I'm a young engineer and I've been working at my first job for the last 18 months. In about 7 months, my significant other will be forced to relocated to a different part of the country with her job. As a result, I am starting to look for jobs outside of my company. Should I tell my boss that I am doing so? On one hand they might want to recruit from nearby colleges this spring, but on the other hand it might make an awkward situation for the next several months (especially because I haven't been at the company for very long).
How would you handle the situation?
These things happen all the time, so just the standard notice in your country is sufficient. Remember that to lay you off they would not give more than the legal notice either.
Your feeling of torn loyalty is normal and experienced by everybody thinking of quitting a job. It sucks its true, but try to focus on work even more to leave a professional impression of someone they would recommend and hire back.
By talking too early you risk having to cancel the resignation if the relocation gets cancelled, or be there a very long time in 'exit' mode, which would be even more awkward.
This is one of the reasons why changing jobs sucks, but 15 days on the new job and you wont give it a second thought.