Most advice about this treats a new job as a beginning. For anyone past their first one, it is mainly an ending — of a desk, a commute, a group of people they saw more than their family, and often of several years.
That ending is the part with material in it. The new job has nothing yet.
New job, not first job
| First job | A job change | |
|---|---|---|
| What is behind it | College | Two to eight years of colleagues |
| What the gift is for | Encouragement | Marking what is being left |
| Who usually gives | Parents, siblings, a partner | Colleagues, and the people staying |
| The right object | Something for the desk | Something about the team |
If it genuinely is a first job, we have posts written for that recipient rather than this one. Gift ideas for a brother’s first job → · Gifts for a boyfriend starting his first job →
If you are a colleague
This is the commonest case and the one with the best answer, because you have the material and their family does not.
A card deck of the team. 27 cards at ₹999 — one per person, each with a line. Fifteen colleagues can each write two sentences in an afternoon, and it is the thing that gets kept long after the mug does. Photo Card Deck →
A short magazine of the years. ₹499 for 8 pages, ₹699 for 24. Offsites, the project that went badly, the desk arrangement that changed four times.
Prints for the new desk, from ₹270. Small, and it is the only gift on this list that travels to the new office.
Collect the messages, not just the money. The messages are the gift; the object is what they arrive in. How to collect messages for a group gift →
If you are family
Different job. The colleagues will handle the leaving; you are marking the change.
Something for the new routine, or something small and personal given at home. A retrospective of a workplace you were never in is not yours to make.
What not to give
| Avoid | Why |
|---|---|
| Anything branded with the old employer | They just left |
| Anything branded with the new one | They have not started, and the company will give them three |
| A desk object, if they are going remote | Increasingly the wrong assumption |
| Anything that assumes it is a promotion | A lateral move or a step back is common and nobody says so |
That last one matters. Not every job change is up, and a gift that congratulates a promotion nobody got is an awkward object.
Timing
5 to 14 days from order to doorstep, 5 to 12 to Delhi NCR, dispatched every Monday.
Notice periods are usually a month, so this is one of the few milestones here where you get warning. Start collecting the day the resignation is announced, not the week of the last day.
If they are leaving badly
Not every departure is a happy one, and a lot of them are not. A leaving gift for someone who was pushed out, or who left because of a manager, has to be handled differently.
Make it about the people, not the place. The colleagues are real; the company is what they are leaving.
Leave the employer out of it entirely. No logo, no office photographs, nothing that reads as fondness for the organisation.
And give it away from the office. A leaving do organised by the team is not the same thing as a leaving do organised by the company, and the gift belongs to the first one.
Frequently asked
What do you give someone starting a new job? Something about the place they are leaving, if you were there. The new job has nothing behind it yet.
Is a new job gift the same as a first job gift? No. A first job wants encouragement; a job change is mostly an ending, and the ending is what has material in it.
What do colleagues usually give? A pooled object with everyone’s messages in it. The messages are the actual gift.
Should I give something branded with their new company? No. They have not started, and the company will hand them three of those in week one.
How far ahead should I order? Start when the resignation is announced. A notice period is about a month and collecting from fifteen people takes three weeks of it.
Part of our guide to life milestones. See also: gifts for a promotion and office farewell gift ideas.
For a leaving do: Photo Card Deck from ₹999 · Print packs from ₹270