yes, say you are currently employed and you would appreciate discretion in their review process.  i.e. don't call your current employer.  they usually don't care why you are leaving your current job, if it comes up, it will come up an in interview (don't write about it in your application materials unless you are getting laid off), regardless of how you feel about your current job, keep it civil when answering your reason for departure.  I don't think employers care if you are employed or not when hiring new people, although there is some edge to being constantly employed vs. in and out of jobs getting rusty...

Employer here – they know why you want to change, generally, so I wouldn’t mention why. It might get a probe at the interview though. Never say anything negative about anything in answering. Looking for work in our business while working can be tricky. I would craft something simple asking for confidentiality – but – resumes sometimes get passed around in offices and there is always some prick that will squeal. Have had many calls from other firms over the years. Can’t let that stop you, just be prepared to answer “are you out looking?’ I would just answer “I love my job here but I also care deeply about my family (if you have one) and my career so I’m always looking – wouldn’t you?” Nobody’s getting fired, its life and career, everybody understands that. And speaking for myself “unemployed” was always a red flag.

carrera, as a long time employer, why do you think there is so much moving around in the profession?  It seems the only way to get a pay increase is to move to another company.  If you have a good employee why doesn't pay reflect that; as skills, responsibility, and knowledge of company standards becomes second nature?  Is seems like architecture is a field where you are hired at one pay rate and the only way to move up financially is to jump ship.....unfortunate for employers I imagine...unless they want to have a revolving door...constant new blood.  Did you pay people what they were worth?  Was it important for you to keep the good ones around?

i have been working on some theories to that end chigurh, though not from the perspective of an employer

the gist of one thought is, i don't think i was hired at my company to be successful.  i think i was hired because other people want me to make them successful.  there becomes somewhat of a conflict when one tries to figure out how to balance what i might want and what they might want, but entropy is easy and doing nothing, ie. no raises, no training, etc., is easy.  not doing nothing is much harder.

anyway, carrera can probably provide a better perspective, though i think every employer sincerely believes they are doing right by their employees and paying them a very good wage, even if they aren't.  it's all kind of a matter of perspective.

Chigurh & Curtkram, I don’t think I tried to hold anybody back, but when you’re running a business and look at a pie-chart of expenses at the end of the year – holy smokes – you’d fall off your chair, cost of personnel is the biggest expense. The only way to survive is to hold and control that number. If you are in a job position as X I can’t jump you up to a Y salary unless your position/responsibilities changes to Y. If your position is X you have to stay within the X box and that’s just cost of living stuff. The problem is that if one feels they need to move up to Y - but when you come in as an X it’s hard to get out of X. When I was a kid I think I moved 8 times in 10 years. They put me in as X but there was no going to Y, so I had to move to get Y. Sorry, but I think that’s how it works. It’s hard to read employee growth year by year; there is too much going on. It’s not personal, it’s just the way it is.

Interesting...so it is cheaper to train somebody new than to retain somebody decent and move them up.  Sad...as I suspected, a revolving door policy, and if you want to get what you are worth, you just gotta jump ship.  Funny how every job you ever quit though, the owners/managers act like you screwed them over by moving on to something bigger and better even though that was never an option though their company.  I totally understand business expenses and sympathize, although you rarely see owners taking a pay-cut of their inflated salaries...

Chigurh, don’t think like that, I went years without a salary during recessions, my employees came first, couldn’t lose them. In a small branch if I had 6 guys like you and 2 PM’s – that’s what I needed to make it go. Unless the branch expands everybody is stuck. Then you come in and tell me you’ve become brilliant - what am I supposed to do? The ratio often becomes stagnant with nowhere to go. I have sent guys and their families on vacations, leased them cars and gave bonuses, but I can’t change the salary – somebody will find out and then everybody will become brilliant. I didn’t invent this situation, but if one feels stuck one needs to go find more. Maybe at intern level it’s a matter of training but beyond that you are replaceable without cost.   

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