Can't decide - stay where I am or go for interview

MORPH3US

Hi folks,

8 months ago I moved job from the public sector into the private sector. I was annoyed in my old job because it was boring - there was little work to do and I was mostly sat on my own and so was bored and spent all day surfing the internet. I did get some decent training and was paid reasonably well especially for the for the work I did and the area I live. Also being in the public sector the cogs turned slowly meaning things (out of my control) took age to get done which meant that I took the blunt of it when the customers were unhappy about not getting a good enough service.

Anyway the job that I moved to do promised so much including a salary nearly 50% more than my old salary for much similar work but also with the prestige of a job title (manager) that fitted the work I was doing rather than in my old job being a manager in all but job title and salary. The other bonus was that the new job was close to home so I sold my car and now cycle / get the bus or a lift with my girlfriend meaning i'm saving more that way too.

However its not all as I hoped it would be... because of the economic downturn my project management / operations and facilities management role has turned out to be heavily weighted towards sales, sales, sales....

Add to that the fact that the company may be having cashflow troubles, has made a couple of redundancies but things seem to have stabilised again now but I just get the feeling that cashflow is difficult. The management are also quite poor - I rarely see my area manager, think I have seen her four or five times in 8 months and when I do see her its just chatting about personal lives... there is no training and development because we are just selling machines. I have also contacted the managing directors a few times when (business critical) issues have arisen and not even had a reply.

I have now been offered an interview for a position at the local council but am not sure whether to go for it or stay where I am.... its so confusing, I don't know any more if I am just applying for anything to get away from my job now or if I really do want to go for it and its just nerves....

The new job is as "project officer" so I know it sounds silly but in terms of career progression going from a "manager" to an "officer" sounds like a backward step to me. Having said that it is possibly going to be more the type of work (project management) that I want to be doing especially in the long term even if its not in the area that I would expect to be working... I certainly don't want to be in sales for ant longer than I have to.

I would also value being part of a team and actually seeing colleagues now and again than being stuck on my own - don't get me wrong I can work along no problem, but never seeing any colleagues is like torture.

Really sorry I have rambled on and not sure I know where I am going with this, but if anyone can offer any advice if I should go for the interview on Friday or not then greatly appreciated and if this job at the council would be a good career move....

Oh and one final point - I would expect (maybe wrongly) that the job at the council would offer more job security, better training, better holiday hours.

Thanks

M

robpw2

go for the interview it shouldnt do you any harm to at least try

lilac_lady

Go for the interview. You'll only have a decision to make if they offer you a job. If you don't get it then you've worried for nothing.

MORPH3US

Thanks guys, good advice indeed!

Now to prepare for a presentation on something I couldn't possibly know anything about unless I worked in that council department already

DKLS

Your doing the right thing, I was always told the way to advance your career in the public sector, was to leave and come back.

I did similar last year, was sick of public sector role, went private, was way oversold on the role in so many ways, and after 6 months got back to the public sector, and am much happier and fulfilled.