The Mock Turtle

Yes to all of the above. You need to do what is best for you, the company only care about their own interests.

Congrats on the offer though!

Kenickie wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 7:44 pm Haven't your current work promised you promotion etc opportunities before?

How much time does month end take? If it's a day or two, could you take paid or unpaid leave from the 22 until the end of the month and then do month end on a weekend day? Or have one day off from the new job to do it?

I know the new job is temporary but you've seemed extremely unhappy in your job for a while, and although it's not the best time to give up a permanent job, equally your permanent job could make you redundant and maybe it's better to be part of a bigger company? If you're not risking missing out on a big redundancy payment then I think it's not much more risk. But obviously whatever you're comfortable with.

I agree with everyone but especially this.

Could you do the month end stuff in the evenings if required? If it's that or lose you early completely they would be lucky to have the offer. If it wouldn't cause you tax complications.

I have nothing else to add to the wise words others have shared. To be honest, your current place should have taken steps to ensure critical parts of the business aren’t single point (person) sensitive. What if you got hit by a bus? Or won lotto and just left with no notice?

How did your chat go today Skips?

I never heard from the informal chat bloke (we spoke on Mon 25 Jan!), so had decided it wasn’t going anywhere and he was rude.

I contacted J, who is the senior bod who approached me regarding my secondment, about the apprenticeship she’d previously said I could look into and asked if it was still relevant in a ‘I don’t know because I don’t know what’s planned for me’ way. I got a bit of a brush off as she said I’m only reporting to her because politically I couldn’t be moved (and she’s not my LM - that’s still my previous LM who refused to do my end of year discussion and who was told by J not to transfer me to her before Christmas after she expressly said I should ask him to initiate the transfer!).

She told me she was having a meeting this week with M, and that he and C are really happy with me and want me to stay but she was wary as I’d said before Christmas I wasn’t keen on staying. But I should know there wasn’t much else I could do (she told me before Christmas that I can’t go back to my old role, but she’s being careful not to say that and run the risk of me being made redundant).

This was all via email, so I said I’d enjoyed the past few weeks more than when we last spoke and have enjoyed working with M so was a bit more open to staying. Basically making sure I have A job even if it’s not ideal.

I was on a call with M earlier and he seemed to know nothing about this meeting (so is J just trying to shut me up?), but at the same time I’m being asked to work on a new bid full-time and there was mention of a couple of existing bids where they want me to get involved.

Then informal chat man just rang to arrange an interview on Monday. I’m going ahead with it and will just cross bridges if they arise. I know J can be quite arsey about people leaving who she feels she’s invested in, but I owe her no loyalty!

Gosh, what a palaver! It must be hard to know where you stand with that lot.

Palaver is a good description!

It genuinely seems to be the culture though. It’s a running joke that very few people are in roles they thought they’d applied for. As I was saying to a colleague earlier, I’ve been in holding roles or similar in the past but I’ve been kept updated rather than just left alone.

My chat went quite well I think, they have identified some areas I could hand over quickly which will free up time for me to take on other work while I transition out of my role - there is a headcount freeze (which I was aware of) but they may be able to get temps in to take stuff on in the interim. They have some local level projects for the short term that I thought sounded interesting but there is some national level stuff I could take on at a later date that would mean I can move fully into operations and away from finance. We've another meeting scheduled for two weeks to follow up and discuss in greater detail as today was about finding out what I'd like to do and what is available to me.

There is also a new office manager starting who I will report directly into so I won't have to deal with the other guy for much longer - albeit he will still be the depot manager she will report into him rather than me.

I also heard back from the interview I felt didn't go well -i didn't get it. I'm not at all surprised.

The bank I called to let them know I wouldn't take the job. The stress of not being able to work my notice period, leaving for a temp role and the quite substantial payout was too much, especially with it all going tits up with the builders. My mum had me in tears on the phone telling her I was just going to drive off into the sunset and talking me down from that and telling me it was OK to see what the work chat had to say. Saying that, I have a phone interview tomorrow so I am still looking.

That sounds like a proper faff Wendy, I hope the call goes well on Monday.

That sounds promising Skips, especially moving to another LM! Good luck for your chat.

I sent over a draft JD as mentioned in a daily thread and booked a meeting about that next Monday. Good news is my interviewer today said he intends to come back by the end of the week so I’ll know better if I’m stuck here for longer or heading out!

The interview went well, I think, but there’s a couple of gaps in my experience that mean somebody else may be better suited. It was with potential LM but also the guy who is retiring and being replaced. I have to send over 4-5 slides on life in lockdown.

That’s good news, Wendy. How do you feel about the new role?

Update on me (it’s complicated I know ) - my Exec Director pulled me into his office yesterday morning and asked me to be truthful about whether I wanted to stay on the project or if I really wanted to go back to my “home” department. We had a really good chat about the pressure of the current role and a couple of my concerns about it, which he allayed (there’s been a total, positive, culture change since he took over last month) and he explained that high up powers that be have said that the project is to get what it needs in terms of resources. Which means my “home” director has been told he can’t have me back. I’m to expect a call from him this week where he’s going to tell me something to this effect and the paperwork for me going back is being reversed (awkward for him and I’m interested to see how he plays it!) and I’m staying on the project to the bitter end (date TBC) which is fine with me, as I love doing project closures.

I hope it turns into something good, wendy.

How do you feel about that, Est? I think it sounds good, is that right?

I think it’s a positive. It means the work I’m doing is valued and they need me to keep doing it. And since the driver for me to stay was completely out of my hands, it should mitigate the career limiting aspects of not going back.

Nice one!

That's good Est! You didn't sound so keen on going back and you're clearly valued in your current role.

Estrella wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:59 pm That’s good news, Wendy. How do you feel about the new role?

I think writing my own JD is a bit of a pointless exercise unless there's buy-in and agreement from other people, tbh. I think I mentioned C said I'll be FT on a project for several months whereas M spoke to me about working on another project 1-2 days a week. M is also the one who has indicated I can take on an implementation role later this year, which could potentially clash with C's big project.

Anyway, I was on a call this morning about C's project and he asked at the end if I've told J about it; I said that he told her about it when I copied her in on the email he sent to me 'warming me up' about it! I did say I have a meeting with her on Monday to discuss what I'll be doing, where I'll sit, who my LM is, and will I get an appraisal this year as I didn't last year (#snark) and he said I report to J and I'm seconded onto the project. So it will be interesting to hear her view of that next week! I care less about the politics of it and more about clarity for me.

I sent my slides over the same day to the new company and am just waiting to hear now. I'm not convinced I'll get it, so at least they're not dragging it out.

The revised outcome sounds good for you Est. The Exec Director sounds good.

I just got an email, which is a funny time to get one, but I didn’t get the external role. I figured as much when I wasn’t contacted Friday with the promised ‘feedback - good, bad or indifferent’.

I think I’m set in my head for tomorrow’s discussion. The work itself isn’t the issue - it’s the lack of communication and line management - so we’ll see if anything changes as a result.

I'm looking again. I've already applied for loads.

Quick question, when you're looking for a new job how much time do you dedicate to it? I've done a good few hours this morning but now I feel guilty for not keeping at it. There's no point looking for 7 hours a day though, is there?

None at all. Good luck.

I do a check quick of job sites and whatever time needed to then apply for roles. I certainly don't spend 7 hours a day doing it.

Thank you, I know this in reality I am just being an idiot and need to hear it from other adults.

Shoe - your post on the daily thread has prompted me to ask if you managed to have a meaningful chat with your boss yet Shoe?

And for a wider catch-up,

Skips, has anything moved on for you after your discussion with your indirect manager?

Wendy did you manage to get anywhere with your role discussions?