Moving up at work (or - review time again)

[Brooke]

Am I the only one who has no desire to move up or take on more responsibility at work? I hate feeling this way but I just don't want to. More responsibility means longer hours, more expectations, etc.

Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I don't have enough time in the day at home as it is. I already can't keep up with paying the bills cooking dinners, doing laundry, taking care of Rebekah. I just can't do that AND take on more at work.

It's annual review time again. I hate this time of year. I spend the whole month of June feeling physically ill, certain that I'm going to get fired based on my review. And I know it will be the same as last year - I'm distracted, I'm not flexible (because of daycare and taking care of Rebekah), I refuse to travel, my critical thinking skills aren't where they should be.... I am trying so hard but it's just not there anymore.

It doesn't help that I've been on two crappy projects this past year. I haven't gotten any guidance from the project managers. I ask but they are too busy to talk to me. Like the Library of Congress job. I'm supposed to survey the fire walls. So I'm given a drawing of all the firewalls and we spend 2 months surveying. We actually did fairly well with the timing. He wanted it done in 6 weeks, which was really pushing it, especially with Christmas and Thanksgiving in there. Then I'm told that those locations weren't correct and that we have to do MORE surveying because I wasn't given the correct info. But it will somehow fall back on me, since I'm not the project manager. Then there is tons of other stuff to do with the project but I'm not given a list and the PM tells me things after we've already done something a different way. And LOC keeps changing their minds. It's so frustrating. We're way over budget (pretty common with LOC jobs, though). I just know it's going to come back on me.

Take today, for example. I know the PM is in the office. I heard him talking in the hall earlier. 2 hrs ago I called him and left a message saying I needed to see him to make sure we were on track and to see if I was missing anything. He hasn't called or come down or anything. He's just too busy. So I'm finishing up the project and then I'll find out there is something else.

The second crappy job I actually finished within the time constraint but I didn't get any guidance on that either. I ask the PM and he says ask someone else. I ask him and he gives me a 2-minute intro and then leaves me to do it. I don't even know if what I turned in was what they wanted. I was never told.

Ugh! It's so frustrating. That's been the last 9 months of the year.

So, I'm preparing myself for the same review - and I'm sure it will be mentioned that I'm not taking on more responsibility. I'm not asking for it because I DON'T WANT IT I would actually be totally happy with a standard cost of living raise and the ability to keep going on at the level I'm at. But how do I do that when it's not really acceptable here.

[bunkie68]

Oh, Brooke, I'm so sorry. :bighug: I know your job has been a source of frustration to you for a long time.

Me personally, I don't care about having the big office or a fancy title. They can call me kitchen wench as long as I'm appropriately compensated for what I do, given decent raises periodically (assuming that I deserve them) and maybe the occasional bonus, and every once in a while reassured and told that I am doing a good job. I don't ask for much, so I guess you and I are in the same spot, Brooke. I haven't been here long enough to know if they expect you to move up or move out, though.

Hope your review isn't as bad as you're expecting it to be. :bighug:

[Lette]

Brooke... :bighug:

I'm with you! :nod: I have absolutely no desire to move up here. I get paid a good $ and I'm happy at my job, although I do skate along most days. I know that's going to bite me if I don't wise up a bit. I used to have to travel and I KNOW there's no way I could go back to doing that....not with 2 kids at home.

I'm pretty inflexible because of daycare and I definitely use that as my excuse as to why I have to leave at 4:30 on the dot every day. I'm sure everyone notices... "Oh, she's outta here like a bat out of hell" or something to that effect. Some days it bothers me and others it doesn't. I just want to get home to my kids.

In my review I was told that if I wanted to get further, I'd have to be more aggressive.. ie put in more time, and I was also told that if I'm happy, then that's okay too. But, I just got a new boss, so who knows how he looks at things. :crazy:

Brooke, how do you know it's not acceptable there? Is it just assumed? or was it said? Do you think they'd actually get rid of you if you don't act interested in moving up?

[Brooke]

Brooke, how do you know it's not acceptable there? Is it just assumed? or was it said? Do you think they'd actually get rid of you if you don't act interested in moving up?
It's kind of an unwritten rule. After 4 years of full-time work, you take the profesional engineering (PE) exam and pass then move up and take on more project management responsibilities. After that, you become Senior project manager and then, eventually, partner.

I've been her for 6.5 years now. I took the Maryland PE exam last October and failed it. I will take it again in October. I'm pretty confident that I will pass this time. (I got a 60 last time with no preparation, you need a 70 to pass)

But once I pass it, I will be expected to move up and I don't want to. I don't know what my boss would say if I said I didn't want to move up.

[Dennis]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this Brooke.

Dennis

[KatieK]

You are absolutely NOT alone! All I can say is shame on your supervisor!!! Your annual review should NOT bring this much worry to you. This is one of my pet peeves. A formal review should NEVER be a surprise if a supervisor is doing their job properly! :complain:

1. You are certainly NOT the only working person who doesn't want to move up the corporate ladder. Some organizations expect that you move up in certain positions - usually the "starter" positions have this expectation (e.g. Programmer Analyst I, II type of positions and often beginning engineering positions carry this requirement, like it or not). The trick is to find a position in an organization that does not carry that expectation if that is not what you want. If increasing levels of responsibility are expected of you in your current job, your supervisor should have made that crystal clear to you in no uncertain terms (no reading between the lines) and it should be part of your formal job expectations. It is COMPLETELY unfair for this to be expected and not communicated formally to you. If this was/is communicated to you then you have two options: you can decide to look for a different job that is closer to what you want or you can decide to try to meet those expectations - that should be 100% up to you, though. If you decide to try to meet those expectations your supervisor should work with you to develop a plan to put you on track for doing so.

2. The lack of guidance is something that, unfortunately, you will have to take the initiative on since your supervisor isn't doing what you need. Apparently he is just NOT getting the message or picture here for whatever reason - maybe he just isn't a people person and isn't good at this sort of thing. Or maybe he's overworked. Either way, that means that you're going to have to take the necessary steps to get what you need to do your job. Which totally sucks and isn't fair but is pretty typical in the workplace in my experience. I've had this happen to me as a PM/supervisor as well. I get so caught up in daily execution and firefighting that I don't make the time to explain stuff to my folks as much as I should sometimes. It keeps me up nights, to be honest. So my advice is that even though your supervisor SHOULD be explaining all this to you, if you need more from him your best bet is to schedule a recurring meeting on his calendar to discuss this stuff with him. This offers you a few advantages:
* You'll be able to guarantee the time with him that you need since you'll schedule it far in advance. (It is a rare day that I can stop by an employee's cube with only 2 hour's notice and give them more than 2 minutes of quick instructions).
* You can use the time for whatever you feel you need it for at that time - project planning, performance pointers, constructive feedback for him, etc.
This will give you a LOT of control over your performance.

Really, though, it sounds like the real issue is that your boss expects more from you than you want to give. If so, your best bet is finding a different job that you'll be happier at. Otherwise, you'll just spend a lot of time spinning your wheels, feeling like a failure, worrying about reviews, and trying to figure out if this is the review in which you'll be fired. That is a horrible burden to shoulder every day. And, frankly, if they expect you to advance and you don't, you probably will be fired ultimately (or end up in the group that gets downsized at the next layoff). IMHO, it's probably better to just find something better before then - you'll be happier at work and will probably perform better in an environment where you are valued for what you WANT to contribute instead of judged based on what you aren't doing (and don't want to be doing).

Good luck!

[KatieK]

I don't know what my boss would say if I said I didn't want to move up.
Definitely ask!

[Brooke]

Ok, Katie...

First of all, my company is organized so that every one has a supervisor who is a partner but you rarely do work for your supervisor. You do work for a bunch of different project managers. It depends on the project you get stuck on. So for people like me who don't really have a specialty (code work or design are our 2 big specialties) there really isn't much consistency in who you work with. And all the PMs are so different.

My supervisor lives in Minnesota and works from his home. I live and work in Baltimore. I rarely hear from my supervisor. He will visit our office and I don't even see him the whole time he's there. He will occasionally call me to tell me they are having a senior staff meeting and ask if I need work. That's it.

It's been several years since I've done work for the PM I'm working with now. And that work involved travel with him so he was only focussed on that one project the whole time. I can't schedule a standing meeting with him because he's not often in the office consistently - maybe 2 days a week at the most. The other times he's in DC or at home and he's fairly unreachable. I send him emails that I need reviewed and the next time he sees me he tells me he didn't even open it yet. I leave voicemails that are never returned. It's extremely frustrating. I understand he's busy but when I'm leaving messages and emailing questions, I'd think he could make a little time for me on one of the days he's in the office. He also didn't give me the entire picture of what we needed to do or how he wanted it done until he thought about it and I'd already done half of the work.

As for the new job - I really want a new job. But I don't know what I'm qualified to do other than what I'm doing. It's so specialized (fire protection engineering) and I don't want to do it anymore. But I read job listings and I just don't have the experience or training to do anything else. That's just as discouraging. Plus, what kind of job can I get where they don't expect me to move up? I don't even know where to start looking.

[Brooke]

I was searching for jobs on Career Builder last night and I came across one that I was interested in so I wrote up a quick resume (I haven't written a resume in years!) and submitted it. It's for a technical writer/editor of materials for law enforcement students. I have no idea what the salary is. It is in the same town where I live and it requires a security clearance, which I have. We'll see if I hear anything from them.

I emailed the resume to a friend who works at the IT department of the University of Maryland for her comments. She does most of the hiring there so she knows what to look for. She actually said the resume was very good and didn't have any suggestions. So that's a plus.

[Dennis]

That sounds good Brooke. Even if you don't get the job or even get an interview, you've taken the first steps and that's always the hardest part.

Good luck!

Dennis

[Lette]

:1pound: That's great Brooke! Good Luck!

[Connie1222]

First off, good luck on the new job!

Second, I am right there with you. Everyone here is either a workaholic or childless (which means they don't mind working late or coming in early). I have no desire to move up, I'm here to earn a paycheck and that's it. I feel so much pressure from my boss and she is not understanding at all. Almost every day as I'm leaving at 5:30, she find some excuse to keep me here later. HELLLO, I've been here all day, why are you asking me for stuff as I'm saying goodbye?

Anyway, you get the point, I don't want to hijack your thread. Just wanted you to know you aren't alone. Good luck on the new job search!

[KatieK]

Distributed work environments suck. It makes everything ten times harder. Plus, your supervisor and PM sound like complete losers since they don't call you back or respond to your emails. :blue:

The writing position sounds a lot more promising as far as normal work hours and expectations go. I hope you get a call from them soon! :heee: