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Hate my new job



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MotherOf4




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 2:18 pm
I recently started a new job and I'm really, really not enjoying it.


A bit of the background story -
I had lost my job a few months ago when my department was closed and I decided that instead of finding a new job (because there really weren't any good job opportunities near where I live) I would start my own freelance business. Financially we were OK for a while because I was receiving unemployment and I was slowly building things up.

Meanwhile, a previous manager of mine would email every so often asking me to join her company, an offer I kept refusing because the commute was totally not doable without a car and I wasn't sure that the company was really a great fit for me. But then I gave in one day when I was feeling doubtful if I could really make enough money as a freelancer and before I knew it had a car, a job and an hour-and-a-half commute each way.

It's a great company, the people are nice and it pays very well but the work bores me to tears. I had assumed my manager understood the kind of work I enjoyed doing and this job would be similar to what I did in the past, but this isn't the case. The two things that I enjoy about my work, the creativity and social interactions, are completely lacking. I wish could quit but I now have a big loan to pay off for the car and I don't want to turn my manager, who has been one of my biggest supporters , against me by leaving.

I also find the commute to be really hard. The company is very good about letting employees leave when they want and making up the hours in the evening but even so. I'm just exhausted at the end of the day and have no energy to do anything else. After Pesach I will be able to start working from home one day a week but I'm not sure that will even be enough.

I don't really see any resolution to this problem right now and I'll probably just have to suffer through this for the unforeseeable future but I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else has been in a situation like this, and how you dealt with it.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 2:36 pm
Maybe instead of leaving can you ask the manager if she can shift some of your work into the areas that you're more qualified for? You say she has been very supportive of you until now, maybe she can work with you on this too. Make the conversation not only about your own job satisfaction but also about what you can offer to her company in a different position.
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rachel6543




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 3:32 pm
I like Seeker's advice.

Is there a way you could carpool or vanpool with anyone, even if just once a week? Three hrs of daily commuting is definitely exhausting!

How about listening to books on tapes or old time radio or Jewish lectures while commuting? That would help make the commute more interesting. Or at least you can learn useful or new things. With smart phones it's really easy to download lectures and audiobooks. You can even sometimes checkout audiobooks for free from the local library on your phone now. Also, if you're working on "boring" & mindless stuff at work, that's also a good time to listen to audiobooks - I do that when I'm working on easy repetitive tasks that require little concentration.

I also use my commute time to make personal phone calls. Its the one child-free time of the day I can catch up with my grandma or mom or a girlfriend I haven't talked to in a while.

If working remotely from home works out well, I would eventually request increasing it to 2 or 3 days a week from home, if your job will let you.
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MotherOf4




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 4:06 pm
seeker wrote:
Maybe instead of leaving can you ask the manager if she can shift some of your work into the areas that you're more qualified for? You say she has been very supportive of you until now, maybe she can work with you on this too. Make the conversation not only about your own job satisfaction but also about what you can offer to her company in a different position.


In our department there really isn't anything else for me to do and she hired me specifically to do the work that I'm doing. It's not that I'm unqualified (not that the work requires much skills - which is part of the problem), it's more that I find it uninteresting and tedius. It's possible that at some point I could be moved into a different department but for now they need me where I am. Though the product/service that we provide doesn't excite me much either, which is also part of the problem.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 4:08 pm
I didn't mean to insinuate that you're unqualified for what you do - rather that your qualifications could be of better value to the company in a different position.
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MotherOf4




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 26 2017, 4:09 pm
rachel6543 wrote:
I like Seeker's advice.

Is there a way you could carpool or vanpool with anyone, even if just once a week? Three hrs of daily commuting is definitely exhausting!

How about listening to books on tapes or old time radio or Jewish lectures while commuting? That would help make the commute more interesting. Or at least you can learn useful or new things. With smart phones it's really easy to download lectures and audiobooks. You can even sometimes checkout audiobooks for free from the local library on your phone now. Also, if you're working on "boring" & mindless stuff at work, that's also a good time to listen to audiobooks - I do that when I'm working on easy repetitive tasks that require little concentration.

I also use my commute time to make personal phone calls. Its the one child-free time of the day I can catch up with my grandma or mom or a girlfriend I haven't talked to in a while.

If working remotely from home works out well, I would eventually request increasing it to 2 or 3 days a week from home, if your job will let you.


Nah, no carpooling opportunities. Everyone else lives within a 20-minute drive of the office and there is no one in my area that works out there. Though I do listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks on the way. It's probably my favorite thing about the job.

I guess pushing to work at least 2 days a week from home is probably my best option. They aren't going to love it but I'm not sure I will survive this job otherwise.
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RedCurls




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 27 2017, 5:38 am
First off, remember that you have to do what's best for you and either your manager will understand or should understand. I have heard similar stories of people who took jobs with extremely long commutes and then realized that it was too much for them. That's reasonable. I'm not telling you to quit but to realize that thinking you can handle it and realizing it's too much is not unreasonable or unheard of.
Second, if they're open to flexible hours, what about telecommuting one or two days a week. That would give you back either three or six hours from the commute alone! It would also save you gas money and possibly tolls.
IF you can do that, maybe starting after Pesach you can use the time you would have spent commuting on your freelance business again--even while you're at this job. It's so easy to talk ourselves out of our dreams and ambitions (talking to myself here!) especially as women and mothers and especially as frum women. Even if you have to put that on hold now please don't let it die. Good luck!
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