Job stuff again...

[catscradle]

Interesting day so far. Another advisor resigned today. Even though he told them two and a half months ago he was putting his house up for sale and moving to Florida once it sold, they got pissy with him today when he turned in his two week notice. They told him to pack up his office and don't let the door slam him in the ass on the way out. He was the senior advisor for four of our programs! They didn't even want to keep him to train the other advisors on his programs. The deans were going to give his students over to the woman they just hired to replace the last advisor that walked out, but two of the other advisors stepped in and told them they were whacked out on crack. So thankfully they're spliting the work between them till a new advisor is hired.

So my boss came up to me and asked if I was interested in the job. Normally, I'd be all excited and thrilled that I finally have a chance for real advancement, but when you consider that three advisors have resigned in 7 months, you have to ask yourself why that is. Well, I know what it is, the director over them is a total ass and doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. He changed the title and duties of the advisors from Academic Advisor to Enrollment Manager - so that the college could justify paying one person to do both recruiting and advising. It's truly two totally different jobs and, quite frankly, they have a conflict of interest. Advising someone in their academic career can require an advisor to turn people away from the program if it's not a good fit. But as a recruiter, they're evaluated on how many heads they bring in. So how objective can they be when they're job is at stake unless they bring in goal?

My Boss: Well you know Mark. He's a numbers guy.
Me: No. Mark thinks he's a numbers guy. He likes to see high numbers for enrollments, but he's got no idea on how to actually read data.
My Boss: You're right. It's not really his field of expertise.
Me: No. He's got a BA in anthropology. I have a degree in that. And Philosophy. And nearly my master's now. Why don't I have his job? I'm more educated and I know how to read the data and draw information out of it.
My Boss: *laughs* You can certainly do his job.

So there you have it. Evidence that my boss thinks I'm qualified to be a director. We also went over my performance review and I have the highest rating of any employee here right now. Yes, I'm bragging. I rule. Toot, toot, toot. There, out of my system. Now I can go on being oppressed and unappreciated again.

So, I don't know. If I go for this advisor job here I'm likely to gnaw my own leg off, but it pays a lot more and it's likely I'll get the job. I"m kinda fond of my leg though. But the job market really sucks.

What to do, what to do???

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_darlingnicky_/]

This one is tough. It's not like the others. Two things to consider: You've been looking for nearly a year with no success. Depending on how critical it is to seriously move toward advancement, this opportunity may really be something to consider. On the other hand you're miserable now. You'd be miserable in this new job (as you've often described it). Do you want to hold out for something less miserable? Or take this chance now, buckle down and endure it for a year, gain new skills and things to brag about on your resume, then in a year try for an even better job? Hum.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

To me that *seems* like a difficult decision but in reality it isn't. You're miserable in your current job anyway, and you'll continue being so until you find something better and resign, so why not go for this superior job, endure it for as long as you can, and *then* look for something better and resign? I mean, if you're going to be miserable for the next months anyway, isn't it better to at least earn more money and qualifications while at it?

[catscradle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean here. Prior to the revision of the job desciption and the new director, I would have jumped at the chance in a heart beat. But as it stands now, the work load will get a lot heavier. Three advisors have just up and quit because they found their work load too heavy with no support or understanding from their boss. Plus just overall stupid decisions being made in upper management with no input from the people who have to do the actual work. As sucky as my job is, I think their may suck a lot more. Not the job per se, but how they're treated and overworked.

And now I've talked with one of the advisors and found out the director is only hiring at the lowest starting wage. That would only put me at 3000 more a year than what I make now. Plus it moves me up to a hire tax bracket (from 15% to 25%). In addition (also just found out today), the director just gave all the advisors low scores on their performance reviews. Not only does this sabatoge their merit raise, but if they left to work elsewhere, they won't be able to use their supervisor as a contact on their resume. And right now that's the kiss of death in this job market.

I'm really trying to decide if it's worth the hassle and risk at this point.

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

If the US tax works like in other countries, then the 25% would affect only the money you make above the limit, not your entire salary, so you'll still keep 2250 out of that 3000, while the rest will still be taxed at 15%. So, that's no cause of concern.

The real problems are the nasty director and the work overload. But: 1) you don't know how long he's gonna stay (maybe his superiors decide to ditch him when they realize there's no improvement under him). What if they hire another advisor and the director changes? You'll have thrown the opportunity away.
2) Maybe you'll have such outstanding results in your recruitment of students (since this guy only cares abt attracting students, and not abt advising them, as I've understood from your posts) that you'll get a high score in your performance review. In any case, EVEN if you expect a bad score, you can always resign before you get it (if the performance review is once a year), and just ask for a recommendation letter. I doubt he'd be so nasty as not to give it you. I mean, the 3 advisors who resigned apparently found something better. This means that either he gave them a good recommendation letter, or that they got it from another person and found a job regardless of the fact it wasn't from their supervisor. If they succeeded in finding a new job, you can too.

What I'm really trying to say is that if you dig that type of job, and if you intend to resign in the next months anyway, you shouldn't let your fears get a hold of you.

Good luck either way!

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

while the rest will still

the rest of your salary