A while back I posted this as I deliberated over changing jobs:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/1st-world-problems-do-i-accept-this-job-offer%5D

Well, in the end I accepted the job, and I started on Monday. I’m having serious doubts I’ve done the right thing now. I’m sure part of it is the new culture – I’ve moved from a very big company to an enormous one and from a largely engineering-driven industry to financial services. It’ll take some getting used to but that’s to be expected.

I’m more concerned about the fact the I have done absolutely nothing all week. Seriously, I’ve read a business plan and that’s it. I’ve not had any kind of induction, there has been no discussion of my role and responsibilities and I’ve spoken to my new line manager for a total of less than 20 minutes. I’ve been told that there’s a hold on the particular activity that I’ve been brought in to do but that it shouldn’t effect my role and not to worry.

I’m used to being really busy and quite in demand with my stakeholders and it’s been a major shock to the system. I’m also concerned that when the full scope of my new role is revealed it’s not going to be as big as I was led to believe. Supposedly I’ll be busy soon enough but to start a new job and then be largely ignored for a week doesn’t give me a good impression. I’m trying hard not to over-react and I’m telling myself I need to give it a few months but thoughts are already turning to having a plan B lined up. On the other hand I’m being paid pretty well and I keep thinking they must want me to do something at some point!

BTW I’m not sure what I’m expecting here, just needed to vent!

I think it takes about 6 months to really settle in to a new company. It’s just stressful as hell at the start.

I would take it easy while you can, spend time getting to know fellow workers, build up relationships with people.
I had a job once where the money for the post had to be spent, before they had an office or role sorted, they gave me a car and mobile, and told me to go home, and they would ring me, 4 months later I got a call!
Those were the days, can’t have a shit now without some 24 year old chief inspector wanting to know where I’ve been

I agree, but I still would have expected some mapping out of the first few weeks to be discussed over the first couple of days, maybe introduce me to the people I’d be working for in other parts of the business. A corporate induction booked, that kind of thing. It feels very odd that there wasn’t any preparation done for my arrival.

I’m more concerned about the fact the I have done absolutely nothing all week. Seriously, I’ve read a business plan and that’s it. I’ve not had any kind of induction, there has been no discussion of my role and responsibilities and I’ve spoken to my new line manager for a total of less than 20 minutes. I’ve been told that there’s a hold on the particular activity that I’ve been brought in to do but that it shouldn’t effect my role and not to worry.

YOU CALL THIS A PROBLEM

You have the internet and a pay check and nothing to do

I really feel for you

Hope you pull through

It might sound great to have nothing to do but it’s not how I want to spend 8 hours a day. I actually like what I do!

Plus, pron is blocked at work.

Is STW blocked

there is a gap in the market since fred and TJ left

any chance you could have a public melt down [ waits foe email but guys it is a joke]

Been there, I bought C&C red alert, lemmings to play on the pc & a few books too read..

As a general rule HR departments seem to be next to useless so it’s not unusual to have new starters arrive with no desk, no laptop, no induction and their boss on holiday for two weeks. Welcome to the uber efficient Tory Wet Dream private sector!

If, as you say, the activity you were brought in for is on hold, perhaps there are other, bigger, things going on in the company/department at the moment. Without wanting to sound cheeky, maybe it’s time to realise you are not the centre of the universe?

I hear what you’re saying, what strikes me as strange is that the new place put me under pressure to hand in my notice and agree a start date for ASAP, then when I arrive it’s like I’m not here.

I’m going to give it a few months to see if it gets on the right track but I’ve never felt so disappointed on starting a new role before. Can’t win em all I guess.

meet the IT department, buy them all lightsabres or rubik cubes whatever else they like ( 😉 ) and get them to turn a blind eye to your stw account

Offer to help out with whatever is stopping your original role from taking off

If still ignored, troll on here 8hrs a day

Could always just stop going in and see how long they keep paying me for I suppose! And there’s always mobile access to STW! And filth.

I’ve worked for quite a few companies and have learned that they all deal with new employees differently. HR is probably totally disconnected from your department, so they just do what they usually do and get you started asap. Whereas your department has probably just put a project on hold and is looking at how to redeploy people who were working on the project.

If you’re a skilled worker, you’ll be expected to be able to do your job when they need you to, and if you work in an enormous company you could be working with any few of a few hundred, so an induction isprobably not very valuable.

Starting a new job is like leaving a relationship and starting dating again, and then immediately moving in. It’ll feel wrong, as you’ll experience loss of the things you’re comforted by and a familiar environment. This is compounded by feeling a little uncertain of your new role. Once the feelings of loss pass and you accept youve moved into a new post, youll start to focus on what you can do in your role more.

Is there abything you can do to be proactive? Youre in control of your own destiny, no one else. Can you sjow initiave by shadowing someone, or researching how other companies have tackled sinilar problems youll be dealing with? Find a way to keep busy that shows how competent you are and keen to work.

As a minimum, see if you can schedule some time with your new line manager – a longer chat may reveal other things going on that you can make yourself useful with. While they could be a complete tit, they might just be snowed under with other things and you’ve been partially forgotten about.

May also be worth seeking out anyone doing a similar role, same department, etc (they may not be in the same place) and seeing what they’re up to – useful to find out more but again you could possibly make yourself useful in the meantime until things pick up.

I started a job where I had similar and the unavailability of my manager (and some other things) turned our relationship pretty corrosive quite quickly and I left after a few weeks. I think had he made some time (and had I been a bit pushier about it) it might have been quite different.

Half a page in and no mention of mtfu?

Well here it is.

Mtfu.

From the jist of this and the other thread.. it appears you have trouble tying your own shoe laces without needing a large group of people stood behind you coaxing you on.

Keep quiet, don’t complain you have nothing to do, certainly not in your first week.

Use initiative where possible, do stuff in the background. Develop a spreadsheet or two with some fancy-pants macros, don’t share it with anyone, unless asked “what are you up to then” by someone.

Stop using the word stakeholders unless you’re drafting a management strategy for them 😀

Very wrong cheez0. I’m used to managing own workload and in the last role I had sole responsibility for supporting a population of c. 5000. If i disliked anything about that role it was all the BS from my manager which got in the way of me delivering. Asking advice and seeking other opinions is a useful tool to help reach a balanced decision.

I don’t think I’m being precious, I’ve worked for various companies in all kinds of sectors and industries but I’ve never had this sense that something is wrong before. But I’ll give it a chance and time will tell.

The bigger the company, the longer it takes to be built into the company.
Show initiative but do anticipate it may take a little longer than you expect to be integrated. The six months reference above is about right I reckon. Learn, talk to people, ask questions.

This is odd. Most of the advice above is almost exactly the opposite to what I’d do.

Having nothing to do is not a good thing.

I’d be proactive about putting time in the diaries of all the people who you think you’ll be working with. Find out who they are, what they do, what challenges they have. Work with your manager to meet people from across the business and start to build your network and understand the business. Talk to HR and the training people. Talk to the bosses about what’s on their minds and their expectations of your role.

You won’t the the new boy for long. You have about 3 months to learn the place. After that, you need to be properly self-sufficient and showing them a return on their investment in you.

(I started a new job 9 months ago so have just been through all this)

So youve gone from an engineering driven industry to financial services……….well you deserve everything you get, have you started to grow scales yet…..have you started snacking on rodents, swallowing them whole….. have found a cool dark place to curl up in?

Anyway even more worrying from Junkyard

You have the internet and a pay check and nothing to do

I would be nervous too, don’t sit there doing nothing, it is upto you to establish yourself as quickly as possible in your new role, don’t wait to be approached or given work. You probably are already doing this….but start creating your stakeholder map, write mini profiles for each person try to work out what makes them tick, start looking into the companies culture, do they have a social/sport club you could join to speed up making contacts and your transition. Start working initial contacts to get introductions to the go to people in each area. Ask people what their (work) problems are and see if you can help them…look for some quick wins to build credibility.

Good luck, it’s always tough, last move I felt unsettled and questioned whether I had done the right thing for about 8 weeks.

Edit – recommend reading “your first 90 days” by watkins

I think that’s pretty common. You’ll find that the people you’ll be interacting with are all busy and with big companies it’s often a lot of faff to get people set up so there’s a slow start. Give it a month or two and if you’re then still twiddling your thumbs, maybe start considering your options.

It might sound great to have nothing to do but it’s not how I want to spend 8 hours a day. I actually like what I do!

Yep, same here. I wish my job had more to do as the busy moments are fun, there’s just not enough of them. Sat around for 8-12 hours a day either watching shit on tv, reading books or browsing the internet soon gets old and miserable.

The first (and only) job I’ve ever had was a lot like this – hired from Uni to work for IBM. I turned up with a bunch of other fresh-faced young things, but really had very little to do. I was told that I should probably go on some training courses, so I booked myself on a lot of internal training things, ordered myself lots of textbooks through the internal order system, and basically spent my time teaching myself all about mainframes. I’d go see my manager pretty often to see if they had any idea what they wanted to do with me, but they never seemed to.

Eventually, after 8 months of this I decided they were wasting my time and I was wasting their money, so I resigned.

I hear what you’re saying, what strikes me as strange is that the new place put me under pressure to hand in my notice and agree a start date for ASAP, then when I arrive it’s like I’m not here.

That happened to me when I started at one company, except when I got there for the first day I met my boss, and he sent me home “until something turns up”. Fortunately something did turn up, but it was a pretty crap way to start a job, along with the major worry of whether or not I’d made the right decision…

If you’re actually at work try and talk to your manager, maybe get some documentation to study or whatever?

This usually happens when i start a job.

At the offer stage its all “WHEN CAN YOU START!? WHEN CAN YOU START?? WE NEED YOU NOW!!!”

Then you get there and theres not even a computer to use for the first week.

The first (and only) job I’ve ever had was a lot like this – hired from Uni to work for IBM

I had EXACTLY the same experience at IBM too! Were you in Hursley?

Not working but still getting a paycheque? Sounds very familiar…

I’d say it’s way too early to be making a judgement.
When I’ve been a manager I’ve made a point of trying to give a good impression to new starters and doing as much as I can to get them started. But I recognise that a lot of bosses and corporate cultures don’t work like that. Don’t forget there’s plenty of people in corporate environments who aren’t that worried about doing a good job so long as the boss is happy, so by wanting to be busy you may be the odd one out!

IMHO it’s not a great sign – I’ve been there and I felt very unwelcome which isn’t nice when you want to get on with the job as well as create a good impression.

On the other hand it frees you up to find your way around the culture, the people, how the company works etc – all the time in the world do to a recce, which will stand you in good stead when you get busy…

I worked long hours with a lot of stress for a long time and craved the work/life balance I now have, and absolutely loving it. Enjoy having the time whilst you have it!

spend time getting to know the ladies in the office and then mentally prepare a list in order of attractiveness, then compare notes with some other men and see if there’s any dirt on them from xmas parties etc

I had EXACTLY the same experience at IBM too! Were you in Hursley?

Perth 😉

Does sound a bit odd, probably a combination of a shit HR department and a very busy line manager. Our HR department is OK on the induction side of things but I’ve had two meetings with my line manager in the last 8 months since I was ‘temporarily’ put under her, she wasn’t even sure if she’d already met me at the second meeting :p

Learn what you can but for the love of God, get this “Oh, we’ve put that stuff on hold” thing in writing. Cover your arse so they don’t try to use it to fire you