I’ve been a seasonal employee in my field for about 10 years, in jobs that always had pre-determined seasons with non-negotiable start and end dates. I’m hoping/expecting to get an offer for a permanent job next week, and I don’t have a clue how to negotiate a start date. What’s a reasonable amount of time to ask for? Two weeks? Two months? Should I give a specific date or is it better to say “two weeks after the official offer letter comes through”? I’d be moving ~1000 miles for this position — how much difference does that make?
It depends on the job and your situation, but there’s often more flexibility than people assume.
For most professional jobs, asking for a start date two or three weeks out is the most common, but some people ask for (and get) four weeks and that’s often no big deal. (Which I think is news to all the people who don’t think they can ask for three weeks in order to get a week off in between jobs. That’s a pretty normal thing to ask for!)
As positions get more senior, you see more start dates that are further out — like several months away — because it would be really short-sighted to lose the best candidate for a director-level position by quibbling over a month or two. Of course, there could be unusual circumstances requiring an earlier start date, but then the employer would explain that, and the candidate could decide if that worked for them or not. (And when people want start dates that far out, they often raise it during the interview process so no one is blindsided by it later.)
For less senior positions, a few weeks is pretty normal. If you need more than that, you can often explain your situation and ask for more. If you have a good reason (like needing to move), that will often be fine. If it’s not fine, they’ll tell you and you can figure out from there if there’s a way to make it work. The way to frame it is, “I’d like to start as soon as possible, but I need to move up to your area and finding housing there. Would late September work for a start date or do you need me there before that?”
Of course, the tricky part is asking for what you want without sounding like you’re dragging your feet. And you need to know context, which you can often pick up during the interview process — if it’s clear the employer is desperate to have someone start soon because they have an urgent backlog of work, looming legal or client deadlines you’d need to help meet, etc., you risk sounding out-of-sync if you propose a start date two months out.
And in this particular job market — where so many people are unemployed, and where employers’ needs and finances are so subject to change — I’d be particularly wary of pushing for a ton of extra time. I’d rather you get there and start working as soon as you can.
As for whether to propose a specific date or not: When there hasn’t been an offer yet, you can talk in general terms, like “I’d need X weeks after an offer to wrap up my work here and move” or “I could start three weeks after an offer.” Once you have an offer, start talking in terms of dates or at least fairly specific timelines (“would late September work?”).