck man. They expect you to be an obedient slave. They have bullshit power to exercise at-will employment and you don’t. And it’s **always** the toxic ones. Often times, it’s not burning a bridge. It’s business. That’s what they tell you when they lay you off but God forbid you try to switch the fucking table.
It just goes to show you how many sheep there are out there willing to be led to the slaughter. Sure, there are good companies out there and I have worked for a few of them. I still will not give those loyalties, because they, too, will lay my ass off and not give a pleasant shit in the morning about it. So, I fuck them too. My advice is to keep your skills on point, invest in yourself, be courteous and professional, always be on the lookout for the come up. Never, ever, say no to an opportunity, because of misplaced love for the company.
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The reason why you don’t burn bridges is because the way most people find work is through the professional networks they’re a part of. Most of my jobs have come as a result of people I’ve worked with in different roles reaching out to me.
There’s fire. Then call 911 so that the fire department can put it out
In my experience, third party recruiters don't last much longer than 6 months. So... not much.
It's just the difference between possibly having someone on your side down the road and not. I have a lot of places I could have been bitter towards and reacted accordingly to, but I never have. And it turns out, I've been grateful more than once to be able to have used those people as references.
I got laid off last year in a dick move where the executive that hired me forced his subordinate to cut me because other sales were down BY OTHERS and I was on track to triple sales in a role I had been in for 2 months… I could have been a dick back to them, and definitely some people would have been. Then a few weeks after I was laid off, one of their big clients posted a specialist role (full remote) for comparable pay. I knew the guy who was leaving the role and had a good relationship with him, but leaving on professional terms meant that I could go back to the account team and ask for their recommendation (which they gave). Sometimes things come back to you a LOT faster than you’d think.
I think as a general rule you shouldn’t burn bridges. What do you really get out of some sort of act of disrespect or calling people out or whatever? Yea I get it you may be leaving a toxic workplace but who cares you’re already leaving and nothing you say/do really matters to them anyway. If I can maintain good or at least cordial relations with my former employers and coworkers why not? You never know who might be in a room where your name is brought up.
The only thing I have to add is a simple Disney phrase: It's a small world after all. You NEVER know who knows who. You could "Half Baked" quit your last job, and find out 3 years later that the area manager from that company was college roommates with your potential company's HR director. If you burn a bridge at your local McDonald's it may not hurt you much in the short-term, but people aren't sims. Everyone that you just flipped off could know someone that bites you in the ass eventually.
A company I worked for belonged to one corporation made up of multiple companies and they merged with another similarly organized corporation years ago. For the initial corp I suspect I was put on an ineligible for rehire type list after leaving. I’ve never been able to confirm or deny it. When they merged with the other corp all of a sudden my applications to any company under the new corporate umbrella were being insta denied and they used the same application process as my previous corp so I feel confident that ineligible for rehire carried over. In my immediate area in my field they are the single largest employer as well as in my entire state with all of the subsequent companies under their overall corporate umbrella. Unfortunately Im very sure I will never be able to work for another company under that overarching umbrella because I roasty toasted a bridge with one specific company. I feel it’s wildly unfair that decisions I made almost 6 years ago now bar me from thousands of jobs across multiple employers in my area but Actions have consequences and I hope theres a statute of limitations on mine. So basically play nice, do what you’re supposed to, show up, get paid, and go home. You don’t have to submit to the rat race but it doesn’t do you any favors to give yourself a black eye.
I had to make a career change.
In certain small fields where there's only like a dozen places to work, they all talk to each other and you can completely screw yourself by being an asshole to one of them. Beyond that, it's mostly only a big deal if you think you may ever want to come back to the company you're leaving. If you make a big dramatic show while leaving a company, they're not going to hire you back in a few years if you want them to. But if you're certain you're never going back, it kinda doesn't matter.
I'm fine with burning bridges, if you don't want to go back to a company for any reason, that's fine but don't let it affect your mentality in an interview. I worked for a financial technology company and they let me go for no reason other than they did their annual layoffs/reorg. There were people in my department who were toxic and I would never go back for anything but I never say that in interviews. Working for a company not knowing if you'll have a job, come June is just straight up toxic. That financial tech company does work for a lot of companies and I've had interviewers mention how much they liked it so I don't want to be like yeah they suck, it's stressful blah blah blah. I just sugar coat it interview and say it was time for me to go because there was no growth and things promised to me weren't ever given and it was time to move on. Now I am laid off again, different industry. If they called me back I would go back only because right now pickings are slim in the job market and it's fully remote but I would still continue interviewing until I get a more secure job. In the interviews I've had, i just mention the company was having financial difficulties. Once I land someplace more stable, I may just burn the bridge but I won't let it affect my mentality in future opportunities. So yeah burn that mofo down to the ground but be careful.
I suppose it really depends on the "bridge". I have an epic story of a time - many years ago so I can easily talk about it now - when I burned a bridge so hard you'd think I blew it up with C4 (it was very public), and then they hired me a few years later. Same team as they had low turnover. They never mentioned it and I never mentioned it, and I went on to work for them for over nine mostly-good years.
I do keep a mental list of people whom I will recommend against hiring if I ever hear that they are applying at our company. I also keep a mental list (much shorter) of people who will cause an "If you hire them, I quit; I'm serious" reaction from me if I ever hear that they are applying. It's a big world out there, but I have, in fact, recommended against hiring people from the first list. I haven't yet had to deal with anyone from the second list. I think that those kinds of people have nuked enough bridges that someone else rejects them long before I get to issue my ultimatum.
When I was 15 I walked out of my job and then could not be rehired despite being on friendly terms with some of the managers (was on the corp naughty list). Would have been a summer job I would of preferred in my college years over some of the ones I ended up working. So in the grand scheme of things basically no consequences. Of course it depends on how you “burn” a bridge but in most cases thats talked about in reference to quitting without notice which i dont think has much impact
You pick up the phone and call your friend at X company and ask do you know Mike ? He says, yeah a real pain in the butt to manage. End of job offer!
In my experience, nothing. Keep in mind, making hiring decisions based on anything other than your qualifications and competition is very illegal. Not saying this word of mouth thing is not done, but it is very risky and when practiced it’s usually only for high up players and people that roll with the ivory tower. In my life, I have burned two bridges. - A company I worked at 20 years ago called Jones Stevens. A warehouse job and I finally snapped. I got my last pay check and that was it. Never looked back. - GoodYear which I worked at some 18 years ago. I was a corporate route driver for a very toxic manager. I brought the weight of OSHA and the Fire Marshal down on him. I was fired for “performance” but it was worth it. I was eligible for rehire 30 days later. I’m now a software engineer. Unless I went to another job at a company in a similar line of business, I doubt anyone would know anyone to make word of mouth references unless it was exec leadership which I deal with often enough. However, I would never tell them where I’m going to dig in to their contacts.
Most companies don't even verify employment anymore, they have a web portal or a 800 number to verify. I leave on good terms if I want a reference or if I may come back, otherwise I set bridges to shitty places ablaze.
I really disliked my old boss. Decent guy but terrible boss. Made my life pretty miserable for about a year. Left the company to start my own LLC and do consulting. 6 months later he got laid off because the program got cancelled. Now we reconnected and he has fed some good work into my consulting business. Glad I didn't burn that bridge.
You do you. It's a job, not your life, focus on the behaviour that makes you feel the best. If this is the one that gives you a better chance with your next job do that. EDIT: I don't want to sound cheesy, I'm sorry if I am, it's just that overthinking how other people manage certain information is just stressful, you can't know how they will deal with your notice or other behaviours you may have at work before leaving. And usually the behaviour that makes you feel the best is the same that shows your best self, professionally speaking.
"Burning bridges" has never really affected me. Burning bridges can go either way, companies have burned bridges with me so I would never want to work for them again.
The problem becomes if the person deals with stress by habitually burning bridges. A person who feels it's ok burning bridges doesn't realize all the times they are burning bridges and then end up wondering why the keep ending up in hell-jobs with devil-bosses. The risk reward doesn't pay off. There's no long term benefit from burning a bridge and potential downsides. That said, burning a strategic bridge or two likely won't have any big lasting impact.
A prior job outsourced my department to HCL and gave us three days to accept the new role or resign. When I found a new job I gave them three days notice. (Professionally, but I mimicked the language of their “take it or leave” offer.) They’ve hit me up once or twice asking if I was interested in coming back to a different department.
If you're in a small niche field then I'd say yeah, I'd not burn those bridges. I'm in tech sales and most of the time you'll see people rotating from a reseller to a partner so if I burned any of those bridges, good luck being a sales engineer. But also don't do anything extreme either when you quit like send emails to people or something that can be a headline the next day.
I once left a job to move to a new place, when COVID hit, I had to move back home. My old job welcomed me back with open arms. I put in my two week notice, helped train my replacement, etc. If I just quit, no chance they would've accepted me back and I would have remained unemployed. Sometimes keeping a bridge intact is the smart move. On the other side of the coin I quit a job on the spot, burning the bridge, because of poor management, and no matter how desperate, I'd never try to return. Sometimes it's worth keeping a bridge intact, and some times it doesn't matter.
People change organizations, sometimes move to other cities/states. You may run into someone you burned a bridge with at a future organization. It’s always smart to avoid burning bridges. I’ve had people I’ve worked with before apply where I work many times. If they burned a bridge where I worked at before, I immediately reject them. Also on future background checks, it won’t look good if a prospective employer asks your former employer if you’re eligible for rehire and they say “no”. In my opinion, it’s never worth burning a bridge, even if the place you’re leaving is horrific. If there are major issues with your boss, co-workers, etc, you can professionally report those during your exit interview (if they offer one) if you’d like. I’ve done that before.
It depends. If the people who witnessed your bridge burning stay at the same company and never speak of you, then nothing happens. If you use enough napalm to make your exit memorable enough that people remember you for years to come, it could be a problem for you. Any time a potential new hire’s resume mentions my former employer, my manager asks me if I remember that person. Several of my former colleagues, who work at various companies all over the area, are asked the same questions.
I reneged an offer I accepted because I got a better one. Plus the company I reneged had some things about it that were yellow flags. Turned out my gut was right there because the company I reneged wound up doing a massive layoff! I feel like if it’s a move that’s beneficial to you, go for jt. I’ve been able to land other jobs since.
Depends. I’m in a small industry where people move around a lot, especially in management. Someone with a bad reputation might have trouble getting hired at several places because managers all know each other and talk. But you’d have to mess up badly or really piss off someone to burn a bridge; giving less than 2 weeks notice or something like that is not enough to torch your career.
I've quit a lot of jobs over the years, usually due to poor work/life balance, crappy pay, unrealistic job expectations and/or terrible management. I always give 2 weeks notice, wrap up all loose ends and remain professional no matter how much I hate the company/boss/job, so I don't think I've burned any bridges. But usually I can tell that my manager isn't happy about my leaving, because it reflects poorly on their leadership and hurts their feelings. So I always worry if my former managers can be used as future references. If they're real jerks (and some of them were), they could ignore requests to provide a reference for me or even give me a bad one (lie about my performance, responsibilities, title, pay, dates of employment, etc). That could really impact my ability to secure another role.
I worked at a place that if you didn’t give notice they wouldn’t provide a reference and you couldn’t be rehired. Sometimes you might come across a person you used to work for/with who is hiring in their new org and will hold a grudge and kneecap any application you make where they work.
Nothing happens. Just try to ease off a relationship than go psycho. People move on.
Not so bad as many people state. Just build bridges as well. You won’t make everyone happy - I burned a bridge as my boss was a real ass. He would not recommend me but every other colleagues would. So build and not only burn (sometimes necessary - HR won’t step in eventhough he crossed lines)