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Suppose you were unemployed for a while, due to a layoff, termination, etc. and finding a job was kind of hard to come by. In this time, you apply and only hear from one. There's an interview, and throughout the process you believe you're scrutinizing them well to understand what the position demands. You get the offer, accept, and start work.
Most new employees go through a period of training where they learn more about the position's expectations, and more importantly what their manager/supervisor expects of them. Two different, but very important things.
I've talked to people where they said during training, or even on the first day they realized what they were told wasn't what they were originally offered. One guy told me into training he realized he couldn't do the job and started freaking out. I recall from my last job after the first week I was concerned I couldn't do the job either. It seems there's a huge disconnect, because a manager's expectations can wildly vary from the reasonable expectations of performing the job.
In this situation, would it be reasonable to quit? Or do you try it out anyway because you need the money, experience, etc.? If you try your best and it's not working out, is it better to get fired, or look for another job in the meantime?
Due to unfortunate circumstances I got laid off and am currently job-seeking. I sometimes wonder, based on what I've heard from people in similar situations if this might be me in the future. I need a job because I need the money, the experience, and the employment history. But I also know a lot of companies aren't entirely forthright with the job expectations until your manager sits with you and lays out an itinerary of all the points you have to hit. From what I've heard, a lot of it's unrealistic.
If you decided to stay, how do you communicate these concerns with your manager?
The workers ( 3 of them) KNEW they couldn't do the work, they knew they couldn't lift 35 lbs, nor work "Any" shift as they had claimed. What happened? They cried to the DM, Then to an assit manager. Suddenly they're working day shift, making sandwiches and having a great time AND going home at 2-4 pm Mon-Fri (No weekends of course!) Meanwhile the others have to take what's left.
Nice thing? I'm gone, next is leaving in 10 days. Next in 3-4 weeks then one more in May....To see them crash and burn, I can only hope to witness. If management had been firm, I'd still be there, knowing that management wouldn't tolerate this, but they did and now the teeth are in the butt and sinking in deeper.
I would try me best and look for something else in the meantime.
I would also communicate the concerns to my manager by framing it as my desire for education and development. So if it's a role that I need to know a certain programming language and I don't know it very well, I'd look for a class that would help and talk to my boss about it. Frame it as you wanting to be better not as you not knowing what your doing.
Suppose you were unemployed for a while, due to a layoff, termination, etc. and finding a job was kind of hard to come by. In this time, you apply and only hear from one. There's an interview, and throughout the process you believe you're scrutinizing them well to understand what the position demands. You get the offer, accept, and start work.
Most new employees go through a period of training where they learn more about the position's expectations, and more importantly what their manager/supervisor expects of them. Two different, but very important things.
I've talked to people where they said during training, or even on the first day they realized what they were told wasn't what they were originally offered. One guy told me into training he realized he couldn't do the job and started freaking out. I recall from my last job after the first week I was concerned I couldn't do the job either. It seems there's a huge disconnect, because a manager's expectations can wildly vary from the reasonable expectations of performing the job.
In this situation, would it be reasonable to quit? Or do you try it out anyway because you need the money, experience, etc.? If you try your best and it's not working out, is it better to get fired, or look for another job in the meantime?
Due to unfortunate circumstances I got laid off and am currently job-seeking. I sometimes wonder, based on what I've heard from people in similar situations if this might be me in the future. I need a job because I need the money, the experience, and the employment history. But I also know a lot of companies aren't entirely forthright with the job expectations until your manager sits with you and lays out an itinerary of all the points you have to hit. From what I've heard, a lot of it's unrealistic.
If you decided to stay, how do you communicate these concerns with your manager?
Why not tell your manager what you just told us. If you misunderstood what was required or not. Find out first hand.
Suppose you were unemployed for a while, due to a layoff, termination, etc. and finding a job was kind of hard to come by. In this time, you apply and only hear from one. There's an interview, and throughout the process you believe you're scrutinizing them well to understand what the position demands. You get the offer, accept, and start work.
Most new employees go through a period of training where they learn more about the position's expectations, and more importantly what their manager/supervisor expects of them. Two different, but very important things.
I've talked to people where they said during training, or even on the first day they realized what they were told wasn't what they were originally offered. One guy told me into training he realized he couldn't do the job and started freaking out. I recall from my last job after the first week I was concerned I couldn't do the job either. It seems there's a huge disconnect, because a manager's expectations can wildly vary from the reasonable expectations of performing the job.
In this situation, would it be reasonable to quit? Or do you try it out anyway because you need the money, experience, etc.? If you try your best and it's not working out, is it better to get fired, or look for another job in the meantime?
Due to unfortunate circumstances I got laid off and am currently job-seeking. I sometimes wonder, based on what I've heard from people in similar situations if this might be me in the future. I need a job because I need the money, the experience, and the employment history. But I also know a lot of companies aren't entirely forthright with the job expectations until your manager sits with you and lays out an itinerary of all the points you have to hit. From what I've heard, a lot of it's unrealistic.
If you decided to stay, how do you communicate these concerns with your manager?
You don't know if you're a reasonable fit for the job until you start doing it. No amount of preparation is going to substitute for that. Jobseekers who always try to mitigate against that kind of disappointment or embarrassment or early leave at falling short of the work aren't going to have the opportunity to grow their skill sets at problem resolution.
I have had that happen with two jobs. I stuck through it and started job hunting. Unfortunately both were true torture, but it was better than be unemployed.
When you interview do your best to figure out the position. That said many times the employer describes the position as something it isn't. You won't know until you start working. In my opinion, push through until you find another job.
I think it depends on the type of job - is it a non-professional job or one that is a higher level?
For me, when I lost my job several years ago, I took a much lower level temporary job for the money while I looked for something to meet my professional requirements. My boss there knew that I would leave when I found something and she was actually rather supportive (considering).
The job I got after that was not at all what I thought it would be, but I knew I needed to tough it out for awhile for financial and professional reasons. I made it about 3 years before I simply couldn't take it anymore. The good thing was, it gave me time to research job opportunities and only apply for those I really wanted - I could be much more picky. It worked out well.
Now, I've been in my new position for almost 6 months. In some ways I feel like I've been here forever, and in others I feel terribly inadequate. I have the experience and knowledge in general, but I lack the specifics about how my employer wants things done. I'm learning though!
I think it takes awhile for anyone to feel comfortable in a new position.
I'm thinking about a professional job, like accounting, sales, or what I'm in, software development.
Something similar has already happened, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what people are telling me. When I was at my last job, I found out the expectations to learn and know the company's products was at a much faster pace than originally anticipated. The ironic thing about it was the top managers had a more realistic perspective, but my manager and supervisor bumped that schedule up by at least 6 months. They were assigning high priority projects to developers who hadn't passed their probationary period yet. After 2 weeks, my supervisor already had a list of "concerns" about my performance despite the fact I was still in training. I had to explain to him much later the methodology of debugging that company used was unlike any method I did in school. It was my first job out of school, what did they expect? Was my thought. But I did my best, worked hard, stayed late to complete work when I had to, and ended up with more than a year of experience.
It was recently where people just in new jobs voiced these concerns to me. They said I need to vet more thoroughly during the interview process. One of my referrals works for a large health insurance company and said they expect their entry level software developers to work in a sweat shop, despite their assurances of "work life balance." A lot of the developers are right out of school and aren't given the time to learn about the methodologies, tools, etc. of the department (not with their 2-week releases). Another guy who recently started a job in sales told me during training, his manager said he expected over 110 phone calls a day and to send out 50-70 emails a day, along with his other duties. Some of the stuff I'm hearing doesn't sound realistic at all, based on my experience with the last job. I thought that was bad but it can get much worse.
High expectations are good for most. They pressures people to put out their best. Good high expectations make the person feel some stress because they are taken out of their comfort zone, and thereby, develop. The setting of high expectations however should be balanced with some knowledge of the person and where, when, and how to push them.
Biggest risk/mistake that supervisors make when thinking that they are just setting high expectations is that they are actually setting unrealistic expectations. I've had unrealistic expectations thrust on me. It deflates and demoralizes you.
High expectations are good for most. They pressures people to put out their best. Good high expectations make the person feel some stress because they are taken out of their comfort zone, and thereby, develop. The setting of high expectations however should be balanced with some knowledge of the person and where, when, and how to push them.
Biggest risk/mistake that supervisors make when thinking that they are just setting high expectations is that they are actually setting unrealistic expectations. I've had unrealistic expectations thrust on me. It deflates and demoralizes you.
This. Managers/supervisors don't seem to understand the difference between high expectations-- pressure intended to motivate and grow the employee-- versus unrealistic expectations. For example, I thought it was an unrealistic expectation of my last job to expect newly graduate developers to take on high priority/emergency-type projects. These projects had poorly written specs (or none at all), were expected to be completed and code reviewed within 3 days or less, and all research and testing was to be done by the developer. I knew something was up when my supervisor wasn't able to resolve the issue, and he was a smart developer.
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