Is 3 days enough to decide whether you like a job??

bigdavecox90

Honest answer, no.

I've been in my job for 2 and a half years and still can't work out whether I like it.

Give it time...see how things go.

bristol_pilot

Three days is not nearly long enough. Give it a year, minimum.

More to the point, you should revise your expectations of the workplace. You are not there to make new friends and enhance your social life. This usually only happens where the whole workforce is quite young, single and live within the same area. It is far more normal, particularly where there is a spread of ages, for people not to socialise outside work except for the odd 'do' and to basically get on with the job. Of course you should behave professionally and courteously towards colleagues, but this is not freshers week at uni ! Secondly, it is a fact of life that all work involves doing things that you don't particularly like doing from time to time - you are there to work and get paid, not primarily to have fun. In the first few days you will most likely be given the most basic tasks but after you have been there a while and learned how to get things done you can expect to be able to shape the job a bit. Of course, it's great when work is very enjoyable, but expecting that all the time is not realistic.

Revise your expectations a bit and I'm sure you'll find you get on better.

rb80

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Three days is not nearly long enough. Give it a year, minimum.

More to the point, you should revise your expectations of the workplace. You are not there to make new friends and enhance your social life. This usually only happens where the whole workforce is quite young, single and live within the same area. It is far more normal, particularly where there is a spread of ages, for people not to socialise outside work except for the odd 'do' and to basically get on with the job. Of course you should behave professionally and courteously towards colleagues, but this is not freshers week at uni ! Secondly, it is a fact of life that all work involves doing things that you don't particularly like doing from time to time - you are there to work and get paid, not primarily to have fun. In the first few days you will most likely be given the most basic tasks but after you have been there a while and learned how to get things done you can expect to be able to shape the job a bit. Of course, it's great when work is very enjoyable, but expecting that all the time is not realistic.

Revise your expectations a bit and I'm sure you'll find you get on better.

Great advice - I do think that maybe I had it easy at my previous job (got on very well with my collegues, could do what I wanted when I wanted!!) so I maybe I shouldnt compare it!! I'll give it a few weeks and if I'm still in tears after every time I finish work then maybe then I'll re-evaluate tbe situation.

cali_

paulwf wrote: »

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The job that I left only employed one member of staff and they and got through 15 people in a year!

That's saying something there. Good call.

brokeinwales

You're right in that you can't "just not have a job", but I also think that in some circumstances, three days is more than enough to know that you hate a job (particularly if it turns out not to be what you expected).

Therefore I think the only sensible solution is to grit your teeth and stick with it in the meantime, whilst applying for other jobs like crazy in the meantime. Hopefully you will get something better before long, and you won't have to stay in the hated job for more than a month or two.

Grinning and baring it will feel far less unpleasant if you convince yourself it's only a temporary state of affairs too.

I worked as a waitress for a year and detested it - the only way I could get through it was by telling myself it wasn't forever - it took a while, but eventually I did find something a bit better (or at least less horrendous!).

The truth is we don't go to work to have fun, very few people are lucky enough to have jobs they actually enjoy, I think you have to accept that a certain amount of resentment at working is pretty much normal - but there is a difference between not being over the moon about your job (which covers most of us) and actually allowing it to make you miserable. You spend most of your waking life at work, so you do need to make sure it's at least tolerable, or it could end up making you depressed and ill.

Speaking of which - make sure you're extra nice to yourself in your time away from work to make up for the c*appy days. Keep in touch with your old friends and perhaps join a group or class where you can meet people you do have things in common with, so that you don't start to feel lonely.

Incidentally - the last two places I've worked have been made up of people much older than me, with families (usually they delight in going on about how young/ naive/ thin I am. I'm the office "baby" and I'm nearly 30....honestly... ) , and the one before that of people who were barely out of school. Age difference in work places is pretty common - but you can usually find some common ground and construct enough of a conversation to keep you sane. If all else fails, talk about the weather!

Good luck with finding soemthing else. And don't let it get you down too much - a job is just a job ... it's not your whole life.

shikoku

3 days thats an eternity, I once left a job after 3 hours at a call centre

I went out to a Dentists' Appointment (genuine) on day three of a new job, had a think about it along the way and never went back:rotfl:

marydot

I would say 3 days is not enough time, I have been in my job for 10 weeks now, and it took me at least 5 weeks to settle in and find a routine and to get to know everyone.

I'm just grateful that I have a job and I do value it, as i do know what it is like to be unemployed.

In this time where the ecomny is so bad, i'm pretty lucky to get a job and full time also, its minium wage, but !!!!!! i can now pay my bills and have a rountine everyday.

property.advert

At uni we took quite a few temp jobs in the holidays, mainly bar work etc. but we once had some factory work. My friend had a motor so we all piled into it and got to this warehouse. On with the white coats and hats and off into a chilled warehouse.

Someone who worked there permanently showed us a conveyor belt, along which came and endless stream of 4 pint milk cartons. He said to put them in the large metal thing and when full to start on a new one. I asked him what we would do after this and he just looked at me, amazed. "This is it" he said. "It never stops and if you are lucky, you can do overtime and maybe 12 hours in a day" !

I took one look at my mate and said "I'm off". He was not far behind.

Try to hang in there but I'd be sending CVs out without the name of your new employer on them.

Coveredinbees!!!!

Yes 3 day can be enough, I took a job once that seemed really good at the interview but was completely different in reality. It took 3 months to find another job but the stress was unbearable and I ended up on the sick for 3 months after I left. Luckily the new company were understanding and didn't get rid of me.

dickydonkin

A couple of years ago, I attended an interview for a large Japanese international freight forwarding company and I should have heeded my own reservations.

I don't know about anybody else out there, but I always get 'a feeling' for a place when attending interviews. Is that just me?

It just did not feel right and to be honest, I decided that I would not be overly disappointed if I was unsuccessful. Indeed, I was told that I did not get the job and no tears were shed, but a week later, I was then offered the job. The alarm bells should have rang there.

I was in a supervisory role and discovered that it was encouraged to treat the lads who would be working for me like crap - that is not my way I'm afraid.

I could not believe some of the working processes in place and health & safety was completely disregarded. The 5 days I was there, there were four accidents - one was a really nasty laceration.

It was a shame for the lads there as I felt they could trust me and they told me some of the issues they had and I felt I just could not work in that environment.

There was no training or induction processes for agency workers - this would have avoided the accidents as all of the victims were from an agency and it was just lack of basic training and information on the specific tasks they were doing that was attributable to their accidents.

I had seen enough, such as workers racing each other in 15 ton forktrucks (one apparently tipped over the week before) it was also common practice (not by me I can tell you) to be raised 10 - 15 feet on the forks of a truck to count stock. I could go on.

I left at the end of the week before someone was killed or really seriously injured.

I believe there are other aspects of a job that need to be right such as the culture of the workplace (including safety) and their working practices.

Certainly in my experience, a few days is sufficient time to judge a workplace.