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Aginor posted:I'm hoping to get out of hospitality, an industry I've been in all my life, and try a new career path which is more 9-5 Monday to Friday. Been in the management side for quite a few years. Problem is I do not know what I want to do and what I could do. Think I've been in hospitality too long. So there are a couple options, but will require some work. You could probably go into some kind of project management with the experience you have, but usually domain knowledge is pretty important. I have seen people come in and get good jobs in project management with not-dissimilar backgrounds, but it's pretty rare. If you have good people skills you'd probably possibly do well in a recruiter or sales. Mixed results for those, but hey are more 9-5 and you can make a good career. I've always thought a lot of enterprise/SaaS sales guys were able to turn being kinda smart and a good hustler into great careers. Finally, you can also look at something like Customer Success Management, which is also people-oriented and frequently hired from a more diverse skillset. All these options may or may not be good fits depending on your desire, and its like any job most places will have additional requirements you may or may not fit. But some ideas.
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Mar 19, 2019 23:19
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Hi thread, cross posting this because I really need some advice. I came out of college and really wanted to move out of my parents house so I took a job in sales with a large copier company. I was pretty good at it and made some good money. I got really tired of sales after about 3 years, burnt out and started looking to leave. I accompanied my girlfriend of the time to a job fair where I didn't even have a resume, I just showed up since I was in the area and ended up talking to a tech company in the medical industry. They offered me an interview and than a job pretty quickly which I took. I was hired at 55K into implementation since I had no industry or tech experience. I was employee hire about 40ish or so and quickly became the go-to implementation guy. I begin handling large or strategic accounts for our core software platform. I did account management stuff too, but I quickly got bored after about a year and a half. At this time the company had just developed and released a new CRM platform that was designed to be industry specific aimed at knocking off salesforce. (lofty goals). The platform has a team of 8 developers and one really gifted serious VP who does all the product management, runs the dev team, and does like 3 other jobs. She trained me and I started setting up clients on our new CRM platform. The company also hired a sales guy who was really good and started popping CRM deals at a very fast pace, so I was assigned someone to train. I ended up training and managing 3 implementer while I again started only taking the important/strategic accounts on the CRM. I also now participate in the development of the product with my VP. I am on architecture, requirements and sprint planning meetings. I scope new features from clients, put in stories, order the backlog, and participate in sprint planning and UI/UX for the CRM platform. This sort blend of Product/Software Development or Management is something I really enjoy and would like to pursue as my career. I am a very good product/project manager and a very bad people manager. I've also received a raise in base salary to 90K. The company now employees something like 160ish people (i was 40ish) While this was going on, the company also developed a billing/revenue platform, a messaging/admin platform and a handful of other secondary smaller platforms. I was involved in someway on all of them. I've also been responsible for internationalzing our CRM platform during this time. I am literally the only person in the company who can implement and train the entire enterprise suit that we've now built over the last 2 years or so. The sales team in general is not very good at selling the enterprise suite or anything other than the core platform. Sales across all the new products is very very slow, and the superstar sales guy who can and does sell everything is leaving the company. I have a close relationship with most of the executive team, the COO and CTO and I have a close and personalish relationship. This company is privately held and the CEO is also the sole owner after some buybacks and ~stuff~ . He is a former sales guy and the sales team is his personal team and highly regarded in the company, they all make a ton of money etc etc. Essentially he asked to see me last week and said that ~superstar sales guy~ is leaving, we need like a sales engineer that knows all the products and can assist on existing deals as well as sell new enterprise deals. Sales for everything except are core product are glacially slow to non existent, I'm in a position to save a bunch of poo poo and make a bunch of money. He wants me to do this. I told him I wasn't going to give him an answer now and needed to think about this considering I joined this company to NOT do sales after burning out selling copiers. Now, I have no personal desire to do this, but I am good at sales, but will probably hate my life if I do this. We have approx 2300 clients, of which maybe 200ish are on any mix of our enterprise platforms while perhaps another 50 are complete enterprise, so there is alot of easy opportunity for inside sales to existing clients. Sales guys start at 60K salary with a 50-100K draw for a starting pay of somewhere between 110-160K. The draw is forgiven at the end of the year if you don't make it, but everyone always does. The way they calculate the draw is 10% of any deal you close is your commission. That commission goes toward you draw, and than onto your check after you meet your draw. He wants me on that model of compensation which is obviously bullshit since i make 95K salary now and i'm underpaid as it is, but he's known to negotiate. Compensation is just 10% of total deal, no recurring revenue or residuals. I don't want to do sales, but I fear saying no to him will put me on his poo poo list and effectively end my advancement with this company. I don't like the stress and having to be on and friendly and networking and poo poo all the time. I also want to move into more of a product management or software dev managment or biz analyst type role. On the other hand, they desperately need someone, and there probably is alot of easy low hanging fruit. Can i deal with hating my life and the stress of the job if the money is there? maybe. I don't know if I should say no, and just start looking for jobs, say yes and attempt to extract terms that I find acceptable and than either stay till i burn out or just for a year and get out or what to do. If I would say yes to this, given my 95K salary now, what sort of salary/draw or compensation structure should I look for? I'm interested in mitigating my exposure to this draw, particularly if i decide to gently caress off and leave 3 months after I take this job. I have been told i will still be involved in the development of the platforms and can still participate in story writing, sprint planning and requirements. What are some benefits I can ask for in relation to this position? what are some questions I should ask from a sales or compensation perspective? Whats a good title i can put on my resume that makes it look like im managing a product or something? I feel like I may be taking a step back in regards to what I want to do. This is like a detour for money. I think sales is a dead end stressful place to be. Am i loving dumb for entertaining this? should i just say no and look to move ASAP? I can also afford to quit and not have something lined up immediately. I'm paid out on rent and little to no bills. Idk what to do pls help would appreciate any thoughts. Apolgies for the rambling TLDR - left company to get out of sales. Got into project/product management in new company. New products not selling, being asked to do sales.
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Mar 23, 2019 19:14
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Imagine that it's a year from now, you've taken the job, and you're happy. How did that happen? If you can see a plausible story--or better yet, more than one--you should seriously look into whether you can make it happen. If not, you should probably say no. Just make sure your resume's up to date before you do.
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Mar 23, 2019 19:23
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So I don't see a lot of Dev Management in what you are doing today, it looks to me to be pretty deep Product Management. Dev management at SaaS usually does more hands-on with the code and especially manages the fires that inevitably come up in addition to the people management. You look like your doing straight Product Management with maybe a more technical flair (which isn't unusual). So, the question is: Do you see much runway to keep moving up in Product Management where you are? Conditions for this role, to me, would be less monetary based and more based around what doors you can open up. Can CEO create a "Director of Sales Engineering" role for you to fill? Or maybe Senior Manager? if that is a stretch? Can you define what you are doing to fill what he needs to be filled while still doing the stuff that you want to do? He's the freakin CEO, so he can make anything happen. Ideally I'd have a conversation that you are the new Director of Sales Engineering/Enablement/Success (whatever) with a base salary of $90k, a smaller draw & commission cut (maybe based on total sales instead of direct), and duties that are not 100% based around selling. If he says no to that, it looks a bit better on you as you tried to make it fit (though I'd start polishing my resume). That sort of role would dovetail nicely back into Product Management, or you can keep carving your own niche (which seems to be your MO anyway). In general, with your background you seem eminently employable anyway, so if you think you'd hate that job don't take it.
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Mar 23, 2019 20:05
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A question on quitting, and then quitting again. I just took a new job at company A, its salaried etc. and I'm starting Monday. I also have another interview for a different job for company B in another week. If I get an offer from company B I will probably take it. How do I let company A know? I'm thinking of emailing HR with an "effective immediately" is that the best course? I dont mind burning that bridge as I'm effectively burning it anyway after quitting less than a week into the hiring. Also, should I let Company B know that I have changed to company A? They think I'm with my old job.
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Mar 24, 2019 02:20
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Bridges will be burnt so just do whatever with company A. Personally, if it were me, I'd come in and ask the boss what they'd prefer you do, and it's likely "leave today", but at least you let them feel like they have some control. Don't tell company B anything until the offer is accepted.
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Mar 24, 2019 05:33
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Thanks, my only concern about not letting B know is if they do the background check and find I've left my old job.
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Mar 24, 2019 16:34
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My job sucks rear end but I just accepted it 9 months ago, how should I handle an internal transfer or letting my boss know I'm looking to get out? Should I just keep my mouth shut and apply to internal positions? I have been a 2nd shift production supervisor since June 2018. This is my first supervisory position and I have 18 union employees reporting to me. I have been busting my rear end to learn to code for about a year and would take a pay cut to transition to a coding career.
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Mar 29, 2019 06:51
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a dingus posted:My job sucks rear end but I just accepted it 9 months ago, how should I handle an internal transfer or letting my boss know I'm looking to get out? Should I just keep my mouth shut and apply to internal positions? Do you have a good relationship with your boss or someone up the chain? Talk to them before applying to internal roles. If you surprised someone with a move (or even a notification that you applied) that could really screw yourself at that company. You'll probably have to steel yourself that the best way for you to shift careers is to switch companies, but in the meantime if you chat with your management they might have a way to make things suck slightly less or perhaps even agree with your assessment that this isn't a fit and help you move. But don't "spring" this on anyone as a surprise.
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Mar 29, 2019 15:01
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The company I work for just laid off a significant amount of it's work force. The team that I'm on just consisted of me and my boss who they decided to let go so now I am responsible for his tasks as well. My boss had 5 years of experience with the company while I have only 1.5 years with the company so I'm extremely overloaded with work and I am the only person in the whole company that can do what I can do. I do not have much faith in the future success of the company I work for. Also, I am having difficulties with my new boss - she is, out of my career, the most immature and patronizing person I have ever had to report to. When it comes to work, she's very knowledgeable but her emotional intelligence is lacking and she constantly patronizes me and it is clear that she does not take me or my capabilities seriously. This is the complete polar opposite of my previous boss that they laid off. This isn't my first job so I really appreciated how amazing my previous boss that they laid off was and I never ever took a day with him for granted. He trusted me, was always respectful, and always had my back. I have been networking and looking at other opportunities. What would be the most appropriate answer to provide when asked why I want to switch roles or why I am looking for a new opportunity? Is it ever appropriate to mention that I do not have faith in the company or that I am having difficulties with my new boss?
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Apr 6, 2019 14:19
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Busy Bee posted:The company I work for just laid off a significant amount of it's work force. This seems like a pretty good reason.
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Apr 6, 2019 15:31
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I would focus on the company laying people off and your job duties changing, not so much the personal stuff. Never sounds like you're whining in an interview. You don't need to justify why you want a new job. New job is better, right? So obviously you want that.
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Apr 6, 2019 16:47
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You don’t need a reason to look for a new opportunity. Don’t bring up what’s happened at your current org, it just hurts your negotiating position. You like where you are but are looking for more challenging work or to grow a specific skill set that you aren’t able to grow where you are right now.
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Apr 6, 2019 18:16
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“My current role doesn’t align with my career goals of [x,y,z]”. And then hopefully you can relate those goals to why you want to be at the new company. But really you don’t have to explain yourself much, but under no circumstances should you poo poo talk your old company or boss. It’s an immediate red flag that will sink you. Even if it’s true.
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Apr 6, 2019 18:44
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idk why I'm posting here as I'll never consider my work a 'career' per se. Jobs in my line of work are hard to come by as it is; even harder where I live. I've been working steadily in my field since I graduated college 15 years ago. I've been at my current job 7.5 years. About 5 years ago, I had an opportunity to work full-time at my 'evening job' for $3 more an hour. I was able to use that to leverage a raise. I have received a $1/hour raise since; meanwhile the minimum wage has increased nearly $4 in that time. I was making $4 above minimum wage then; $2 above now. My co-worker, who has similar years of experience, came in a year ago making the same wage as me; as did the unskilled son of a manager. I've been frustrated for about a year due to this and only recently decided to take action. I received an offer for an interview for a government position making $8.50 more an hour, but the job was listed as temporary as the future of the organization is grim at best. They required a reference from a current or recent supervisor; the only one available to me was the head honcho of my current workplace, so I awkwardly asked and was given said reference. After some thought, I decided to withdraw my name from the list of candidates a day before the interview due to the lack of job stability and in good conscience, not being able to go ahead with it while still being employed. Now I feel awkward at my current job. The pay is absolute dogshit but it's very close to my house and I enjoy what I do and my coworkers. I have a second job with a few hours per week, and the future of that position is also grim. I used this in my reasoning to ask for the reference in the first place – I'm going to have to make up that money somewhere, and it's either make more money at my full-time job or find something that works around my full-time hours. Should I be keeping an eye out for another position? I feel like I screwed myself over not once, but twice. Rand McNally fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Apr 14, 2019 |
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Apr 14, 2019 18:58
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Did you screw yourself irrevocably by doing what you did? No. Should you look for a better job? Yes.
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Apr 14, 2019 19:12
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Rand McNally posted:After some thought, I decided to withdraw my name from the list of candidates a day before the interview due to the lack of job stability and in good conscience, not being able to go ahead with it while still being employed. Not being interested in the job due to stability is one thing, but feeling like you shouldn't be going after better jobs while employed is a really dumb thing and not at all noble. The fact that you feel obligated to stay with this job is why your boss is keeping you at entry-level wages. You've already signaled you don't think you're worth more than that. Your current employer is pretty clearly not interested in paying you significantly more so you should probably stop waiting around for them to suddenly decide to spend more money. When you go pick up food do you pay more than the menu price for a sandwich because you like it or do you pay the amount that's listed? You've listed yourself as $2/hr above min wage and you need to find something else if you think you are worth more. Also if a place is offering a significant (almost double? depending what min wage is by you) remember some instability is ok. Put effort into saving some money and even if you end up unemployed for a bit you will still come out ahead financially. It takes some will power and planning to save some of that extra scratch though.
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Apr 14, 2019 21:21
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You should ALWAYS be looking for jobs. I don't care if you started at a place last month - keep your ear to the ground and seize opportunities as they come. The days of staying at a place for 40 years, working your way up the ranks, and retiring at 65 with a pension are over. If you want to move up, you need to move out.
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Apr 14, 2019 21:41
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Lockback posted:Not being interested in the job due to stability is one thing, but feeling like you shouldn't be going after better jobs while employed is a really dumb thing and not at all noble. The fact that you feel obligated to stay with this job is why your boss is keeping you at entry-level wages. You've already signaled you don't think you're worth more than that. Your current employer is pretty clearly not interested in paying you significantly more so you should probably stop waiting around for them to suddenly decide to spend more money. Minimum is $14/hour here. I'd have been making about 30% more at the government job but my reasoning when backing out was that I needed something more stable. I bought a house fairly recently, and unlike the last time I was unemployed, have real bills to pay. Between the house purchase and necessary renovations, I don't have any savings to hold me over until I find a new position - and that's scary as hell. Hoping to find out tomorrow whether I'm being granted the $2/hour raise my boss hinted at - I tried to aim a little higher and was shot down due to not having the skills to take on some of what our recently retired designer did. I'm keeping my eyes open for greener pastures, and going to aim for federal level if going the government route at all.
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Apr 14, 2019 21:59
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KillHour posted:You should ALWAYS be looking for jobs. I don't care if you started at a place last month - keep your ear to the ground and seize opportunities as they come. The days of staying at a place for 40 years, working your way up the ranks, and retiring at 65 with a pension are over. If you want to move up, you need to move out. While this is true, I'm pretty sure one needs to be wary that having a string of jobs at the 1-2 year duration, or even less time, could be very problematic when trying to move from applicant -> interviewee in many industries. Yes, I have found this is true even for STEM lord and software engineers. You need to have a really good reason like all of your jobs were at startups that have since folded, but otherwise the HR drone looking at your resume quickly may pass it to the 'no phone interview' pile because their reputation will suffer if you leave after some period of time like a year or so. I've heard this from multiple HR people. Something Offal fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Apr 15, 2019 |
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Apr 15, 2019 01:00
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Something Offal posted:While this is true, I'm pretty sure one needs to be wary that having a string of jobs at the 1-2 year duration, or even less time, could be very problematic when trying to move from applicant -> interviewee in many industries. Yes, I have found this is true even for STEM lord and software engineers. You need to have a really good reason like all of your jobs were at startups that have since folded, but otherwise the HR drone looking at your resume quickly may pass it to the 'no phone interview' pile because their reputation will suffer if you leave after some period of time like a year or so. I've heard this from multiple HR people. A couple short stints is fine. Nothing but 1 year hops is bad but it doesn't do the damage that staying somewhere that is holding you back would. And the guy who was posting was at the place for 7.5 years, that is more than enough. In general way more people stay at places longer than they should vs having too many addresses on their resume.
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Apr 15, 2019 01:25
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At this point, when I review resumes and interview people I'm more skeptical of people that have been at the same place for 10+ years than I am people that have moved around a bit. In general the world just doesn't work that way anymore and it shows a lack of drive and self-worth. It's obviously not black and white and it's case by case, but there's a trend. Yeah if you've got nothing but ten years of 1 year stints, that's not a good look either. As always the answer lies somewhere in the middle. After 7.5 years in one place no one is going to give you any guff about leaving.
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Apr 15, 2019 01:52
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Guinness posted:At this point, when I review resumes and interview people I'm more skeptical of people that have been at the same place for 10+ years than I am people that have moved around a bit. In general the world just doesn't work that way anymore and it shows a lack of drive and self-worth. It's obviously not black and white and it's case by case, but there's a trend. I think it depends. A 10 year engineer with the same company doesn't make me pause. Should they put every promotion they got while doing the exact same job? They also could suck, but still want to talk to them.
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Apr 15, 2019 02:04
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Kind of related to this discussion, how soon is too soon to leave your first professional job? I’ve been here 10 months. The company is a train wreck and I’m looking to get out ASAP.
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Apr 15, 2019 03:03
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Are we talking an "I'll never get any professional development"-style trainwreck, or more like "I cry in the bathrooms at work and hope no one notices"?
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Apr 15, 2019 03:18
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I don't see a problem with moving from company to company if you show career growth while doing it. My longest period of employment was 3 years, but I never left a place with the same title I entered it. If your resume has like 3 jobs in a row where your title and duties didn't change, that's the red flag.
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Apr 15, 2019 03:23
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Wolfy posted:Kind of related to this discussion, how soon is too soon to leave your first professional job? I’ve been here 10 months. The company is a train wreck and I’m looking to get out ASAP. I got my company to poach someone who was at a competitor for like 4 months because I knew she was good. She had done some co-op with them previously, but this was her first full time professional job. On the way out one of the directors tried to play the "you'll ruin your reputation by doing this" line on her. Luckily she knows that the only thing the next employer will see is that she was worth giving an immediate promotion, salary and commensurate responsibilities. Too soon is entirely situational and just depends on why you're leaving and what you're leaving to.
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Apr 15, 2019 04:22
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Wolfy posted:Kind of related to this discussion, how soon is too soon to leave your first professional job? I’ve been here 10 months. The company is a train wreck and I’m looking to get out ASAP. I'm sure everyone is different but if you have a generally solid background I'll forgive at least one "bad job decision" from anyone. Never bad mouth a previous employer but "the fit was not what I anticipated" is fine. If you have a bunch of those then I may want a better story. I honestly sorta prefer someone who's had a bad job. "Grass is always greener" syndrome is real and it's nice when that's tempered. But if someone comes in saying "My old boss hated me", that's a huge red flag.
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Apr 15, 2019 05:11
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spwrozek posted:I think it depends. A 10 year engineer with the same company doesn't make me pause. Should they put every promotion they got while doing the exact same job? Yes, listing your promotion history is both honest and shows career/skills development and makes spending a long time in one place make more sense. But if one has been doing the exact same job they don’t really sound like promotions... Even if it’s “just” going from engineer to senior engineer, theoretically that promotion should come with (or be a recognition of) more responsibilities and leadership roles, technical or otherwise.
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Apr 15, 2019 05:15
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ultrafilter posted:Are we talking an "I'll never get any professional development"-style trainwreck, or more like "I cry in the bathrooms at work and hope no one notices"?
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Apr 15, 2019 05:38
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Guinness posted:Yes, listing your promotion history is both honest and shows career/skills development and makes spending a long time in one place make more sense. It is usually pretty obvious from the CV or cover letter or what they have in there resume even if they don't break it down. It is probably a industry thing honestly. People are welcome to break it down though but honestly I look at your resume for probably 30 seconds
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Apr 15, 2019 13:48
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Crossposting from Lab Rat thread - UberChair posted:Hi all - been lurking a good long while and thought I'd ask around for some advice because I'm at a bit of weird spot in my career (to use the word loosely) and would like to pick your brains a bit. Some additional background: The jobs I've had have been lateral moves from each other, and any additional responsibilities I've been assigned beyond the initial job scope have not been associated with a better title or pay in the current position. The one time my boss/mentor wanted to move me up with a promotion and responsibilities, we both got blindsided by the new management laying people off and I was gone the next day. I'm going to have a talk with my boss here about perhaps formally recognizing my additional responsibilities and perhaps adding more to get a better title so I can at least have THAT on my resume. Otherwise, I'm feeling like I'm stuck in the lab monkey role and I want to break out. Going back to school for a master's seems like a dead end that wouldn't get me far relative to the time and money put in (thanks to advice from the other thread), so I'm looking to improve my skills/marketability in other ways. Right now, project management seems up my alley but it'd be a little tough because I have very little proper PM experience. SDSU (I'm in San Diego) provides a professional certificate in project management that seems like a good intro and might help me get a PM job so that I can get hours to qualify for my PMP, which is the real goal - so right now that's my plan of action. I'm realizing now I've been dragging my feet on improving myself and my career and I want to reverse that before it's too late. UberChair fucked around with this message at 18:24 on May 24, 2019 |
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May 24, 2019 18:19
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Is anyone else a Pharma refugee? I'm looking to get out of the field as soon as possible because, to be short, retail pharmacy is completely miserable, exhausting, body destroying and life consuming, but only poised to get worse as the labor pool is flooded and the big boxes are devouring their competition and figuring out how to squeeze multiple jobs worth of work out of single pharmacists at a time. I'm a floater at the moment since full time work doesn't exist unless you want to be a PIC, so I usually average about 40 hours a month. I make enough to cover some basic bills and my minimum student loan payment, but this is no way to live. It's not that there isn't work that needs doing; Walmart, CVS and Walgreens just know that they can force one person to work 13 hour shifts as a sole pharmacist, taking legal liability for hundreds of prescriptions a day while they pile on additional unpaid responsibilities like MTM calls, health fair weekends and immunizations metrics. What are you going to do? Quite and get immediately replaced by another sucker that thought they found a way to a financially comfortable life? Hospital pharmacy is impossible to get into unless you can afford several years of a pitiful fraction of market wage in a residency, if you're lucky enough to get into one, so that you can be overworked making even less. Independents are similarly impossible unless you are personal friends with the owner. I'd have left already if I didn't still have ~119k in student loans from the honeypot trap education. How do people escape? I'm 32 and already starting to age out of other opportunities. I haven't even been able to start on retirement and my education is worthless as is. Definitely getting the feeling that the walls are closing in. Edit: I guess that might read a little confusingly- you're either a floater who might get full time shifts or nothing at all for weeks and no benefits, or you're a Pharmacist in Charge who needs to legally be at your location a certain amount of time anyway, so you're the legal fall guy for everything with a 95 hour pay period, no overtime, unpaid hours for conference calls/health fairs/ hiring and so on, and you still have to do the day to day retail pharmacy grind, and you MIGHT get a couple of $ extra an hour if you don't mind fighting your market level bosses for it. Dr. Red Ranger fucked around with this message at 20:21 on May 27, 2019 |
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May 27, 2019 20:10
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Summary: current job is a dead end, my industry as a whole is underpaid, my options are limited due to health, what next? I have a BS in Environmental Management and Science, but my specialty area is in environmental education. I've been working as a zoo educator for the last two years and there's a lot I love about my job, but there's zero room for advancement where I am and the field as a whole is low-paying. I'm making $15.50 an hour with decent benefits, and that's more than a lot of other places offer. This is a field you don't go into to get rich, and I obviously don't expect that, but things are a lot tighter than I want them to be. My job also doesn't offer much in the way of professional development and I feel like I'm stagnating, and it's hurting other prospects. The gold standard in my field is to get in full time with State/National Parks or something similar, but full time, benefitted jobs are rare and highly competitive. I still apply and have had a few interviews, but no offers. I also have some health issues which exclude me from a lot of positions because I can't meet the physical requirements, like hiking over varied terrain. I'm open to switching fields, but I'm not sure what to look at next. I like teaching people, I think I prefer working one-on-one or with smaller groups, I don't want to be a traditional classroom teacher. I'm open to going back to school for a master's. I've thought about counseling, but I'm not sure that's a financially sound move, either. I might be happy being an office drone somewhere if I could make a solidly middle-class income, but I don't know where to begin to look.
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May 28, 2019 05:05
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RabbitMage posted:Summary: current job is a dead end, my industry as a whole is underpaid, my options are limited due to health, what next? Maybe look into project management or something similar? I'd assume your background would lend itself to some of those skills, and PMP courses aren't bad. Its a bit of a crowded field too, though much more room for advancement. Solidly office drone though. I wouldn't quit your job to investigate it, but it's an option.
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May 28, 2019 17:08
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I've been out of college for about six years now. I started my career as a staff researcher at a nonprofit but became a project manager literally within two months of starting. I was hired to work on a brand-new project that didn't have a pre-designated manager, and they realized I was kind of already doing it and decided to just promote me; it was a really unexpected opportunity for me but I decided to go for it. Since then, I've been promoted a couple more times and have typically overseen teams of between 3 and 15 people. Honestly, I'm very proud of how I've done as a manager despite being thrown into it with no real training or background. My team consistently reports some of the highest satisfaction levels in the whole company, I've hired and developed the highest performers (several of whom are now leading other teams in the org or have taken on high-level positions in other departments), both resignations I've had from my teams were because the people found jobs in their desired long-term careers that were literally doubling or tripling their pay, we've always delivered what has been promised and often way more, and I've won our leadership award twice in the five years I've been eligible after being nominated by multiple direct reports. Two years ago, I was even asked to join the organization's executive team despite not being a department head. Like I said, I've had extremely little formal training as a manager. That training has consisted of a year-long program called that was really just watching a bad 30-60 minute video once a month and doing a little quiz, having a couple of group conversations each year with an executive coach, attending a two-day Dale Carnegie workshop on conflict communication, and attending a two-day Aileron workshop on professional management. None of my managers have ever really been a mentor to me in any meaningful way (the CEO has been, though), so there's been a lot of me figuring it out as I've gone along. I selected the Carnegie and Aileron workshops to attend last year, and I'd like to do another workshop this year to try to improve. There's a real possibility that our organization is going to triple in size over the next few years if we land a big contract that seems very feasible, and it's currently planned that I would be overseeing a department of well over a hundred people a few years from now in that scenario. So, that would obviously be a big leap from what I'm doing now. I really like the organization I'm working for; they took a chance on me out of college and I think it's paid off so far (both for me and for them), and I want to keep growing and getting better as the organization grows. I would love any recommendations others here have for workshops or seminars for leadership coaching, large-scale project management, communication improvement, and other items of that ilk. Thank you! surf rock fucked around with this message at 21:55 on May 28, 2019 |
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May 28, 2019 21:52
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I would be curious what you find out. In my experience you are either a good manager or not and the training will not help. Sounds like you are a good manager. I would say at least 95% of the managers I have worked with have had zero training. So you probably have more already than most.
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May 28, 2019 21:57
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Yeah, I've never seen/attended management training that was all that great. I've been to some workshops that were decent but mostly because of the ad-hoc nature.
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May 28, 2019 23:34
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I've been an accountant (AAS, no CPA) for most of the last decade. This always seems to consist of me doing some AP/AR/GL stuff that doesn't fill my time or hold my interest, and when I get bored I start looking for ways I can improve processes with Excel. Eventually I run out of things in my power to improve plus then my streamlined work doesn't fill even most of my time in the office, so I get bored again. Recently at my NPO they botched deployment of a major piece of software and I was asked to lend a hand, which turned into me becoming the admin in all but name and doing clean-up and systems design for the last six months. This is really satisfying work and I feel that it's the long-term solution to what I'm looking for out of my job. However my org has been jerking my chain with months of "we'll talk soon" while continuing to advertise for an admin and I think someone was just hired. There are other deployments coming up which I could potentially get in on and I've expressed interest, but I'm feeling really bitter and do not trust that my org will support me in this. "I want to build things to make people's lives easier in the office" doesn't get me very far as a job search term, though. Is there a specific career path out there for this type of work?
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May 31, 2019 19:37
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| # ? May 14, 2024 07:48 |
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Management consulting
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May 31, 2019 19:42
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