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When your new job isn’t for you

July 7, 2014

Our blog has discussed at lot about how to stand out in an interview and improve your chances of receiving a job offer but what happens when you get the job and it’s not what you expect? Jada A. Graves touches on this in her article Congrats! Your New Job Is a Nightmare.

While it is important to give yourself time to adjust to a new job before deciding it’s not for you, sometimes you have to go with your gut and look for your next opportunity.

First you have to determine if it’s something that can be fixed. Do you feel like you didn’t get all the information about the position? Are you doing what you got hired to do, something totally different or that and a lot more? After you’ve given yourself a few months to feel out the company and your role in it you can decided if your “nightmare” of a job is a result of bad communication upon hiring or the result of unrealistic expectations on your part.

Talk to the person who may be able to make it better. If you feel like your work load is too heavy explain how you would like to regain your work life balance. If you feel like you aren’t getting to be creative in a creative position show your boss some of your ideas and tell him/her you don’t feel like you are using your full potential or are too limited creatively. Don’t just go in their office and say “I hate this job.”  Schedule a time with them where you can express your issues and also try to meet them in the middle by having your own suggestions to solve the problem.

If you have a productive conversation try to see if the actions you discussed make your job more fulfilling. If your productive discussion results in no real changes or your boss can’t offer any assistance, you have to decide if you want to make a change.

You can tell when a job isn’t working and it just isn’t going to work. The best thing to do is look for employment elsewhere. Making the choice to do so before your breaking point can prevent you from handling the situation badly like storming out or not giving notice.

The final thing Graves suggests you do is prepare for the inevitable question once you get an interview, “Why did you leave your last job” or “why are you looking to leave your current job”. If you’ve only been with your current company a short period of time it’s important to express that there was a serious issue and that you aren’t a flakey employee. The last thing an employer wants to do is invest time and money training someone who will leave 3 months later. Without insulting your previous employer explain that the job wasn’t a good fit and that you are looking for a position where you can benefit yourself and your company.

To to read Graves full article visit here.