- This topic has 24 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by spacemonkey.
-
Quitting a new job
-
alexonabikeFull Member
Recently started a new job in a totally new industry sector. I work for a small company (7 employees) and the pay is good.
Trouble is – it leaves me cold, I really don't enjoy it and have moral issues with some of the business. The manager/owner is training me up to become his successor and therefore has invested a lot of time and effort into educating me. I don't want this responsibility. However, I really don't want to seem ungrateful.
I know i'm lucky to get a job at all given the current job market, but I really want to quit and retrain – go back to college. However, having only recently graduated I have debts and no savings.
I feel myself slipping back into depression that I worked so hard last year to beat.
davidtaylforthFree MemberWhy do you think its morally wrong? What is it you do?
DT78Free MemberHow long have you been in the job? It's quite normal to spend the first 3 months or so thinking 'what the hell have I done' but most people get over it.
If you are in a lucky enough position that you can jack the job in and not worry about it (either because you have plenty of money or another offer) then go for it, life is too short. If not I'm afraid you'll have to stick with it, but start planning your exit strategy so it keeps you sane!
cooganFree MemberMorally wrong? Training you up? You in some sort of underground elite hitman squad? Hey, whats that little red dot on my ches…
ourmaninthenorthFull MemberThe depression thing is bad. Get yourself to CBT sharpish. I bet, with some CBT work, you can make a good go of this.
Alternatively go and find another job and then leave this one.
BTW al jobs are sh*t, and in the current climate even more so, so it's a case of setting a level that you can handle and being able to get out of the position if you go beyond that level.
StuMcGrooFree Memberif it was me and i was thinking about "depression" and that "i don't enjoy it" then i'd be out. we're at work a long time, not just the eight hours a day but our whole life is set up around work and if i'm not enjoying it then no amount of money will have me sticking around, of course it took me 16 years to figure this out and i'm lucky in having a partner who does enjoy her work. please understand that i'm just sharing my thoughts, not advising!
MosesFull MemberYou need to tell us more. What are the moral shortcomings of the company, and what field are you in?
Perhaps you just need to become inured to the pile of poo that life can become……oxnopFree MemberI'm in same boat- started a new job which gave me a 40% payrise on Jan 4th – same company but different business area completley. I don't have a clue what is expected of me, I have had zero direction and I don't understand what my teams overall objective is!?!
I was offered a golden handshake to stay in my current role which would have paid me same as my new job but I was advised that it would be a good move as I will get different exposure in my new role.
This sums it up- I wrote an official communication which was to be published to many 1000's of staff introducing myself in my new role and what we will be doing going forward -I spent two days on it and just before clicking the send button my new boss wanted to have a look – she changed the font colour for what she was doing – in the end out of about 400 words only 6 were mine! – she then proceeded to tell me she was control freak! No sh£t Sherlock!
So I know exactly how you feel- but having a mortgage, commitments & a dog means I can't just leave. I'm hoping it's true when DT78 says it's normal to feel like this.
TheSouthernYetiFree MemberAre you a trainee fluffer?
All the sensible things have already been said. Get yourself a strategy to get out of there. Don't worry about letting them down, think about yourself. All the money in the world is not worth it if you have to spend the majority of your waking days in a place / job that you hate.
StuMcGrooFree Memberi know i've already had my say but i can't overstress how much i agree with southern yeti. i won't butt in again.
tailsFree MemberFrom your first post it sounds as though you have realised that the working world is alot less fun than uni, happened to me to. I got over it.
DT78Free Memberoxnop – I really feel for you. I deal with many (senior) people on a day to day basis who see the need to 'meddle' in their staffs jobs. In your boss rewording your statement she has effectively taken empowerment away from you, made you feel undervalued and set the tone for how you might expect to work with her going forwards. It's not a good place to be in if you want to feel valued for your contribution, which is what makes most people satisfied at work…
Anyway to the opener think about the postives your job brings, really if you haven't been in the role that long (I'm inferring it from your mention of student debt) you really need to give it a go. Life could be a hell of a lot worse.
If you really are unhappy and want to move on, identify where you want to go, what you need to do and use your time in your existing role to help you get there.
PS – I've been going through this whole dilema of being unhappy in my work recently and spent alot of time consulting with friends&workmates, and far from keeping my head down and towing the company line I've been doing my utmost to point out where we are going wrong as an organisation and how we can improve. The worst they can do is fire me, which at the end of the day makes my mind up for me, and you never know the majority of the other people probably think the same and would welcome change
alexonabikeFull MemberIt's a sales based role mixed with a bit of engineering solutions in the fireplace/chimney construction industry. I have high morals – its just that some of the 'pressure' selling that I have been told to do doesn't lie well with me. My strong morals have led me into previous (clinical) depressions and it is something I am scared of repeating.
Prior to this I worked as a volunteer gardener for the National Trust and can't stop thinking about it. It was ace – I'd love to do it full time even though (after training costs) it would pay a few pennies more than minimum wage, I don't care.
TheSouthernYetiFree MemberIf Stu McGroo gets 2 goes so do I!
Sounds like he too is speaking from experience. If I didn't have a hefty mortgage and the recession hadn't just started I'd have a left a particular company within a month. Get a strategy, and keep as positive as you can, it took me 6 months to get a new job, and staying positive and optimistic was the key. The de-motivating impact of being somewhere you don't enjoy will become evident to friends, family and potential employers (if that's what you decide), so again stay positive!
Good luck, I feel your pain.
monstaFree MemberArrange to have a meeting with your boss and table your concerns. Best if he/she is aware early on about your expectations of the job and how they may have been affected since you started. Why did they hire you? What are you offering to them? Maybe you can discuss ways of introducing your style of selling? After all, you're there to share your knowledge/experience and it may be that existing and potential clients would warm to your style.
If, out of all that, it transpires that you and your boss have different outlooks and perhaps your boss is unwilling to change/adapt, then you've got reasonable grounds for moving on – and I bet you'd feel a lot happier knowing you've discussed this with your boss.If you want to go back to gardening, what about horticulture? It's a bit more expansive than 'gardening' and would give you scope to move into a variety of different public/private practices later on in your career. If you've got an engineering brain and enjoy that sort of stuff, why don't you give Landscape Architecture a try?
CMcEvoyFree MemberAlex, for info, my younger works for the national trust as an assistant head gardner and loves it. He qualified as a building surveyor with a very good degree but never practiced as his sandwich year experiences put him off.
He then won a place on the Trust's careership programme which is a 3 year qualification that accepts about 15 people nationwide every year. It's salaried during training too.
He's been doing it for about 8 years now and is going for head gardener positions which, when you consider mostly come with accomodation, aren't badly paid at all. And the locations are usually rural, so the money goes further.
He's very fulfilled by what he does, is mostly self sufficient as he's got a small allotment producing year round fruit and veg which feeds him well, and has a wonderfully healthy lifestyle.
As FRH above says, it's more than gardening, as he researches, plans, manages teams of staff and volunteers as well as getting stuck into plenty of manual work creating and maintaining the gardens. It's physical and cerebral.
He could earn alot more in private practice, but designing concrete gazebos and water features for the Chelsea set just isn't him.
I'm full of admiration for the guy and wish I had the courage to do something similar.
I'd recommend you at least consider it as you seem to already have had a taster and liked it.
He's back from sabatical in NZ next week, so PM me if you want to talk to him about it.
Col.
I_AcheFree MemberWhy don't you stick with it and try to change the place from the inside. If you are being groomed to take over then you will have influence now and when you do take over you will have the power to change practices.
This should keep you sane as you will be concentrating on bringing the company up to your moral standards. It could even have the opposite effect on your depression making you feel happy because you are making a difference.
iDaveFree MemberIf you honestly believe that your 'strong morals' have led you into depression, perhaps you should be addressing whether they are an issue to be dealt with? They don't seem to be a positive thing to carry around..
joemarshallFree MemberIf you have 'strong morals', then you either don't want to be in sales, or want to get rid of your morals. Surely sales people don't have morals?
Joe
FuzzyWuzzyFull MemberI've disliked my job for about 14 years now… Don't want to sound too unsympathetic and depression can obviously be a serious thing but I'd say very few people actually enjoy their jobs (at least consistently). I'm sure most of us have good days but for me at least they're certainly out-numbered by the crap days.
alexonabikeFull MemberThanks all for words of wisdom.
Since a lad I saw my mother suffer in a job she hated, coming home after every day morose and bitter that has affected my family for good. I swore from a young age that I would only do a job if it make me happy – its the only way I could see myself having a 'better' life than my mother.
Until now I have largely been in such roles, however they have always been temporary ones and each one I have left wishing it was more concrete.
I applied for this job from an ad in the local paper thinking it would have been a part-time job, meaning I could continue volunteering with the Trust with a view to progressing within that. The job application snowballed and it transpired that it was a much bigger role than anticipated and when in interview I was just stunned at the offer of a 'proper' job. I was told it would be foolish to turn it down- head ruled heart.
Now I just feel trapped in this and wish that I had listened to myself instead of other thinking 'they know best'.
@Col – That very encouraging info. I tried for the Careership last year by was not successful. It would be good to ask a bit later on for some info – is that ok?
uplinkFree MemberNow I just feel trapped
I'm presuming you're single without any real commitments?
If so – you're not trapped at allspacemonkeyFull MemberI'm not going to comment on what I feel the OP should do, other than say one thing:
Any form of immoral selling f*&king stinks IMO.
If you want to learn about the brighter side of selling then read anything by Keith Eades or Sharon Drew Morgen.
They both know their stuff when it comes to helping people and businesses make the correct buying decisions, as opposed to helping one's employer fill their coffers at everyone else's expense.
OP, I don't know what your background is, but would you be happy to stay in your role in you could apply a more moral sales strategy? If so, then you might want to start right now.
spacemonkeyFull MemberIf you have 'strong morals', then you either don't want to be in sales, or want to get rid of your morals. Surely sales people don't have morals?
Joe
That's bullsh1t.
A lot of people associate a very negative stigma will anyone involved in sales. IMO that's just being plain ignorant – rather like saying "All 4×4 owners are tw4ts who can't drive and don't give a sh1t about others."
"Proper" selling is about helping people make the correct buying decision – sometimes that means not buying anything at all.
spacemonkeyFull MemberAlexonabike, regarding your depression – you might want to check out the Lightning Process.
I know three people who have done this (1yr ago, 2yrs ago, and 3yrs ago) – and they're all living very very normal and productives lives having previously suffered with all kinds of stuff including ME, FM, depression, etc.
Must at least be worth a phone call to your nearest practitioner.
The topic ‘Quitting a new job’ is closed to new replies.