Too soon to leaveHi all, I graduated in January 06 and worked at my first job for about 8 months. I am currently in my second position in a related industry but different field. I've been at my current job about 5 months. I originally applied for and took the job because I thought it was the industry I wanted to work in. However, I am finding out now that it absoloutely most definitely is not. Is it too early to start looking for a new job? I don't want to be a job hopper, but I have a few friends in HR who have told me employers are sometimes understanding of the fact that relatively recent grads are still trying to find their niches, so to speak. And... I'm miserable at work and sick and tired of being micromanaged into a state of paranoia so severe that my heart stops a little whenever my computer makes the new email message notification sound because I'm afraid it's going to be yet another condescending blurb telling me to make sure my pen is held at a 90 degree angle to my pad of paper. (I'm being sarcastic, but you get the drift). I don't leave even for lunch in case my team thinks it would be amusing to forget to tell me about a meeting and then I find a note on my chair telling me to meet them in the conference room when I'm back so I walk in late to a meeting I had no idea even existed... And I heard my supervisor exercising her utmost professionalism by talking about me behind my back a la manager meets sorority girl. I am also planning on going to business school in a few years, and the industry I am looking to go into is more aligned with my future goals relating to an MBA. Also, the job I have now encompasses greater responsibility than my first job out of college (albeit still unstimulating), and the jobs I have been looking into encompass even more responsibility than my current so none of my job changes have been/would be lateral. Can I start looking even though it's only been 5 months, and this is my second job since graduation? I'm miserable, but do not want potential employers to think I would leave in a few months again. Advice would be greatly appreciated... You won't want to hear this but here goes: Yes, it probably is too soon to leave, however, if the absolutely perfect job comes along and you can actually get it, more power to you. Although you've got education, you really have next to no time served in the world of work. It is entirely possible that your expectations are not well grounded in reality. You're entry-level. That means, by definition, your job is not going to be exciting and challenging most of the time. You are going to be told what angle to hold your pencil at and whether to use a pencil or a pen. You're still learning. You can either look at these early job experiences as drudgery or you can look at them as soaking up experiences, building good references, taking notes on what you will (and won't) do when you are the one in change etc. You do not walk out of college and into a dream job, you build to it through a series of steps, most of which require more than a few months. As you make your way, your employer is going to become more and more concerned about your ability to just flat out stick something out over time.
Tess You need to ask yourself if you have done everything you can to make the job more manageable. Have you talked to your manager to see if you can work things out? Have you tried other approaches to manage your job to handle some of the problems you are mentioning? Or is the environment there just too much to handle? If the job is causing you so much problems that your health is at risk- by this I mean both your mental and physical health, and if you can financially do so, then by all means quit and look for something else, and be wiser to job environments before you say "yes" to the next job ( I know, much easier said than done, but if you plan and save ahead of time, it is possible) I have way too much personal experience than I care to share regarding awful positions. And yes, my problem too was that I was micromanaged by my manager ad nauseum. I stayed at a couple of jobs way too long, mostly b/c financially I could not afford to leave. Some of my family would say there's no way you can quit a job before you have another lined up, other family would be more understanding and willing to help me out with the transition (move in with them, etc.) My biggest lesson that I learned, the hard way, was that only you can decide whether you can work things out in your job or whether the job is just too much for your health to handle- and if it is the latter, quit and move on, it's not worth it taking a toll on your health. I don't see much written about this, but sometimes we find ourselves in a job that is just too taxing to your body- to your health, your immune system- and to go each and every day for 8(+) hours to something that makes you physically and mentally sick is too high a price to pay. I can say from experience again that a job is not worth any medical problems- high blood pressure, anxiety, ulcers, even more serious medical problems. Be honest with yourself and make a decision. Hopefully you will have a support system in place that can help you transition if you do decide to leave. And also I ask you to seriously consider if it does significantly hurt your health- too often folks skip over this very important and serious factor. Good luck. | |
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