Need advice on career dilemma (long) Updated

[bunnysmom]

I have a career dilemma and I know you wise ladies will have some advice. I will try to be as concise and objective as possible.


Recently I changed jobs. I was in company A in a temporary position. I loved the company, the people, and the work. Downside was that I had a bad manager, so my experience in the company was tainted by that. However, overall I loved my time there. A few days before the end of my contract, I was approached by a previous director of company A who had left for company B and invited me to interview there (company B).
 I interviewed at company B and ultimately got the job. I had another offer in hand by then and they knew it, so they were super nice to speed up the process to make me an offer.


I’ve been working at company B for 8 weeks now and it’s not quite what I expected. These are the main points I’m uncomfortable with:

- There is big turnover problem. Average time of stay here is six months. The longest someone has been here is 8 months. This clearly creates lots of continuity and training problems.

- I was told I was going to be in a support role until December and then I would assume the whole authorship of my work. Turns out that I have the whole workload since day one, and they are giving me even more work, as more people are leaving.

- I am underpaid and overworked. 
- Senior manager is really nice, but she seems disconnected from the job. She comes to the office 3 days a week, only 6 hours a day. It’s really difficult to get her attention, and I feel a lot of pressure because I’m pushed to do some tasks without supervision when I know I’m not yet trained enough to do that.

- Company has recently undergone a restructuring (it has become an affiliate of a big multinational company) so there is a lot of chaos going on.

- CEO is super cheap. He refuses to provide refreshments to the clients who visit (he says he’s making a cost benefit analysis on that.. ), he makes us use public transportation to visit clients, office is super shabby and nothing works. Computer, phone and printers are unusable several times per day. It's difficult to get the job done in these conditions and I’m really embarrassed with clients.


After seeing all of these I decided that I don’t want to stay here long term, but that I would stay a few months to learn skills and build my resume. However, just this week I noticed there is an open position at company A, under another different manager to the one I had and the lady of HR offered to talk with said manager if I was interested.


I’m torn on whether I should apply or not. On one hand, I would love to return to company A, even with all the cons that I knew it had. On the other hand, I feel guilty about company B and the person who recommended me (who’s also now leaving company B fwiw), and I don’t want to get a reputation of a job hopper.


Any advice? Do you think that it’s better to suck it up longer at current job, to give it more time to get accustomed or to try to return to company A?
I’m REALLY torn, and I have no idea what to do.


Thanks!

Tagging @shoegal, as she always can provide good insight!

[raangoli]

I would apply. The person who brought you to company B is also leaving, which to me isn't a great sign either. There is a reason why there is high turnover and you'd just be prolonging your misery.

Also, your first job with company A was a temporary position, so that is a very valid reason to have left for B. It would only be an issue to explain why you're leaving B after a short amount of time.

Good luck!

[atlas]

Oct 2, 2015 8:24:27 GMT -5 raangoli said:

I would apply. The person who brought you to company B is also leaving, which to me isn't a great sign either. There is a reason why there is high turnover and you'd just be prolonging your misery.

Also, your first job with company A was a temporary position, so that is a very valid reason to have left for B. It would only be an issue to explain why you're leaving B after a short amount of time.

Good luck!

I agree with this. Also you are going back to company A so I think the temp position, new company, and then full time position at original company is a completely normal track.

Also, always apply. There is no harm in applying

[sacattack]

ALWAYS APPLY! There is not promise you will get the job and even when you do, you have good reasons to leave. I wouldn't worry about the job hopping, as hopefully your tenure with company A will be long now that you are in a perm. position. Good Luck!

[Balki.Bartokomous]

Apply for company A. No need to stay on a sinking ship.

[MrsE]

ALWAYS apply.

[AAM2012]

Apply, do what's best for you.

[CrazyLucky]

Definitely apply. There's no real reason not to. The big things like money are important, but the little things, like having a computer that works all the time, can drive you nuts.

[konapoppy]

Apply!

[macmars45]

Apply! It can't hurt.

Good luck!

[justjen]

Apply. Good luck!

[jerseyjaybird]

Oct 2, 2015 8:24:27 GMT -5 raangoli said:

I would apply. The person who brought you to company B is also leaving, which to me isn't a great sign either. There is a reason why there is high turnover and you'd just be prolonging your misery.

Also, your first job with company A was a temporary position, so that is a very valid reason to have left for B. It would only be an issue to explain why you're leaving B after a short amount of time.

Good luck!

All of this!

[audette]

Apply!

[Deleted]

I would absolutely apply. You won't look like a job hopper, you left a contract position when the contract was up, but then they offered you a full time position so you gladly returned.

[jinkies]

Absolutely apply! Good luck!

Getting ahead of myself here, but if you are really concerned about looking like a job hopper, I'd consider leaving company B off my resume entirely. Assuming you get this job, you'd have been at B less than 3 months, right?

[bunnysmom]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I'll add some more details: I work in a niche industry, with only three companies in the market. I need to very careful when applying, because it's a small world with a lot of gossip. However, it's very common to come and go from one company to another, as the work it's extremely similar.

My team is very small, three other people and me. The three of them have plans for leaving soon, so I'm afraid that if I overstay I will be left with lots of work and disorganization.

[atlas]

Well with all the people jumping ship it very well could be a 2 company industry if they don't get their act together. I'd still apply.

[bunnysmom]

Oct 2, 2015 9:42:35 GMT -5 jinkies said:

Absolutely apply! Good luck!

Getting ahead of myself here, but if you are really concerned about looking like a job hopper, I'd consider leaving company B off my resume entirely. Assuming you get this job, you'd have been at B less than 3 months, right?

From what I know of company A, they take a lot of time when hiring, like approximately 3 months.

I'd leave job b off the resume, but as bad as they are, they have GREAT clients so I'm getting some good experience here.
 

[IrishBelle]

Yes, apply. And Good luck!

[bunnysmom]

Oct 2, 2015 8:44:03 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Definitely apply. There's no real reason not to. The big things like money are important, but the little things, like having a computer that works all the time, can drive you nuts.

Yes! I came to job B very spoiled from my job in company A: nice office with a view, manicures, snacks, nespresso coffee maker, cleaning lady who came in the middle of the day to clean up my lunch and work space, etc..

I definitely wasn't expecting that at job B, I know that's not the reality in the majority of the workplaces, but I expected to have a working computer, phone, printers, chair, and desk. However, nothing works properly and it's me facing the client when I can't make a call or I can't answer emails. 

CEO is so cheap that when something breaks, he wants us to fix it. The other day a cabinet broke and instead of calling a handyman he came with a screwdriver and asked the finance analysts to fix it. I was speechless. 

[bunnysmom]

Update: HR person from company A sent me an email to ask if I was interested on the job. I replied yes and will send her my resume over the weekend. We'll see what happens!

Thanks everyone for the advice!