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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:Yeah, right now I'm sort of leaning towards rolling with it to see what happens. Our executive director and quality directory have put out feelers to people in the industry to see if they are willing to either come on on a temporary basis as sort of a consultant and either help bring me up to speed or find someone who can be the head of the quality department and train us both at the same time, or to come over and take the department over. I spoke with the regional manager at my previous job and there is a position opening up at a different branch in the same city that he would be willing to get me into, but he gave me some good advice: If I stick with this, and they give me this new job, and I'm loving terrible at it and just crash and burn, it's still a really good title to have on my resumé at such a young age. I've decided to go the opposite route and emailed the regional manager at my old job about moving forward with returning if this is something they're still amenable too. My current boss and I had a pretty in depth discussion about the sad state of affairs the quality department is in, which isn't really due in any part to anything that we have done, but because the employees aren't able to follow simple instructions and our attention gets pulled towards fixing their mistakes and doing constant retrainings. The more I look at my current job, the more I realize it's a complete poo poo show. The entire organization is stretched thin, and because it's such a niche industry, it takes an incredibly long time to find employees. I emailed my old job last Thursday though, and still haven't heard anything back. I'm hoping my regional manager is just trying to figure out logistic type things, because I've definitely made up in my mind that I want to jump ship. Even if I don't get my old job back, I'm going to be searching for a new job elsewhere. This would make things a lot easier though. The no response is making me a little nervous though. edit: heard back from my old job. Regional manager wants to meet with me and the manager of the center I'll be going to to figure things out. I feel like a poo poo bailing on my new job, and I feel like I'm going to be letting them down, but they're not in a good place and I don't want any part of that. No idea how to diplomatically explain to them that their quality system is in shambles and I want something that's a bit more well defined. Also, nothing is set in stone yet, so I'm keeping this to myself, but I feel lovely going into all these meetings this week where they're giving me crash courses on how to take over things knowing I will probably only be there a short time more. GAYS FOR DAYS fucked around with this message at 14:01 on Mar 8, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 14:02
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The_Angry_Turtle posted:Masters was in biogeography. I completed all the course requirements but not the thesis. Mostly I was a biologist/statistician. After getting my undergrad I spent three years doing field work for scientists working in remote areas and helped them analyze their data. Used a lot of GIS, R, and SAS with some occasional programming. I did a lot of teaching and created a huge volume of material for various classes (lecture slides, exercises, worksheets, lab guides, etc.) in and out of university settings. Those are skills that can get you a solid job, depending on where you live. Try research consulting firms, or any place that works with Big Data, geolocation, etc. Figuring out your career plan will help, but don't feel like you need to get it right the first time. It's going to be a long process, but that process will be a lot easier if you have money and you're not working retail. I've been in a similar situation (minus leaving my Masters program, I just took really long to finish). What specific careers are you interested in currently? Or not interested in at all no after how good the pay? Have you talked to your therapist about working on your career plans? Edit: also look at askamanger for advice on how to explain your time since finishing your classwork. yoyomama fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 16:45
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The_Angry_Turtle posted:Masters was in biogeography. I completed all the course requirements but not the thesis. Mostly I was a biologist/statistician. After getting my undergrad I spent three years doing field work for scientists working in remote areas and helped them analyze their data. Used a lot of GIS, R, and SAS with some occasional programming. I did a lot of teaching and created a huge volume of material for various classes (lecture slides, exercises, worksheets, lab guides, etc.) in and out of university settings. What's up, sad-brains, existential-crisis, academic buddy?  I was in a very similar situation regarding grad school, mental health, professional trajectory, etc. I was also tired of lovely bosses and being poor. I am here to suggest you look in the broad field of analysis. Business and systems analysis, or data analysis. It pays comfortably with plenty of opportunity for growth. It is stable but not especially stressful. You interact with others, but it's not a foundation of the job. It's also adequately challenging without being soul-destroying. Your stats, research and teaching background all would be a great asset. PM me if you want to chat more. Your background really does lend itself to doing interesting, lucrative work, and your breaks from school can be framed in ways that won't keep you from a good job.
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Mar 7, 2016 17:33
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I've looked into some analysis type jobs but feel terribly unqualified for them. I've mostly been applying to GIS technician type gigs and out of the 20+ apps I've only gotten an interview for one. I'm clearly lacking something but I'm not sure how to go about getting the qualifications they want. Going back to school is unappealing but maybe taking some classes is the answer.quote:What specific careers are you interested in currently? Or not interested in at all no after how good the pay? Have you talked to your therapist about working on your career plans? I'd like to do work relating to land use change and urban development. Or at least I did. Ideally I'd be doing something where I could investigate the results of policy decisions to see what works and what doesn't. Thats what I was initially working towards. I've talked to my therapist about career plans but he can't really help. I need concrete advice from someone in the field The_Angry_Turtle fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Mar 9, 2016 |
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Mar 9, 2016 04:17
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The_Angry_Turtle posted:I've looked into some analysis type jobs but feel terribly unqualified for them. I've mostly been applying to GIS technician type gigs and out of the 20+ apps I've only gotten an interview for one. I'm clearly lacking something but I'm not sure how to go about getting the qualifications they want. Going back to school is unappealing but maybe taking some classes is the answer. 1. If you can write scripts in R, you're qualified to be an analyst. 2. Every job description ever describes the perfect candidate, which doesn't exist. 3-5 years experience means entry level. Apply anyway. Post your resume in the resume thread if you need help. 3. Burning out from academia is pretty common. Just say you had to withdraw for medical reasons, and you're looking to get back into the field. If you did any volunteering or anything while recovering, put that in the blank space in your resume. 4. 1 interview from 20 unsolicited applications is actually a really good rate. Send out more applications. Edit: One last E/N point: Your hedging and self-sabotage speak sounds a lot like depression bullshit. Don't hedge. You're a smart person who deserves good things. Dik Hz fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Mar 9, 2016 |
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Mar 9, 2016 06:29
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Dik Hz posted:Edit: Imposter syndrome is a bitch 
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Mar 9, 2016 19:44
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The_Angry_Turtle posted:I've looked into some analysis type jobs but feel terribly unqualified for them. I've mostly been applying to GIS technician type gigs and out of the 20+ apps I've only gotten an interview for one. I'm clearly lacking something but I'm not sure how to go about getting the qualifications they want. Going back to school is unappealing but maybe taking some classes is the answer. Research consulting firms or research institutes, one that works in social policy work would be your best bet. 1 in 20 rate for interviews is really good, 1 in 50 would be good. If you want feedback, reach out to someone working in the field, or go to professional meet ups. And not just for analysts, but any event that involves researchers meeting up or talks about large projects. If you meet the right person you can at least get a lead on a job.
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Mar 9, 2016 20:48
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kloa posted:Imposter syndrome is a bitch Impostor syndrome is a sign of competency. 
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Mar 10, 2016 01:01
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I'm 33 years old and 5.5 years into my Payroll career. I'm taking the plunge and trying to get myself a Payroll Management role because my degree + 5.5 years of experience + business owner experience matter more than the 7 years of experience requested. My only problem is that these interviews are all four hours long and involve like 8 people.
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Mar 21, 2016 00:25
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Welp. Put in my notice last week that I'm leaving and going back to my old job after 6 months. I know on a certain level I'm making the wrong choice, but there's just way too much uncertainty at my current position, and I hate to say it, but from a QA perspective the place is a mess. I can't go a day without finding something glaringly wrong with someone's work, and it's really frustrating. They can't fire anyone because they have probably not even half the staff they should have. I feel bad for the executive directory, I think she know's they're hosed, but she keeps a smile on and keeps telling everyone at meetings "I really do think we're in a really good place right now, we're in a place to bring in some people with some extensive experience, and blah blah blah." Her ideas of what will help the organization are the exact opposite of what I think needs to be done, she wants to open up the SOPs so they primarily focus on just the regulations and beyond that, she feels they tie employees hands. I think the SOPs are way too vague and allow for way too much variation between employees, leading to errors and QA spending 75% of their time fixing mistakes. I feel bad, I like the people, I like the mission, but the work isn't what I thought it would be and there are too many problems with the place, and given the current staff and staffing levels, there's no way they'll be fixed any time soon. I leave there every day frustrated and/or confused about what the hell I'm even supposed to be doing. I have gained a lot of valuable experience in biologics though, and I can definitely see this giving me a leg up back at my old job with internal promotions.
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Mar 21, 2016 13:14
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I'm not really sure where to put this, so I figure I'll ask here and move it if it doesn't belong. I need some serious advice if you guys don't mind reading a wall of text. I'm 26 and have been in sales for almost 3 years with the same company. They hired me straight out of college at 30K a year. I need a job. Fine. The company does around 300$ million in business a year, is one of the largest independent dealers in the US, has several fortune 500 clients, and is in general a really cool and good place to work in the other branches. The CEO wanted to expand into this state, and purchased an existing dealership, fired everyone but the owner who now acts as GM and Sales Manager out of a little office in a lovely part of town. He recently got a brand spanking sexy new office and warehouse space in a nicer part of town. i worked up and down the street for about a year and a half selling multi-function copiers up and down the street. Alot of cold calls, telemarketing, all that poo poo. I was ok, i covered my base and made quota consistently. I wasn't great but I covered my numbers in a competitive industry in a competitive market. About a year and a half into this, i found a bid for one of the largest school districts in the nation (top 10, 300+ schools, 40+ business locations, 250K+ students, 36K staff) that was due in like two weeks. I read the whole thing, and filled it out. Wrote my own scope of work, pulled references, priced out options and equipment. I emailed the financials to the CEO, CFO, VP of Sales, my immediate boss (and GM/SM/Owner) whom we'll call Bob before turning it in for review because we use internal leasing and I'm asking the company to front several million dollars. No on said anything so I submitted it. I won. It is by an order of magnitude the largest single hardware deal in the company, we placed over 1000 copiers into the district. I had a discussion with Bob where he told me verbally that i would be salaried at 50-60K and would earn approximately $60,000 in manufacturer spiffs (kickbacks, a sort of rewards program). Cool. The deal as Structured in whats called a cost per page or cost per click agreement. You pay every time you print, and the click rate has your equipment cost, service, labor, parts, toner etc included in it. We came in half a million dollars cheaper than the next closest in competition, and if you do bidding, thats a lot of loving money. Turned out i essentially used a 60 month lease rate on a 36 month contract, which gave us our low low price. The CEO ran the numbers after we won, and figured we would break even or be in the red slightly on the account if their volume (pages printed) remained static. If they grew 5% we'd make a bunch of loving money according to him. I was ecstatic because i was tired of doing up and down the street sales, and now i got to manage this major account which is a hell of a reference and I figured a hell of a resume builder. The incumbent bidder drags us to court protesting, just as an effort to drag their existing contract out and continue to collect. Bob fronts like 60K in lawyers fees fighting a bullshit protest and we win six months later. I continue to sell during this period and hit quota. Bob plans on bringing in Phil, a major project manager for corporate who basically does large private and public entity bidding and implements them. We have about a month and a half until we are to start the project, literally two days before school starts and that's a nightmare, because we are going to be crawling all over schools pulling out copiers, putting ours in, networking them, deploying drivers, configuring features and training users during the busiest period of the year. During this period, I start building a deployment schedule, until the district tells us they don't have all the schools Purchase Orders in and we will have to deploy as we receive purchase orders, because we aren't installing equipment without one. Ok. I still have yet to recieve any purchase orders, but I have estimated total device quantities and a map of the district. I go out and speak to property managers about short-term rentals and arrange for us to rent a warehouse in prime location in the middle of the district between two highways as a place to build and stage equipment. Corporate sends us the guy who manages warehouses and inventory for the entire company to help me deploy this project. We work all week before we are to begin deploying the district offices and one of the larger business centers. He's a life saver, because he ties equipment to the entity in our system and creates sales orders for us to put equipment out. I oversee a team of foreign engineers and American reps the equipment manufacturer whose product we used sent us. I have them building, updating and staging equipment in the warehouse around the clock all week. Bob has a brief discussion with me about pay, where he tells me it probably can't be 60K since he's gunna lose money out the gate, and that he needs half my spiffs (approx 30k) to give to Phil to cover his cost/pay on the project. I disagree, but am overruled because its a large account and I've never done anything like this. Bob goes to play golf across the country all week. I text and call him all week about hammering out my compensation, and he basically tells me i can take 36K and half the spiffs or he'll find someone else to do it...over text message....Saturday morning. I agree, because I really want to put this on my resume, I'm making 30k from the manufacturer and i don't have another job lined up. So we go from 60 toooo 36K. I should have refused but I didn't. Im fresh out of college and loving dumb. He says we'll revisit salary when he sees what the account is making. So we start deployment monday, Phil helps for approx two weeks, and goes home. Never touches the account again, doesn't handle it, made 30k. Which pisses me off. Moving on, I do everything for this account. 1. I build truck routes, tell the drivers what needs to be on each truck, coordinate with each site to arrange delivery and coordinate with the warehouse to make sure we have the necessary amount of units built, staged and updated for installation. 2. I am the single point of contact between my company and the account. I receive approx. 200 emails a day about various issues ranging from paper jamming to invoice questions. Technical and non technical. I dispatch service calls, trainers, engineers and networkers to sites as they have problems. 3. I build routes for installation teams typically a day or two behind the truck, who are responsible for installing the copier, deploying drivers, networking, end-user training, power training technical users and getting everything up and running. I have also installed sites myself, led installation teams and done all this from the ground up. 4. I sit between our respective Accounts department and help solve invoice and payment issues. 5. Handle ordering of hardware and accessories I deploy roughly 1000 copiers over a period of 3 months, going all day often 7AM to 9 or 10PM. I had guys tell me to stop emailing them so late, or theyd just turn their phone off cause my guys are getting their routes at 10 o'clock at night for the following day. Just me, and the teams under me, but Phil is no where to be found. I oversee a team of approx 20-40 people day to day for the first 3 months of deployment and a team of 15 day in and day out now. We mostly finish deployment, thank loving god around mid January.... and we realize we can't ping half our devices. We have pushed out 1000+ copiers and have approx. 450~ on a DCA (data collection agent, a software hooked up to the districts network to ask devices to report copy meter counts for billing). Well that's just hunky dory, now we need to find those other ones and make sure we can talk to them so we can bill the account and figure what we're going to make. We have also installed extra option on some copiers for an extra fee such as stapling capability, upgraded engines, or software applications. Well we need to make sure we're billing those accessories and add-ons as well so Bob decides we are going to audit every location in the district. He hires two people, we split the district into thirds and go about visiting every school, performing an audit for devices and accessories as well as training and customer care. Both those guys were hired late last year, and both quit....roughly 3 weeks ago. So now its just me. Making 36K, and I'm pretty pissed about it, because this audit is going to take forever and meanwhile im driving my car into the ground and blowing through gas. I'm also not selling so I get no income from that, I approached him at the end of last year about a raise and he told me that he couldn't because he's loosing money on the account, losing money on his business as he remodels his new office, and the only reason he kept the account was because the CEO told him to or it'd go to the closest branch in another city. He can't afford to pay me right now till he sees what the account makes, but he assures me i'll get paid. I feel like i have been a team player and would like to be rewarded at this point. I'd be ecstatic with 45-50K, but I spoke to a buddy at work and he doesn't think i'll get it. I am going to begin putting my resume out and ask him in two to three weeks when i have some interviews and stuff under my belt about a raise...because I feel like my skills are above that mark at this point, and i am managing the largest account in the company. I also can't live on 36K anymore, i want to pursue grad school, my gf and I want to move in together among other things. Im not even sure what i want out of grad school but my girl is really pushing me for it and i feel like its a good decision so...yea. So goons....should I ask him for a raise, and if so how should I? and if not, what are some types of positions I should look for? I literally haven't updated my resume since college and i have no idea how to put that account on it. I also really don't want to go back into sales. Thank you for reading this wall of text please let me know if you have any questions. e: I also do SLED bidding for the company now and won two other contracts in different government districts, as well as placing well in several others I submitted. Waroduce fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Mar 21, 2016 |
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Mar 21, 2016 20:19
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If you're willing to stay for a raise, get an offer in writing before you talk to him again about a raise, in my opinion.
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Mar 21, 2016 20:27
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My sales friend said he has never stayed at a job more than 2 years. I think in sales you need to go where the growth is, both professionally, pay wise, and when the company itself is financially growing. I think we have a big sales thread, they could let you know if you are getting screwed over. Sounds like you got some legit experience tho
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Mar 21, 2016 21:06
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with regards to my wall of text above, is there a resume thread? i think the goon run service folded, and i have no idea what to do with my resume, how to incorporate the account into it :/ e: or good sites to read on how to write one Nail Rat posted:If you're willing to stay for a raise, get an offer in writing before you talk to him again about a raise, in my opinion. I am unwilling to continue doing the amount of work I do for the current salary, but i will just have to suck it up until i get another offer Waroduce fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Mar 21, 2016 |
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Mar 21, 2016 21:17
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Waroduce posted:with regards to my wall of text above, is there a resume thread? i think the goon run service folded, and i have no idea what to do with my resume, how to incorporate the account into it :/ I planned to just get someone on Fiverr to do mine. A question of my own: I previously posted in this thread about wanting to move on from the job I've been at for a few years. It's full time with benefits and pays alright, but not enough to say I'm doing well. And I'm not growing. I do overtime and a couple nights a week at another job. About 60 hours total. I'm trying to study for the CPA on top of that, and predictably, it's not going well. I've been talking to a company that does bookkeeping and other services for companies looking to outsource. They pay better, but it's part time to start, and I'm not sure about the benefits. I would learn a lot more than I am now, and I think it would make me more marketable, but losing half my paycheck and benefits is not ideal. I still would work at the second job and my expenses are low, so I could manage- just not comfortably. I would have more time for the CPA though. Advice on that would be appreciated. Give up job security to do something better part time? Depending on how many hours I get, I could also make some extra money doing wholesale sales of luxury goods (mostly purses) with someone living in China. My girlfriend resells to just her friends and family (and other people through their word of mouth) and pays her rent with that. She would work with that guy, but school is more important to her. I may take him up on that, but that's probably a question for another thread. Moneyball fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Mar 22, 2016 |
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Mar 22, 2016 02:15
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Waroduce posted:Im not even sure what i want out of grad school but my girl is really pushing me for it and i feel like its a good decision so...yea. Words are not sufficient to express what a loving awful idea it is to go to grad school for no particular reason. People see an advanced degree as an impressive trophy and don't realize how much damage they're likely to do to their finances, careers, or personal lives trying to get it. Go to grad school if and only if you have a specific career path in mind and know exactly what purpose your degree will serve in its pursuit. And even then, think very hard first about whether it's really the path you want to take.
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Mar 22, 2016 06:54
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I made a major career change at the start of the year, from traditional librarianship to systems analysis. I love the work I do now and am continually praised for being smart and a hard, exemplary worker. However, the culture fit at my current workplace (being sexually harassed by my boss all day every day!) is making it excruciating to be here. It's a small company and leaving is going to be my only option. How hosed am I with having only six months on this new career path before looking for other work? This is my first full time salaried position out of grad school and I relocated to the area for it. I am terrified of screwing myself over, but listening to my supervisor's sexual foibles is grating on me. I've been documenting everything and was hoping to just meet with HR, give my notice, and request a good reference in "exchange" for not kicking up a shitstorm over the harassment. I genuinely don't know what else to do. Help. Also: how do I address such a short stint, after a major change, when I start interviewing again?
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Mar 22, 2016 14:01
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Rather than have to make such a big change in your life, why don't you have HR protect you like they are required to do? If you're close to leaving the company because the environment is so bad, you have a solid case they have to take seriously.
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Mar 22, 2016 15:33
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epenthesis posted:Words are not sufficient to express what a loving awful idea it is to go to grad school for no particular reason. People see an advanced degree as an impressive trophy and don't realize how much damage they're likely to do to their finances, careers, or personal lives trying to get it. My life is a cautionary tale
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Mar 22, 2016 15:37
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Moneyball posted:Rather than have to make such a big change in your life, why don't you have HR protect you like they are required to do? If you're close to leaving the company because the environment is so bad, you have a solid case they have to take seriously. I'm at a small company with an incompetent, maybe completely ineffectual, HR department. Every instance of harassment is when my supervisor and I are alone. He is professional whenever anyone else is around. I'm his only subordinate and he's the only person I work with. He also plays a pivotal role in the company and is serious pals with the owner. I'm worried my concerns will be dismissed as him just kidding around and me taking things too seriously. (He's commented, repeatedly, on his dick size, his sexual encounters, and what he thinks about my sex life.) I genuinely don't think addressing the concerns of an entry level plebe (me), who's been here 8 weeks, is going to supersede his place in the company. I'm also still in my probationary period and in an at-will state, so broaching the subject makes me concerned about being fired. I DO know my supervisor and the HR manager here do not get along whatsoever.
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Mar 22, 2016 16:33
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Moneyball posted:Rather than have to make such a big change in your life, why don't you have HR protect you like they are required to do? I don't think he/she should take it, but come on now, HR is not there to protect the employee.
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Mar 22, 2016 16:47
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Well, I can't tell you what to do, but I would imagine a lawyer would be salivating at a client who was fired after filing a complaint with HR about supervisor sexual harassment. Think of it as a way to protect yourself. You want to leave anyway, so being proactive about filing a complaint keeps things from being muddy from a "former employee alleging sexual harassment" standpoint. I'd ask in the legal questions thread, or search for your state's labor board. I don't know a lot about how this all works, but if it were me, I would document everything and explore every option before just up and leaving. You're entitled by law to a comfortable working environment. Nail Rat posted:I don't think he/she should take it, but come on now, HR is not there to protect the employee. Okay, you're right. More like minimize legal liability.
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Mar 22, 2016 16:55
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If you've been there 8 weeks, start looking now and leave it off your resume. Just get out. Bring it up to HR if you want, but either way, based on what you've described, you'd likely need to have an exit strategy. I've made the mistake to try to make it work at jobs that just aren't working out, but sexual harassment is another level of gfto That said, the alternative is transferring to another department and/or supervisor, if you can.
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Mar 22, 2016 17:37
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So I'm 24 about to graduate in May with a bachelor's in economics. My grades aren't great but my work experience is good--I've been employed full time in the mortgage industry since I was about 18. I would like to do one of the following things, in order of preference: 1) get a job at a policy institute, like CEPR, or pretty much anything actually related to economics 2) get an analytics job (marketing analyst, finance analyst, business intelligence) 3) if none of the above are possible at making more than I currently make, I guess get a PHD, MBA, or kill myself So I have two major questions-- 1) To what extent are post-graduate degrees and research experience required for working at a think tank? All of the featured writers have PhD's and poo poo but what kind of positions, if any, do they have for undergrads? Related, with a 3.0 GPA, what are my chances of getting into any decent grad school for either an MBA or a masters/doctorate in economics. I haven't even looked at GRE or GMAT because I've been assuming I'm out of the picture with a 3.0 GPA and a 3.3 in my major. My grades show a significant improvement over time but honestly only in the last year or so has it been a priority over work. The heart of this question, really, is what jobs are available in the actual field of economics that I would qualify for? 2) I'm not sure how to leverage my experience into higher pay in a different field. I've been making 45k/yr and would ideally see a significant boost in pay, but mortgages are a pretty specific set of technical skills that won't actually make me better at doing analytics. This is in a city where median household income is about 60k and per capita is 30ish.
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Mar 22, 2016 20:59
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I can't speak about the econ job market, but as far as grad school- Looks like you have a solid resume, so a good GMAT or GRE score should help mitigate the 3.0. I'm in the same boat, actually, except mine is an extremely annoying 2.994. There are dual MBA/MS Business Analytics programs, or just an MBA in Business Analytics (or data science) both of which I'm considering once I finish my CPA.
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Mar 22, 2016 21:36
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Bitchkrieg posted:I'm at a small company with an incompetent, maybe completely ineffectual, HR department. That's every HR department.
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Mar 23, 2016 02:42
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epenthesis posted:Words are not sufficient to express what a loving awful idea it is to go to grad school for no particular reason. People see an advanced degree as an impressive trophy and don't realize how much damage they're likely to do to their finances, careers, or personal lives trying to get it. As someone who was accepted into a respectable PhD programs and then dropped out of halfway through, don't go to grad school just to say you did. Go in knowing what you want the end result and the first steps after graduation to look like. And I say this having gone through a Chemistry grad program, where they actually pay you less than minimum wage to attend; I can't imagine going in blind and having to pay for it. Content: My name is C-Euro, and I have zero interest in my current career trajectory. Background: Bachelor's in 2010, Master's in 2013 (both for Chemistry). First job out of grad school was a QC lab for a food science company, which was in a field I enjoy but I was way overqualified and underpaid for the position, so when my wife got her dream postdoc on the east coast I decided I wouldn't drag her down and we rolled the dice to move out here. A month or so after arriving, I'm somewhat forced to accept a job offer to do regulatory work for a cosmetics company due to dwindling finances (don't get married and move halfway across the country in the same summer!). While I was a little reluctant to cut bench work out of my working life, I figured cold-calling my way into a job with my own desk and a window view meant I was moving up in the world. My other thought was that Regulatory work experience translates well across industries, and if I could stick it out during my wife's two-year postdoc contract, I could cross that Regulatory experience over to any industry I wanted. Present: As it turns out, I find Regulatory work incredibly dull and un-fulfilling! At first it wasn't too bad, as I had an incredible boss who had been there for seven years, knew a lot about the industry and was a pro at interpreting regulations, and who also did way more than his share of our work, which left me time to learn our company workflows and to pursue other interests (see below). After six months my boss tells me he's confident in my ability to navigate our file systems and the various programs we use to do our job, and that his goals going forward are to pass on his regulatory knowledge (in my interview he acknowledged that I didn't have the regulatory background they wanted, but had a deeper chemistry background than anyone else they interviewed) and to gradually transition me into handling the daily regulatory requests coming from customers. A week after that, he puts in notice. And because he's taken on so many extra things in his time with the company, he has to spend his final two weeks handing all of this off and I don't get nearly the crash course I need to take over for him 100%. That was a little more than two months ago, and in those two months of being my boss (or partially my boss) I've come to realize that I might not want this. Most of my job involves generating and/or passing along documents that our Sales or Lab staff need, or longer-term data compiling projects for certifications or complying with larger regulations. The part that upsets me the most about the work I'm asked to do is that I feel like I could do it without any chemistry knowledge, which rubs against the fact that I was supposedly hired for my deeper chemistry background. I'll admit that some of my frustration and apathy stems from the fact that I haven't had any guidance or even semi-regular supervision in those two months, as the two VPs I'm supposed to report to have more fish and larger fish to fry (and I get the feeling that one of them is really frustrated with the fact that I'm not a knowledge-clone of my old boss). And they hired someone to replace my former boss starting in April, and he comes with a lot of regulatory experience so he'll be a good resource for learning the field, I met him and he seems cool enough. But then my general dislike of regulatory work comes up, and I find myself thinking of the directions I could go career-wise... --Stop being such a baby: A lot of my current disdain for my job stems from not knowing what I'm doing and not being able to get the help I need. My hope is that once my new boss starts, I will go back to being somewhere between "actively coached into a daily problem-solver role, as my old boss intended" and "picking up the slack while my boss does most of the heavy lifting". And once I get the support I need, maybe I'll end up liking it. We are doing some shuffling of departmental responsibilities, so I can't see much further into the future than "new boss soon". Plus my wife convinced herself at one point that two years of Regulatory experience could get me a six-figure manager position, though I remain fairly skeptical. --Back to food chemistry: For as many gripes as I had with my old job, it was a pretty unique situation and a good first job for me. I had an interest in food chemistry prior to starting there and remain interested in it, as I see it as a science to help foster public interest in science as a whole (food is something everyone is familiar with). When I left that job I had actually been given a contact that was supposed to introduce me to a couple of nearby food companies with similar positions, but she either wasn't interested in helping or they weren't interested in me. Now might be the time to go straight to the source(s) myself, I know one of them has an open position on their site. But the grass is always greener on the other side, and I'm afraid of hopping jobs too quickly as I think it would look bad to have a bunch of short stints on my resume. --Scientific editing?: The dirty secret about my daily routine at work is that, when I don't have something that needs my active attention, I've been doing English proofreading and editing for a company that revises scientific manuscripts and journal articles for non-native speakers. I picked this gig up right before I was offered my day job but decided to hold onto it because, as a freelance position, I could set my own workload and it wouldn't take up any time I didn't agree to have taken up (also as a millennial I need every advantage I can to not be consumed by debt). And I've been doing a pretty good job at it, they're generally pretty happy with my results and have been asking me if I want to take on other tasks more complex than simple proofreading. As a result, I've begun to do some very light research into careers involving this sort of proofreading and document vetting, though it's too early to actually tell if I'd enjoy it 9-5. One other thing I don't like about my current job is how antsy I get sitting at a desk all day. --Other chemistry/science poo poo?: The area we live in is slowly being built up as the next big pharma/biotech hub, and there are a number of companies here that could use someone with my background. The trick is figuring out who's hiring, and how my previous experience would fit with them. Maybe the little bit of Regulatory background would help somewhere? That's way longer and more E/N than I wanted it to be, but it's been on my mind for a while and I just need to get it out. Anyone have similar experiences or relevant insight they want to share? My wife is supportive of me switching jobs if I'm unhappy (so long as I'm not unemployed for any period of time), including saying she will exclusively look for jobs in the area after her postdoc if I find something I really like here. But we're both going to be 28 this spring and are a year or two away from serious talks about houses, kids, and settling down, and want to start working somewhere that I enjoy (or that will pay me a premium to tolerate it) before I have to make decisions on all of that.
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Mar 23, 2016 04:19
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Kim Jong Il posted:That's every HR department. Ugh, I suspected as much. The bubble of academia (with its own problems!) has protected me from this cruel workplace reality. I think I'll be trying to stick it out as long as possible to gain experience and tackle some projects, learn, and ramp up my job hunt again after six months here. Bitchkrieg fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2016 15:34
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Sharzak posted:So I'm 24 about to graduate in May with a bachelor's in economics. My grades aren't great but my work experience is good--I've been employed full time in the mortgage industry since I was about 18. I would like to do one of the following things, in order of preference: Looking at that salary, if you want to earn more starting out, and with a BA, go the analyst route, especially business and/or data analytics. Going into think tank work doesn't pay until after you get advanced degrees, and even then it's a gamble if it'll be worth it. Even with a lower GPA, a few years work at a good think tank will count for a lot for grad school apps. But again, you won't make much money. Going the analyst route can get you a good salary, and you won't need to go to grad school. And if/when you do, you can find an employer that'll pay for it. Also, they even have tech bootcamps for data analytics now. Not to say you should go that route, but at least that gives a signal that it's an employable skill set. I tell you this as someone who thought very similarly of doing think tank/policy work, and then left that career path once I realized I'd never make a decent living without a lot of upfront financial sacrifice that I literally could not make.
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Mar 23, 2016 16:38
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I've reached a bit of an impasse myself. I started out with a BA in Poli Sci, focusing on the Middle East, and kept going through an MA in Middle East studies. I've done plenty of traveling in the region, and have worked as an academic editor and an analyst focusing on security/political risk in the region. I haven't worked in the intelligence community. I recently moved to the Gulf to pursue an opportunity, but unfortunately my company lost their contract mere months after I arrived. I've decided to move to Houston, because that's close to family, instead of moving back to DC, and try to make it work. I know that the oil industry is in recession right now, and so no one is really hiring people like myself. I could work at investment firms or other places that need Middle East political analysis...but I'm having trouble finding those in Houston (duh). I've also thought about changing fields entirely. It's a bit depressing, honestly, and if you don't work for the government there doesn't appear to be a lot of career stability. I'm kind of a space nerd, and have often thought about trying to work for SpaceX or some other company doing PR - basically "science communication", or trying to get my license to teach HS physics. But I'm hesitant to completely start over. Are there any fields that a political/security researcher analyst could transition to without going back to school? I'm feeling some path dependency (go to the intel community!) so outside views are helpful.
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Mar 27, 2016 18:49
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kaishek posted:I've reached a bit of an impasse myself. I started out with a BA in Poli Sci, focusing on the Middle East, and kept going through an MA in Middle East studies. I've done plenty of traveling in the region, and have worked as an academic editor and an analyst focusing on security/political risk in the region. I haven't worked in the intelligence community. I recently moved to the Gulf to pursue an opportunity, but unfortunately my company lost their contract mere months after I arrived. I have a degree in political science (and finance) and I'm not using it at all. I am about to be hired as a payroll manager. Note: I live in southern New England I started off 6 years ago as an entry level corporate payroll clerk making $16/HR (this ranges from $10 in Kansas to $20ish in some cities, and I'm about to leave my $25/HR "global payroll specialist" position for a payroll manager role making anywhere from 75-100k. Another few years of experience and I could make $160 if I travel to Boston. If this is something that interests you, there are two payroll certifications that you should do, and if you're really smart you would look around for various HR certifications so you could eventually become Director of HR or finance (payroll falls I neither department depending on where you work) for a good $250k. Again, cut all of these numbers in half in places like Kansas or Idaho, but inflate them by 30% in San Fran or NYC
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Mar 27, 2016 22:09
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I need to determine whether I should go back to school to do a degree, and I would love some insight. Background: I'm 28, graduated with a degree in journalism at 21, started my first full-time job as a business journalist that I kept until 26, left the well-respected publication as deputy editor. Worked at a major services/consulting firm running their content strategy in the digital consultancy, then moved to my current role where I work as a digital copywriter for a software company. So, moving out of journalism but still staying in copy-related fields, working in content, marketing, and getting involved more in strategy, etc. Alongside this I am also running my own small business creating content and writing, editing, for business clients. I'm considering going back to school to study a Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics. The course wouldn't be focused so much on the raw extraction of data but rather the strategy and applications of that data. My rationale: - The work I'm doing is growing more and more involved with data and analytics, especially at a sales level. I'm constantly working with our optimisation team. - There is a big emphasis on analytics and understanding data at a broad level, it's becoming more of a highly sought after skill. - Doing this work will help me win new business clients if I can demonstrate an ability to connect my copy to actual analysis of how that copy can change business performance on a website or product. - I find the study of data analysis incredibly interesting. - Thinking 10, 15 years in the future, employers will come to view data analysis and strategic thinking as a given. I want to be ahead of the pack. It's a year-long course at a well-respected university with good industry ties in the actual program, and the cost isn't prohibitive, (in fact, my company may even put some money towards it). I would work-full time and study as well. (A lot of the resources are online). Is this a stupid idea? Is it better for me to just gain experience in analytics while on the job and forget about the degree entirely, or will the degree alongside my experience provide me with a better advantage? Dunno what to do right now. Applications start next week. I'm leaning towards doing it but would it be a waste of money?
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Mar 28, 2016 13:18
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kaishek posted:I'm kind of a space nerd, and have often thought about trying to work for SpaceX or some other company doing PR - basically "science communication", or trying to get my license to teach HS physics. But I'm hesitant to completely start over. Just so you know, by all accounts SpaceX pays poo poo wages and makes you work poo poo hours and still treats you like poo poo, because there's a never-ending supply of smart people who want to be part of something like that. If you'd like to work in space, try applying for NASA positions, they at least pay well and have good benefits.
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Mar 28, 2016 13:28
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Also it might be not have the same environment you'd like, but there are a lot of aerospace contractors that do varying levels of space hardware (up to full integration like at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon)
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Mar 28, 2016 14:09
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Would people /mods be opposed to posting a resume for feed back here? Do we have a thread or proper venue for that? I've not written a resume for 3 years and I'm desperate for feedback. E: i ask this and now see the resume thread Waroduce fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Mar 31, 2016 |
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Mar 31, 2016 21:03
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Hello thread. I hope this is the right thread to post this question in. I'm sort of in a quarter-life crisis and don't really know what to do with my life. Thankfully I have a fairly healthy resume, with no employment breaks lasting over 2 months. However, I'm 28 and really want to stop doing job-jobs and focus on a more long term career. I'm leaving my current position as the manager of a small family style office because its in the boonies and I'm moving closer to a big city. This puts me in a great position to stop loving around and pursue something serious. About me: 28, female, resume that mostly centers around office stuff with office manager, admin assistant, and sales jobs. Bachelor's Degree in Art that minors in Collecting Dust. The state I'm looking in is Florida. Current skillset: -2 years office management experience. -1.5 years of sales experience (health insurance) -3 years Admin Assistant experience. Goals: -Make at least 30K -Health insurance and days off benefits -Telecommuting or working from home would be AMAZING because I have health issues, but I'm able to work a 9-5 and know that realistically those jobs must be a bitch to get. Careers I've Considered -Claims Adjuster- This would be a sort of easy transition, as my current job involves handling SIU/Worker's Comp claims. It appears that I would need a license though. Also I've heard this job blows -Retail Sales- Not in the form of going back to burger-flipping, but I've heard cellphone sales reps make bank with base + commission and it's generally easy to make sales numbers. I could also be a manager of a retail store. -Generic Office Manager- I'm fully willing to be the head paper-pusher of any office that needs one. -Education - My mother is a teacher and I could get in as a substitute teacher with only a bit of education training, since I already have a Bachelor's Degree. However being a teacher in Florida loving sucks. If things become dire I could fall back on admin assistant jobs, and will take one just to get by while focusing on a career path. But with my past experience, what should I look into? What would make me the most money and be most likely to provide benefits? Unfortunately going back to college is out of the question because I'm up to my rear end in a top hat in student loan debt, but I am willing to pursue any certification training.
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Apr 6, 2016 02:51
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GAYS FOR DAYS posted:I've decided to go the opposite route and emailed the regional manager at my old job about moving forward with returning if this is something they're still amenable too. My current boss and I had a pretty in depth discussion about the sad state of affairs the quality department is in, which isn't really due in any part to anything that we have done, but because the employees aren't able to follow simple instructions and our attention gets pulled towards fixing their mistakes and doing constant retrainings. The more I look at my current job, the more I realize it's a complete poo poo show. The entire organization is stretched thin, and because it's such a niche industry, it takes an incredibly long time to find employees. Looks like I definitely made the right decision. I gave my notice to the eye bank a few weeks back, and they seemed a little upset, but they were accepting of it and still threw me a bigger going away thing than I thought I would get. Before I left, they brought in a guy with a lot of FDA regulatory background in a consulting role, and sort of as an extended interview for role of director of QA to replace my boss. I got along with him well enough, but he rubbed me the wrong way and personally felt that if I had stayed I would probably clash with him a bit. He seemed very entitled. Well, I went back to my old job on Monday, and they gave me a 7.5% raise over what I was making previously. I've been talking to a girl who works at the eye bank a lot, and they were sending the new director to a conference in Long Beach that I was going to go to (really would have loved to go there), and he made them change his flights and hotel rooms around because he wanted to stay an extra day and thought the flights were too early, so that cost about $800. The organization has the money, but it's a pretty small non-profit, so it's not like it's some huge company making billions a year. He was treating people as if they were his personal assistant, and just being a real rear end hole to everyone. Well, they fired him on Friday, a whole 1 week and 1 day after he was named the director of quality. So now with my departure, and him being fired, the place has no one working in the quality department. It really sucks because I wish that organization the best, but they have a lot of serious and systemic problems from a QA perspective and I honestly think that the only way to really resolve them is to restart from the ground up. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the larger eye banks like Sightlife or Eversight buys the organization, and it would honestly be the best thing for everyone involved.
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Apr 10, 2016 16:38
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Cuckoo posted:Hello thread. I hope this is the right thread to post this question in. Might be worth keeping an eye out for postings from the Florida disability determination bureau. SSI contracts with state governments to hire and run the DDBs to make medical decisions on SSI/SSDI claims. We've hired almost a hundred new examiners in the last two years in my state, but I'm in WI so I'm not sure what the situation looks like in FL. They train people in on everything you need so you get people from varied backgrounds.
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Apr 16, 2016 18:59
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I'm in Austin with 5 years of software experience split between dev and QA automation (but no degree), and I'm looking to switch careers as soon as all my debt is paid off in hopefully early July. My interest in computer science didn't translate into liking programming as a career and I'm looking for something that plays to my strengths better. I've basically figured that what drives me is improving. Learning is the most fun part of the job, and it's all you're doing at the beginning. But every time my skill plateaus, I get discouraged and start to underperform and it's hard to keep focused on my work. It's not a very healthy cycle. I think that's what I liked most about being a grocery store cashier; we had metrics that we could check on demand. I knew exactly how many items per minute I was scanning. I kept finding little ways to improve them. I was able to figure out all kinds of silly little processes to give me a slight edge over other people who were also trying to be the fastest. Or when I was bagging groceries, I could challenge myself to finish the order fast enough to where the customer wouldn't have to wait. That entire job was a game and each task took less than 10 minutes. There were always a million little one-offs to break up the monotony. What I don't like about this job is that it's too easy to get stumped. I don't have a lot of stamina for working on a problem without seeing it shrink, and some things in software really are that hard. You just have to keep trying things until something works and there's only a vague sense of how much progress you've made. So basically what I'm looking for in the next few months is a job involving lots of brief bursts of mental energy rather than keeping up sustained mental effort for a 2-week "sprint." I'm looking for at least $38k gross with health insurance (I'm putting half my paychecks towards my debt), without requiring a degree. Does that exist? it is fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Apr 18, 2016 |
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Apr 18, 2016 07:51
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Cuckoo posted:Hello thread. I hope this is the right thread to post this question in. Look at larger universities; they're almost all in cities and pretty constantly hiring admin assistants. With a college degree and a background in AA and management work you could probably find something decently quickly.  You'd also qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness if you work for a public university
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Apr 18, 2016 13:12
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