would you stay in a job you pasionately hate?

trudiuk

Hi

I was made redundant last september and finally got a job in March. My friends and family warned me not to take the job just for the sake of having a job, but I did anyway.

The probabtion period is 6 months and comes to an end at the end of August. I don't like this job. I wish I'd listed to everyone's advice in the beginning and not taken it. I'm in tears most days as it is that bad. I've tried to look on the bright side - its a job, its money, i'm not unemployed - but its not working. I've felt like this for the past 4 months. I've been looking for another job, but there is nothing around other than bar work (which I could just about afford to live on)

My family is worried the job is starting to make me sick. I don't sleep well anymore, loss of appetite, so losing weight, always tired, can't be bothered to do anything, and that most days I'm in tears when I get home, sometimes in the morning leaving for work.

I want to leave this job so badly, but I think it would be a mistake as if I can't find another job I won't be suitable for JSA so I'd have no income. If I leave before end of august then I only have to give a weeks notice, after that it would be a month.

I'd rather leave with a job to go to, but I'm very tempted to hand my notice in a week before my probation is up, as I just can't face staying there any longer.

I don't know what I'm after by posting on here, I guess I just need to see it all written down and get it off my chest.

Thanks
T

hcb42

There is no point making yourself ill with a job, so yes, I would resign as well if it were me..

However you will need to be able to support yourself, if you cannot walk straight into a new job. So only you can decide, dont take notice of what others tell you....!

mountainofdebt

What is it about the job that you hate?

If you really can't stomach any more of it, and you can afford to live on bar work wages, then why not apply for bar work and once you get a position resign?

WeakHeart

Put your health first but don't under estimate how money worries could possibly make you feel even worse. It is hard to find work but can be easier to get work if you are employed. Perhaps go for a bar job as you say you can just about afford to live on the income, hopefully being able to resign and leave within a week and then you can decide what to do longer term from there.

ceridwen

Another one here wondering just what it is specifically about the job you hate?

I would say that its difficult to advise for the best until we know what the factor/s concerned are.

So, is it:
- the number of hours worked

- the times worked

- the people you are working with

- the job is damaging your health

- the job offends your morals (in which case = leave asap) - eg any job that involves having to lie to customers or do anything else that goes against ones moral code cannot be kept - as it will alter you to be a worse person.

There may be ways to deal with the "hate factor/s" in the job.

So you know where I am coming from - I DO know what its like to be in a job one passionately hates - and I stayed in it (ie as the alternatives looked even worse...).

I know I start (as do most people I suspect....) from a basis of "I dont actually want to have to do a job at all - but needs must and I accept that I have to 'do my bit' in Society". So - is your hatred for this particular job actually an expression of not wanting to do pretty much any job - but knowing that you have to? I'm just trying to work out whether there are any factors peculiar to THIS job that won't also apply to lots of other jobs as well...

SarEl

I think I would concur with the others here in that there isn't an easy answer, and just be careful that you don't jump from the frying pan into the fire. Whilst no job is worth your health I would think it is worth telling us why it is making you so upset. Since things are so bad a bit of advice to see if there is any possible alternative is sensible - you have nothing to loose. Being short of (or without) money is also very stressful and upsetting. And bar work can be demanding with employers who are not always prone to being the best. So there are risks in each option, and no guarantees that things will get better. So don't jump until you are sure.

trudiuk

Why don't I like my current job?
I'm working as trainee desktop support for a piece of software that is a loud of c**p. So many bugs with it. I've managed to learn the software and how to use it and do basic debugging. Its a very small company (8 employees of which 4 are directors).

I find the office is too quiet and small - generally only me in the office on a day to day basis. I'm not allowed a radio on as 'its not professional when you answer calls to have the radio on in the background'.

Bearing in mind that I'm a trainee, I have been asked to do a lot of complicated work, to which I try and most of the time fail. I ask for help and I don't get it. I am also left on my own as the only support consultant frequently - and I constantly point out that I don't know everything and have difficulty with this. To which they reply 'you're doing fine, you'll pick it up'

The commute to work is 1hr each way and constantly stuck in traffic jams, have tried other routes and its the same. I have to leave home at 7.30 to be at work on time to start at 9.

I don't mind the hours 9-5.30, or the people. Its the job itself I don't like. I don't like the way clients talk to us on the phone, I don't like the software (I've been close to recommending a client uses a different program lots of times), I don't like how I'm left on my own day after day to answer support calls that I have no idea how to solve (google helps but not always).

I have expressed these concerns and problems in my monthly reviews and nothign has been done. I just keep getting told I'm doing great and it'll all fall into place and come naturally to me in a couple of years. Its as though they are not listening to me! I guess it doesn't help that my line manager works from home 200 miles away.

ceridwen

- The commute is not nice but "par for the course" with many jobs. The likelihood of you having to commute to any job depends obviously on where you live (ie if you live in the depths of the country then you will have to commute to darn nearly any job there is - but if you live in the centre of a city on the other hand then its fair to expect a decent choice of jobs pretty nearby).

- Re not knowing the job - you are to be commended for wanting to do it properly. A lot of people neither know their jobs, nor do they care that they dont. So brownie point to you that you DO want to be able to do your job properly and give fair service to customers. The firm doesnt sound at all concerned whether customers are being treated fairly or no by the sound of it.

- Not wanting you to have a radio on is fair enough and standard practice for firms.

- The office being "too quiet and small" for you isnt actually a fault of the job per se - it just means that it doesnt suit you personally (others would like that factor).

It doesnt sound a "job from hell" from what you say. It sounds like you need to ask RATHER more firmly than you have to date for training to help you do your job properly (eg keep a record of queries you havent been able to answer satisfactorily - because you havent been trained to know the information to do so - and put it with a covering letter saying specifically "Can I please be sent on x training at y College/whatever. The cost of this is £x and I feel it will be very beneficial to the firm because....". I dont know what way training is delivered in your industry - but you will know how so ask for it.

If there is no such thing as "training" as such and people are expected to do their job without proper training and, to put it bluntly, "flannel the customer with a load of old codswallop/anything to get them off the phone" - then it could be that you are doing the job already in exactly the way your firm wants/is happy with. In which case - you won't ever get any training from them and they will carry on using you to con the customers that they are getting a level of service they really arent.

You will have to sit down quite objectively and ask people you know will be firm (including with you personally!)/fair/totally objective and spell out to them exactly the details of your job and the details of any possible training for it and the likelihood of you getting that training and see what their verdict is on it.

If they concur with you that it honestly looks as if the firm is just trying to "flannel the customer" and has no intention of making sure anyone ever knows how to do their job properly - then you have good moral grounds to leave the job. Though - do be aware a lot of employers (in ALL sectors of the economy) think nothing of "being a bit dubious" morally. If this firm are "flannellers" - you may well not find it easy to find one that isnt anywhere else.

By the fact that you dont like being in a small/quiet office and that sounds like it doesnt suit your personality type - then I would say that that is a good indicator that you personally need to find a job in a "busier" office with more people in. That is a good enough reason to look for another job - so it may well be a good idea for you to look for another job anyway - but do keep the present one until you have found one.

viktory

I've been a member of MSE for years now and the this crops up a lot. As others have said, only you can decide whether you can continue to stomach the job or not. I am also in a job I don't particularly like, but still consider myself fortunate. I work so that I can enjoy the time that I'm not at work (like today - flexi leave ).

I think you'll find unemployment just as stressful but in different ways. Personally, I'd take some time off and hit the agencies. Its always easier to get a job when you have a job.

dandelionclock30

It depends really how much you hate it.If its making you very ill then you need to be thinking about your exit as nothing is worth your health.Like the others said it would be a good idea hitting all the agencies and really trying to get something else.If you cant get anything and wouldnt be able to manage without JSA you could always look into doing full time residential voluntary work which can pay about the same as JSA.This is of course if your circumstances allow for this.
I've been in a job I hated and I now wish I'd have left, however when I was there I stayed for the money.I know its difficult to decide.

Annisele

Have you mentioned how you're feeling to your GP?

I ask because it's possible that you don't hate your job at all - depression/various other illnesses can cause people to think that a job is making them ill, when actually they're just ill. If those people leave their job, they'll still be ill - just poor and ill instead of paid and ill.