When leaving a job, should you tell your present employer where you are going?

It really depends on the relationship he shares with his boss. Rule of thumb if the prospective employer were to talk to his current boss how comfortable would your friend be? If he feels confident then he can go ahead and inform his boss. If not then he might just keep quite or tell the boss tactfully" well I will let you know once everything is in place...there are still some areas that need to be worked out with my future employer before I announce it." Assure the boss that he will be the first to know.

No, keep the current boss guessing. It can do no good and it might do harm. No company likes to lose employees. Especially good employees. Sometimes a current company might do something to jeopardize the new job, to prevent the employee from leaving. When you hire someone, the first few days or weeks, are a liability. They have to learn the new job and they will make mistakes, that could cost the company money. When they have learned the new job, they become an asset. This is the time that the company can "recoup" any losses from the training session. So the present company has an investment in this employee and really hates to lose them. Now they will have to hire another new employee and the process begins all over again. When asked the question, where are you going? Simply answer, "I would rather not say." If he tells his current employers where he is going, word could leak out and someone who also wanted to leave the current employer, and who might be more qualified, might go to the new employer, and say he found out there was an opening, and plead his case to get the job for himself.

Never tell them in advance where you are going! You might never get there. They may call up and give a bad reference just to keep you in your current position until they can replace you. Just give your 2 weeks notice and leave. Don't discuss it with even your co-workers, who may tell without realizing what could happen to you.

Personally I don't think its any of the boss's business. I'm looking for a job right now, and I sure as heck ain't gunna tell my present employer where I'm going. Heck I might not even give a notice cuz they have treated me like poo for the last 2 years and I'm sick of it!

Some businesses have certain agreements together that an employee may not move from one other after leaving his job for less than 2 years... maybe this info is required.

When I left my old job, I didn't get any kind of notice!

Monday AM, I sent them an email and told them to consider my resignation effectively ASAP!.

Then I dropped drove down, dropped off my laptop (at IT) /my credit card (at the front receptionist), and walked out! Narry a word was ever said since then. I didn't want to hear or see my old boss - ever again!