The Job is Not What I Thought: Should I Stay or Leave?

[PlymouthDude58]

So I started a new job in December. I was let go from my last company due to financial issues and took the first job that came along after I was let go. It pays $7000 more a year and seemed to be a big promotion and step in the right direction.

It has turned out to be anything but.

Instead of being independent, I am micromanaged. Instead of me making decisions on my work, my clients get to decide everything, and anything they can't decide my managers get to decide. Instead of being the "manager" I was told I would be, I am simply a processor who facilitates decisions made by others and I actually DO most of the work for the completion of projects, instead of facilitating others who do the work. I do virtually no planning, managing, or decision making and there is absolutely no critical thinking involved in this job since all real power is given to either the clients or managers. I instead do a lot of entry level work hidden by a fancy title and large salary (the funny part about this is that only me and the other lady they hired with me seem to realize this. All the managers and co-workers really think we have difficult jobs and lots of responsibility).

Also, the company is entirely reactive and passive, I am a very pro-active person: I don't fit the culture.

The problem is that I am bored out of my mind and am afraid that by not having a job where I am pro-active and able to be independent and make decisions...things critical for my future career in this field...I will not learn the skills I need to get ahead.

Since I have a fancy title and theoretically make decisions (on paper at least, and my managers seem to think that this position involves decision making and critical thinking) I could stay here for two years and write my resume up and just lie in interviews when I get my next job. What I am afraid of though is not being able to back up my resume when I start the new job since in actuality I did not make major decisions or use independent judgement and critical thinking at this job. I will be severely rusty at those, and that could cost me my career.

The plus for staying is the high pay and very nice approchable managers and co-workers. It's also downtown in a fun location.

I am still young, just 26. Should I just stay here and learn what I can and hope for the best, or find another job that will challenge me and provide me with the skills (in reality, not just on paper) that I need. The one thing I worry about though is that my resume will have a lot of job jumping on it if I leave where I am at now.

What should I do?

[patek1]

So I started a new job in December. I was let go from my last company due to financial issues and took the first job that came along after I was let go. It pays $7000 more a year and seemed to be a big promotion and step in the right direction.

It has turned out to be anything but.

Instead of being independent, I am micromanaged. Instead of me making decisions on my work, my clients get to decide everything, and anything they can't decide my managers get to decide. Instead of being the "manager" I was told I would be, I am simply a processor who facilitates decisions made by others and I actually DO most of the work for the completion of projects, instead of facilitating others who do the work. I do virtually no planning, managing, or decision making and there is absolutely no critical thinking involved in this job since all real power is given to either the clients or managers. I instead do a lot of entry level work hidden by a fancy title and large salary (the funny part about this is that only me and the other lady they hired with me seem to realize this. All the managers and co-workers really think we have difficult jobs and lots of responsibility).

Also, the company is entirely reactive and passive, I am a very pro-active person: I don't fit the culture.

The problem is that I am bored out of my mind and am afraid that by not having a job where I am pro-active and able to be independent and make decisions...things critical for my future career in this field...I will not learn the skills I need to get ahead.

Since I have a fancy title and theoretically make decisions (on paper at least, and my managers seem to think that this position involves decision making and critical thinking) I could stay here for two years and write my resume up and just lie in interviews when I get my next job. What I am afraid of though is not being able to back up my resume when I start the new job since in actuality I did not make major decisions or use independent judgement and critical thinking at this job. I will be severely rusty at those, and that could cost me my career.

The plus for staying is the high pay and very nice approchable managers and co-workers. It's also downtown in a fun location.

I am still young, just 26. Should I just stay here and learn what I can and hope for the best, or find another job that will challenge me and provide me with the skills (in reality, not just on paper) that I need. The one thing I worry about though is that my resume will have a lot of job jumping on it if I leave where I am at now.

What should I do?

Every job has its pluses and minuses. In this case, I believe the pluses outweigh the minuses. If you're getting along with everyone and getting paid well, and your commute is not terrible, don't worry that much about the exact work you do. Stick around there for about 1-1.5 years, and then look for a new position. Your high salary and fancy job title will allow you to get a great new job after ths one, but you don't want to hop around twice over the course of 3-4 months. That'll be a black hole on your resume for a long time.

[moldpot]

Start job-hunting now, and if you find something obviously better than your current job (more challenging and not significantly lower-paying), I say to take it. Politely leave your current job on the grounds that it isn't what you expected. If it hasn't been too long, then just leave it off your resume.

[wordsmith]

If you don't fit the culture of the workplace/it doesn't fit you, odds are you'll never be happy with it.

[koolkat1980]

Well, you're still young! Focus on all the pros and cons. Every job has it's cons. A $7000 increase is EXCELLENT! You can put that money aside for your next investment!

You also said the people are nice and approachable and it's fun being downtown! Give a year or 2 and enjoy it! Perhaps....take up a course outside of work to break up the monotomy and keep your brain challenged. Do a course which relates to your profession....that will also get you ahead.

If you start looking for another job TOO soon, the resume jumping could work against you! Besides...who's to say that you'll definitely like the NEXT place you go to!? People might think you're just looking for the NEXT best thing all the time. Recruitment agencies might decide you're better as a temp.

You need to ascertain what your needs are for the time being: Is it a sense of 'security' or 'challenge?' (Or both)?

But if you're DESPERATELY unhappy and it makes you sick every Sunday evening.....you can move on.

[winneythepooh7]

Managers in most fields often don't have a lot of say and independence in things. And yeah, in many cases, it is often just a title and better salary.

At least that has been my experience in human services.

Not that I am currently micromanaged, but I still have to deal with bureacracy and the "powers that be", and yeah, of course my clients and want they "want" from me. Ultimately it's them, not me, who are responsible for their decisions.

I do like my job though, but know that management is not for everyone. It can be very frustrating and stressful many days.


ETA: From the perspective of when I was in charge of hiring, I am not a huge advocate of "jumping around" too much. Especially earlier on when you NEED to get whatever experience you can so you can eventually advance to something better, and well, more stable, and more of a "dream job" in general.

I think staying at a place for at least a year if it's not killing you is a good rule of thumb. I'm not going to lie---if you switch jobs that much, it is going to make it difficult to find a better job with future employers. You won't come off as dedicated to work, and in some cases, they WILL think you got fired or have some kind of major issues with people at work. Not saying it's fair or right, but it is an employer's market, and something everyone needs to be mindful of.

[wordsmith]

Even something that isn't a good fit, I'd at least give a year, if for no other reason than it at least looks like you gave it a shot, rather than throwing in the towel at the first sign something was wrong. My rule of thumb, too, is to always commit to at least toughing out a year, barring serious issues you're having in the workplace that would preclude this. If, in a year, you still feel like it's not a good fit, then move on. Odds are, if you're right, by that time, your higher ups will realize it's not a good fit, too. But by giving it a year, you at least give yourself time to try out different angles for improvement.

[winneythepooh7]

With that said as well, I recently left a job in well under a year (I was there about 8 months). I left because I was very concerned about job security, and a better opportunity did actually end up opening up elsewhere, thank goodness.

I have a ton of long-term experience with employers in my field (2-3 years at several), however, I was STILL questioned in several interviews I went on about "why I was leaving so soon".

[wordsmith]

I think that generally, as long as you have a very solid, [likely to be perceived as] valid reason for leaving even relatively early on that people can't reallly look at with raised eyebrows, you're in better shape. If, for instance, my former workplace had been making cuts (as many other outfits in its industry were), and I was proactively combating a likely layoff situation, I'd expect that to be more understood than, "Yeah, I just, you know, didn't like it there that much." Even when you devote a lot of time to a job or field, you're still questioned quite a bit for your motives for leaving (esp. if you are changing fields), so it's always best to have a good reason to give (even if it's not the "whole story."). I'd been at my prev. job half a dozen years, and I got the question from the angle of, "You've been doing this a while...what exactly is making you want to get out and into something else?" When I noted the pay and the hours of that job, needless to say the questions kinda dried up.

[wordsmith]

True.

Basically, I think employers are always curious/suspcious of why you're leaving a job...wanting to know, is it you, or is it the employer, or is it a neutral reason (spouse got transferred, had to move, blah blah). Which is fair...however, that same thing can be turned around on employers. Just as my employers wanted to know why I would be leaving a former position, I wanted to know why THEIR position was even available? Why did the former person leave? Was it him or them? Same deal. It may be an employer's market, but in all honesty, I don't think it's bad to remember that you're interviewing a prospective employer as much as they're interviewing you...and if they're concerned that you might be a job hopper, don't forget that you need to be concerned, as well, if they're the employer equivalent - a workplace that runs through employees like crazy, has a high turnover rate. Both are eyebrow raising for the same reasons.

[winneythepooh7]

I deleted what I initially wrote because I don't think I was wording it right LOL.

Basically, I was saying that sometimes people jump from job to job saying "it's the employer", when very often it's just not a good career fit.

But like you said, it can often be the employer. I've been doing the same thing with the same population for 3 years now, but since January, 3 different companies. All 3 companies were very different in terms of how they treated their employees.

My first company (was there 2 years), the upper management had no backbone, and basically let their employees do whatever they wanted and then when lower-level staff didn't do their work, just said "Oh well Winney can do it".

The next place (was there 8 months), while appeared to be a great company, just cared about making money and didn't follow program guidelines, which caught up with them.

The newest company is very by-the-books and is very, very well-run IMO.

Because of my experience in the past 2 jobs, I interview possible places I would like to work at, just as much as they interview me. I just don't want to end up in another shitty situation ;).

[PlymouthDude58]

Even something that isn't a good fit, I'd at least give a year, if for no other reason than it at least looks like you gave it a shot, rather than throwing in the towel at the first sign something was wrong. My rule of thumb, too, is to always commit to at least toughing out a year, barring serious issues you're having in the workplace that would preclude this. If, in a year, you still feel like it's not a good fit, then move on. Odds are, if you're right, by that time, your higher ups will realize it's not a good fit, too. But by giving it a year, you at least give yourself time to try out different angles for improvement.

I have a couple of problems with this. First of all, I stayed at my first job and it was absolutely MISERABLE and I was treated like trash. The more experience I get with other companies, the more I realize how awful I was treated there. This job in question is not so much me being treated bad, (well actually the clients are lawyers and total a$$holes and have zero respect for me and if I go out of bounds one iota they send a nasty gram e-mail to my managers complaining about me), this job is that the company itself is just bad. I'm not happy there, it's not me. From my previous exerience, should I really stay if I know now it's not right for me?

Also, it's hard to go to work every day knowing that "in a year I will be leaving." They think I should want to retire there, and I should. The co-worker they hired with me actually just got another job as she hates this job so much she has already bailed and left after only two months. I'm not being fussy, the job is not that great, her quitting after two months is proof.

Finally, I did take this advice you give on the job I held most of last year. It was an awful fit, I didn't like it, managers and co-workers were so-so at best, and the company itself was the total opposite of what I wanted. Yet I stayed, per advice like what you give here. Guess what, I ended up getting fired because they knew the position was not a good fit for me. So I tried to "stick it out a year" and I just ended up getting myself fired and that was a very traumatic and unpleasant experience, something I don't want to go through for a very, long, time. It would have been SO much easier to leave on my own accord.

So, I can't just stay to keep my resume looking good, I could get fired anyway and that looks way worse on a resume.

[wordsmith]

I'm guessing you skimmed over the "barring serious issues you're having in the workplace that would preclude this" portion of what I posted.

[koolkat1980]

A lot can change in a year! Perhaps you can either negotiate some changes later on!

You could follow your intuition - but then again men aren't as intuitive as women! :p

Are you really THAT miserable in the new job! If not - stay a year or 2! However, if you feel sick every morning - perhaps you should look to moving on.

People do like to see some form of security though. Companies do get suspicious if you change your job every couple of months - because it costs them $$ and time in training you.

In the end...it comes down to YOUR decision.

[IPlanTheCity]

I'm of the position that you have to follow your heart and it will all work out in the end. I did something similar just recently. I had been at my job just about a month when I realized that I wasn't enjoying it and there was no bright outlook in my future. With that said, I started looking for other jobs while still functioning at work and making the best out of it. I had been there about 4 months when I got an interview somewhere else. They didn't ask me about my supposed "job hopping" in the first interview but they did in the second. I was honest with them ... which is what they want. Here was my strategy:

I told them what I didn't like about my job and how the job I was interviewing for would likely be different based on the research I had done and the job description. For example, I told them that I had worked at a small city before but was currently working at a large city and that I had the opportunity to compare and contrast. I said that I felt that my desire to have more contact with applicants and general community members would be met by working at a smaller city (the city that I was interviewing with) This way, they could see that it wasn't just me being fickle but that it was me being choosy and looking for the most productive me I could be.

People will say that work experience for that short of a time could be "career suicide" but I disagree. Be honest and employers will respond well!

[Rage]

It might take 6 months to find another job. I don't see the harm in looking now. You have the benefit of being selective because you're getting a paycheck.

[wordsmith]

Yeah, for the most part, if a situation is bearable, you're in the best position to be looking for a job when you're still collecting a paycheck on the one you've got.

[embrassezla]

If you're getting along with everyone and getting paid well, and your commute is not terrible, don't worry that much about the exact work you do.
Hah, wow. I couldn't possibly disagree with this more.

What I choose to do with myself for 8+hrs/day is the most important thing to me - not the money, the commute, or the fact that I have friends at work.

[Rage]

agreed.

[arrow]

Hah, wow. I couldn't possibly disagree with this more.

What I choose to do with myself for 8+hrs/day is the most important thing to me - not the money, the commute, or the fact that I have friends at work.

You have to consider those things, though. If I did exactly what I wanted for those 8+ hours a day right now, I wouldn't be able to support myself and I would have no health care. And having done that before, I know that sucks so much worse than working a job I don't particularly love but that provides a decent salary and benefits. If you have the salary, benefits, AND other perks like a good commute and friends at work, then I'd say just keep trying to figure it out while you're still there, because overall that's a pretty great situation. Being able to have all that AND do a job you love is a great privilege, and it's okay if you aren't quite there yet.