Do severance end when you find another job

Just read your severance letter, it'll clearly say the terms. But (assuming there's not a non-compete, which you said doesn't apply to you) every severance letter I've heard of was always just a lump sum payoff with no conditions on whether or not you can work elsewhere.

  Or assuming there *is* a non-compete -- I have seen agreements explictly say the money stops when you get a new job, and I've also seen the opposite. But most (including my personal current non-compete agreement) are deliberately vague on that point, so as to give the company flexibility to decide case-by-case.

If you are asking if you get fired from bank 1 and they give you say until the end of the month to be paid as an employee (most banks don’t fire you that day and stop pay/benefits, many give like a week or two, or if lucky a few weeks), but then midway through the month bank 2 offers you a start date immediately, you realistically call bank 1 and tell them you want your effective last day to be X day. It can be a FINRA nightmare if you do this, as while you might think it’s smart to get potentially 2 paychecks for a week, FINRA will see this as an overlap and have not nice questions as to why you work at 2 banks at the same time.

I've been curious about that - if you're at a place where non-competes can't be enforced, do you not need to do garden leave anymore? or do firms still largely abide by it as industry standard?