I just really need to vent to someone other than Casey cause as sympathetic as he has been, he's also a little pissed at work and I don't want to get him more upset. Thanks for humoring me!
I was hired in December 2006, literally 2 days after graduation which was awesome. During the interview process I was told that the expected duration for most trainers (who are on the road 52 weeks a year) is about 2 years and then they get moved to other departments/etc. I did the math, and that sounded great - two years? I could handle that. I was even given the name and number for a woman who was in my position and was promoted to a Project Manager at two years. She too had only great things to say!
My step dad also works for the company and was the one who told me to apply for the position. The only people who know who he is and what his position in the company and relationship to me - are my boss and her boss. We all agreed to keep it quiet as I did not want people to think that I was "given" anything. (Note- they didn't find out until after I was given my hiring package how I knew "so and so" and we decided not to tell any of my co-workers.)
I love my job, I love the product, and I love interacting with customers. My issue is the travel. I'm over it. It was fun and glamorous at first but now with the way air travel is it's not fun. It would be one thing too, if I had a specific region but I have the entire US, Canada and Puerto Rico as my "territory". Which means different time zones every week, and day long flights. This is getting annoying - a few weeks ago I should have been home by dinner time on a Thursday but got home at 4:00 a.m. on Friday morning after sitting on the runway and changing planes for hours. This doesn't sound too bad, but considering I then slept away my Friday (time off day that I burned) it was useless.
I am planning our wedding, I want to be home, and normal and have an 8-5 job that I get to sleep in my own bed and have homecooked meals not takeout in a crappy hotel room somewhere. I voiced my opinion just a little bit to my boss. Asking her that with the new product coming out would we then need PM's as I would love the new challenges. She said that no, we already made concessions for that and I should really talk with my step dad about his guys selling more, as we could use the revenue. Plus, if we had the revenue then there may be the need for more travel. Also "you're so young! you can't be sick of the road yet!".
Mind you, they just laid off an entire group of people in May, and now we are all over booked. I get that there needed to be cutbacks, but expecting us to be in 2 places at once just isn't cutting it. My boss isn't looking out for any of us on the road at all and that's fine, I've just decided to go over her head. (But then I feel bad so.....)
From day one, when it came to holidays like christmas and thanksgiving we were told not to burn our PTO days on those as no one would want us onsite those weeks anyways. I just got an email saying I needed to be onsite in texas tuesday and wednesday before thanksgiving. Waaaait a minute. As I said in the email, they can have my PTO day that I took on Monday before thanksgiving (silly me, I figured where could they POSSIBLY use me for 2 days that week) and I'll go monday and tuesday but flying is just murder the day before thanksgiving and I avoid it at all costs. Now my boss is annoyed with me for even having the gall to discuss changing that.
I have never called in sick (it's hard to do when you're on the road, it's not like you can go home and have chicken soup and be ready to go the next day), I have had my ear drums explode (not a fun experience), I have had the stomach flu and no voice - yet I arrive on site and do my job. Other trainers simply don't go, or leave early and then the rest of us have to scramble to make the customer happy.
I'm just really unhappy, and really need a new job but this economy isn't helping.
I'm sorry, I just needed to get that all off my chest. There's so much more to it all, it just keeps compounding and the longer I sit in this job the more I'm ready to explode.
I am so sorry that you hate your job! It's sooo not fun to hate the thing that consumes so much of your time. It really is better to do something proactively than it is to explode.
Just because the economy sucks doesn't mean that there aren't good sales/csr (not sure what you do) positions out there. Maybe just the looking will give you a bit of release to know that you won't have to stay there forever.
And one final note of advice: many many many people stay at their first job WAY too long. Find you something else, life's WAY too short to hate what you're doing with it.
I just don't know where to start looking for a new job - I have a degree in sociology which doesn't really translate to marketing or accounting or something more definitive and almost two years of project management/product training. I just started looking into headhunters, as the applications/resumes I've sent out over the past few months haven't netted anything except "thanks for your interest but the position has been filled".
The job looking has been helpful, but frustrating as well. I'm just so tired of this, and the division which is sad because I love the company. (My dad's been here 30 years! They've been very good to us)
He does, and he feels awful. I just got off the phone w/ my Mom and she updated him and he can't get over how awful this division is running and the management behind it. I don't want him to talk with anyone though as it's not his division and I don't want it to look like I'm running to my Dad and crying. He just said to go over my boss' head as I went to her first and got the age card and his name thrown at me. (Both which weren't right - especially since we all just went through a harassment course which included ageism) So next, I'll head to her boss but I don't want this to turn into a federal case. I would like to be off the road, as I was promised in my interview. I would like a timeline, even if it won't happen right now, because being on the road forever isn't appealing to me anymore and it's hurting my work ethic which I used to be very proud of.
Thanks for sharing so openly -- lots of gold (or pink) in there to mine:
1) You love the company, and the product you train people on. That is rare, and not something to be tossed away lightly, as you seem to understand implicitly.
2) You're "really unhappy" and "ready to explode" yet you've only shared a "little bit" of it to your boss, and you were met with a glancing comment and a pat on the back to get your young self back out there. Perhaps she should have a more honest glimpse of how serious the situation really is. I understand the concept of wanting to feel things out, but her goal is clearly to keep you as a trainer. Since that's not going to happen, she has a choice -- keep you as a PM or lose you completely. At some point it'd be nice to give her that choice instead of handing her your resignation, given point #1 above. There's no guarantee the next place will be this good.
3) Understand that you were told in interviews that the "average" duration for "most trainers" was "about" 2 years of this lifestyle. That leaves lots of room for flexibility, and frankly you shouldn't have had December 2008 on your calendar as the time to quit traveling. I totally get why you're frustrated and I'd hate the travel for the same reasons, but it shouldn't be a surprise that you're still doing it.
You have some leverage here; you're not a helpless victim. It sounds like you've been a valuable employee, at least enough to survive the previous layoff and to keep getting booked and even over-booked to deliver your expertise.
You have value to the company, and they have some big challenges they're trying to address. They're overbooked and you're tired. They're trying to operate lean and you're ready to leave a team that is already at its limit of leanness. There's going to be natural tension there, but it should be addressed directly if you want to find a solution.
Understand this -- your direct boss probably gets no "credit" for transferring you and helping you become the next superstar PM. She only gets credit for keeping trainers on the road and fulfilling bookings. So in her mind she has nothing to gain by sending you somewhere else. You have to show her how this helps her, and the company. If I were you I'd start to build my case for the transfer. Product Managers are like mini-CEOs -- show her you have what it takes and can see the big picture of the needs of the department and the company.
As much as possible, put yourself in her shoes. Use everything you know about her job to empathize with her priorities and then find a way to position yourself to make your transfer a win for her. Listen to her comments about needing more revenue and more sales -- she's under pressure and is stressed about things she can't control but get impacted by. Be aware of that and use your tone of conversation to show that you understand, you care, and you don't want to add to that stress by leaving. You appreciate her confidence in you over the past two years and now you want to find a way to make the next phase work best...perhaps a timed transition plan while you train someone to take your shoes?
Welcome to the trials of the first job gone a bit too long -- most of us have been there too!
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
Sorry to hear that you're miserable at your job... I've had more than one job that I detested. I don't have any better advice than that which you've already been given, but just wanted to chime in with a "that sucks"...
Gina, as always, feel free to email or IM me to chat, etc. What you're witnessing is, I think, a symptom of the economy.
I have a few comments:
1. Listen to everything RL mentioned - very solid advice!
2. There's no such thing as "too young to be tired of travel." You're, as you said, planning a wedding and own a house. Neither of those were something you had in your life when you took this job. Life changes.
3. I think you need to set more boundaries. If you're sick, don't go to work. It's bad for you, and in the long run, it's bad for the company.
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Renegade HR: Recruit great people. Inspire them to do amazing things. | http://renegadehr.net
Some companies/bosses like to take advantage of their employees, especially the ones who are too nice/naive/guilt-ridden/etc. From what I've seen, people who stay at their first job are a bit… sheltered? I've known people who co-opped somewhere, then took that offer out of school, and they're just sorta stuck there and have no idea how good/interesting/whatnot it is elsewhere.
Looking elsewhere will at least give you 2 things. 1-leverage. You can leave, they know it, and suddenly, if they actually find you valuable, they're willing to work with you more. 2-perspective. You'll be better able to deal with the crap if you know you're not really trapped there, that you have other options.
You have a degree, and then 2 years experience in the field. In the end, what you're degree is in does not trump experience you've gained. You're marketable. Start networking, going to events/seminars/classes/etc, start making connections, get a LinkedIn profile if you don't have one, and basically scatter the net and see what happens. Talk to friends or others you know, let them know you're looking. Be open to opportunities and they're more likely to come to you. Talk to head-hunters. Even if nothing is open now, your name gets out there and come first quarter people will know you're available.
Give yourself your own timeline. Look at improving/enhancing your skills to make yourself more marketable and to help you meet more people in the field. Online courses/certifications that make your time away more useful than sitting in a hotel room eating bad take-out.
Hopefully you'll find ways to make things better until you can be somewhere more to your liking, be it within your current company or without.
When I was getting my MBA at Georgetown I had a fantastic professor for a derivatives class who left us the last day with 5 things we should remember. Only one really applies to you but for fun I'll toss all 5 up for the audience.
1) Don't let your company or your clients change who you are.
(He told a story about a trader who was required to take clients out every night and after 3 months or so developed a raging cocaine habit as all his clients wanted to 'party' with him. Guy ended up losing his job and his family)
2) Be humble. There were many smart people who came before you and many smart people who will come after you.
3) You are not your job. Take a job; live a life.
4) You were blessed to be here. You have a responsibility to give back.
5) Never compromise your ethics, even if it means walking away.
(he said he writes a Christmas card every year to a friend's prison cell - an investment banker who was asked to do something and complied)
The economy is very tight right now, so I really wouldn't push too hard myself, but if you think you are violating your own personal #3, then perhaps you should look. You do only have one life to live.
Also, you can PM me if you ever want a list of some very good recruiters. I'm pretty sure I have a few in my rolodex that do marketing and MANY that are for sales. (as I'm in a hybrid institutional sales role on 'the street' myself).
Thank you guys SO much for the posts. It's really really nice getting perspective from people who aren't as close to the situation as my family and I are.
I just sent my resume around, to a few different positions so we'll see what happens with that. I just checked out linkedin and that seems pretty cool -- I definitely will look into that more.
Speaking of classes etc. Aoife, I am sitting in a hotel and I am looking into graduate degrees I can do online! I do think that to a degree I'm violating #3, but with this economy, I can't afford to gamble too much.
I think that boils down to my frustration - I can't gamble as much as I would like. I have been applying for other positions since the end of July/Beginning of August and the positions keep disappearing, as no one is hiring.
I know this is something you might find that you have to laugh at but did you ever think maybe of making a living by fishing? If you live near the water its like 2 months of the year at work and its wicked crazy cash!! I have friends who done it and they got lots of time for themselves and lots of dough to spend! You should mabey think about it cuz you don't like the travling so much so this way you work like 2 months as a fisherman and have like 10 months vacation!!
Hey Guys,
So I just got an email from my Boss' Boss who cheerfully let us know that two of our porject managers have been moved to project managers for the new company we just acquired. While I wouldn't want to work for that new company, I found it interesting that those jobs had not been posted on either the intra or internet for other candidates to apply. Am I the only one that finds this to be weird?
gina
Sounds like two project manager positions just opened up.
Maybe they just felt they needed a couple experienced PM's in the new company. I'd ask your boss' boss if the two PM positions in your company will be back-filled, and that you'd be very interested.
__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin, 1759
it's not really weird that those positions weren't posted. Prolly was decided before the acquisition that there would be a bit of some crossover, seems pretty common, and good way to tie together companies.
But yeah, looks like there's a few openings for you to inquire about…
good luck
sick of my company
I do think that to a degree I'm violating #3, but with this economy, I can't afford to gamble too much. 
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