Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with newjob

Help Get Me Going at my New Gig

sidd.darko — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:17:28 -0800

What are your tips when starting a new job as a software developer? Looking for coding, organizational approaches and social hints as well. Happily, my way out of this situation was to find myself a new job. YAY ME !

I've read this thread but I'm hoping to find answers specific to development. I'm also going back to a language on another platform and I'd like to ramp up quickly. Any tips along these lines would also be appreciated.

Thanks Green !

Am I spoilt by working from home?

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:35:00 -0800

Long commute: should I take this job? I got laid off in mid-May from a job where I worked from home as a software designer. I was somewhat underpaid in that position, making about 85K where others made about 95-100K, but I was happy with it because of the remote arrangement, which worked out great as I have two young children. I also had 5 weeks of PTO/personal time off (ie. vacation and sick time combined) every year.

Since what I do is a pretty niche specialty, there aren't a lot of openings out there, especially not in this economy.

I have now just been offered a position where I would have excellent job security. I'd get 4 weeks PTO, but the money is better - we settled on 95K. However, I'm expected to come into the office every day, because everyone else on the team does.

Now, it took me just under an hour when I went to interview there, and 90 minutes on my way back. I have misgivings about taking on a job where I'll be spending two to three hours of the day in the car. I imagine in the winter it'll be closer to three, if not more.

Others on the team come in at 5:30-6:30 am and are able to cut commuting time to 35 minutes. A start that early is just not an option for me.

I know I can do this work remotely, and in fact, my own boss works in an office in a different city.

Should I take this job?

Good Things to Know Before Starting a New Job

Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:43:45 -0800

NewJobFilter: What are the kinds of things you like to know (or wish you had known) before starting a new job? All walks of life welcome, though I'm especially interested in the experiences of folks at law firms. I'm a litigator in my early 30s. I was laid off for economic reasons from a large, national law firm a few months ago (my first and only job since graduating from law school in 2006). Anyhow, I was lucky enough to find a new job at a much smaller (~20 attorney) firm that specializes in patent litigation, which is what I had been doing before. I start in ten days. Both my old job and new job are in NYC.

So, whether generically or law-firm specific, what sorts of things do you find helpful to know about a new workplace before (or soon after) you start? This includes both the kinds of things you might specifically ask someone, as well as the sort of stuff best picked up through observation rather than direct questioning. Thanks very much.

The best project administrator I can be?

kitcat — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:14:54 -0800

I've just been offered a new job as a project administrator. What should I expect? How do I be the best project administrator I can be? I'm a female, 28 (administrative job - big surprise, right?) While the project I'll be working on is an IT project, my new company focuses on the business analysis end of things. Nevertheless, I've been in humdrum office administration for a long time and I'm thrilled to be making this transition (into IT, into something more challenging) however miniscule (IT is my long-term goal).

A few questions:

How do I knock the socks off my new employers?

Being an introvert, how 'social' might this job be?

And project administrators: what do you enjoy / dislike about your job?

All comments will be greatly appreciated.

How much should I tell when resigning?

alpha_betty — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:55:06 -0800

How much should I tell the boss upon resignation from a very messy situation? For two years, I have worked in a very small office consisting of 4 people until recently, and now it's down to two: the boss and me. The entire time I've been there, our office has held a contract from an outside agency to provide a specific service. This contract provided jobs for 2 people until it expired at the end of last month. When it expired, it gave my office and anyone else in the community the opportunity to bid on the contract.

We did not win it, but one of the contracted employees in this office won it for herself and is now in business on her own under the contract. This has impacted the money flow to my office significantly, and I would be surprised if my position stayed intact with full-time hours. I have many issues with my boss and the way he runs the office; now with just the two of us here I have more unpleasant face-time with him.

Here's where it gets interesting: The ex-coworker now in business for herself has offered me a position with her new business (which is under contract, remember, and offers a specific number of hours per week for two years). I would be working about 20% fewer hours per week and getting paid comparably to what I am currently. It offers the same benefits.

I am getting ready to hand in my resignation to the boss, but I know that when I do, he'll ask me where I'm headed. How much should I divulge? Should I be flighty in order to make things easier on myself before I'm done (boss and the board at my current job are understandably bitter toward this ex-employee), or should I buck up and tell the whole truth?

[Just for the sake of clarification, I am not asking IF I should quit - if I wasn't going with this opportunity, I'd be looking for another one. There are plenty of reasons to get out of my current job even without the new offer.]

Help me buy some suits

saslett — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:24:36 -0800

Help me buy some reasonably priced, high quality suits I've transitioning into a job that requires that I wear a suit almost every day. I own only a few suits. Those suits from a time when I worked at a much higher paying (though lower quality of life job) that didn't require a suit very often. To give you an idea of their quality, one's a Zegna and the other's an Oxxford.

Yeah, I spoiled myself.

But my new salary is such that I can't go out and buy half a dozen $1,500+ suits to get myself started, and I'm going to need a fair stock of them soon. I know I can't approach the quality of an Oxxford without shelling out some major cash, but I don't want to feel like I'm wearing glued together cardboard or pay $800 for something that will fall apart in a few years.

So where should I buy them? I'm looking for well-made suits in the $500-$800 range. I've visited a bunch of stores that carry such suits (Brooks Brothers, Jos A. Bank, Nordstrom, Dillard's, etc.) but I'd like input on which store has the highest quality suits in this price range.

I'm particularly interested in your opinions of Brooks Brothers vis-a-vis Jos A. Bank. From what I could tell (and I'm no suit expert), the nicer Jos A. Bank suits seemed to be of the same quality as the Brooks Brothers suits but far, far cheaper.

If you feel you need more info about the new job to recommend suits, I'm transitioning from private practice legal to government legal.

Family Friendly lines of work?

universal_qlc — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:46:15 -0800

What fields are kind[er] to working parents? I've read through this question, but am still wondering which fields might be more family friendly than others. It's rather obvious by my previous AskMe questions that I won't stay in my current field of mechanical engineering (at least in defense work), and I want to give myself a couple of years' head start to build up expertise in a new field before having kids. But I also want it to be a field that won't eat my personal life - I have no interest in climbing corporate ladders of any sort, and a greater interest in just remaining challenged on a professional level while raising a family. Fittingly, a big pay cut is fine if I can save on child care/commuting/wardrobe/other work costs.

While I know this is something that will vary based on company and circumstances and that it might be The Mythical and Fabled Perfect Setup, are there any particular fields or setups you've seen that worked well? Bonus points for desk-ish work, flexible hours (part-time is okay), and things that utilize a science/engineering background.

Thanks! I've always found AskMe to be really good for these sorts of questions, and I'm hoping this is no exception.

How to improve new client relationship?

urbanette — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:00:20 -0800

Getting to know you... I'm new to client service but have extensive client-side experience in the marketing field. Just joined an agency and the client complained to my boss that I'm 'too professional' in my demeanor. How do I fix this? So more details. I joined a small agency which has a reputation for great innovative ideas, but also for their poor execution. I was brought in to clean up and implement process and some level of maturity into the shop.

We work with the client's AOR (we are an experiential agency) and the account people on that side are best-buds with the client, they go out drinking, buy him birthday presents and generally kiss butt. They aren't happy we have his business - but they can't seem to come up with the ideas or have the contacts that we do. They have made our lives tough; casting doubt on our creative abilities and pointing our errors at every turn with the goal of getting us fired.

Needless to say I've taken a bit of a defensive stance to help us defend our territory, but I can only assume that they haven't been complimentary about me to the client.

Sooo..my boss had coffee with the client the other day and he reported back that it was clear that the client had issues with me but said it was hard to nail down specifics with the client and the best he could get was that my attitude was overly professional and that perhaps and adjustment of tone is in order and that I need to make it work with the AOR. I called the client on my boss' suggestion to get further feedback but he has not returned my calls.

I assume the issue is that how I used to like to work with my agencies is not how this relationship is going to work. I like to keep my work and personal life separated. It's early days in this relationship and I know the client needs to be wined and dined but do I have to be his friend for this to work?

Ideas on how to move forward? How can I be 'less professional?' Any tips for going from being the client to serving a client?

Thanks for reading!

Leave my new job for a possibly better one? -- caveats inside

albatross5000 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:25:08 -0800

At a new job, just used my references, don't like the job much, and am being offered a new job (starting the interview process) -- do I take it? I'm a Programmer and 2 months in on a new job, and I don't like it. I have no manager and my peers don't seem to have things under control and communicate, and I generally don't like the environment. I'm taking on a piece of the process that no one else understands, and it's all rather unreasonable. Not having a manager (reporting to a VP who has 70 employees) is strangely unsettling...

But, it's not impossible, and there's a chance that it could work out...

I've recently been offered to start the interview process for another job, but I'm weary of leaving this one so soon in case this new one doesn't work out. (It would look horrible to have gone through 2 jobs in 4 months or so).

Oh, and I was fired from my last job. I was there for 3 years and stopped getting along with my boss and got fired...not good. I had some OK references from there that I used to get into this job, and I'm weary of having to use them again... I'm rather deflated from that last firing, and wonder if it's a good idea to dump my new employer for a new one.

Getting fired wasn't so bad because I was given a 10% raise going into this new job. And the one I might start interviewing with is yet another 10% raise.

Advice?

9-5 without a degree?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:51:03 -0800

What are some non-retail, 9-5 jobs that don't require a degree? I've been working at an electronics retailer for about 5 years now, and I think it's time to move on. I'd love a 9-5, Monday-Friday type job. Something with holidays off (not necessarily paid for, but always nice) and something that I don't have to work 20 hours the day after Thanksgiving.

The biggest problem: I never finished college. Part of the reason why I'd like it to be 9-5, so maybe night classes would be an option. Also, I'm a little picky. No more retail, no food service jobs, no call centers, and I'd prefer no sales-type jobs.

Aside from that, I'm pretty open. It doesn't have to be super glamorous or exciting; life in a cubicle would be fine with me at this point in life. It'd be nice if it paid close to (or better) than my $12/hour. I've been a supervisor for over a year now, so I do have some leadership experience. Without getting too specific, I live in Pennsylvania. I haven't tried Monster or anything since I don't know exactly what to look for. Any ideas?

Too Risky?

DoNotRefill — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:56:16 -0800

Will I risk losing a job offer? I've been offered and have accepted a new job that I'm very excited about. During the phone conversation, which was on a Wednesday, I asked when they would like me to start. They stated that ideally they would like me to start that following Monday, but that they were flexible, and then proceeded to ask me what my schedule looked like. I told them I was also flexible, and that I would call them the following day with a definite answer.
The next day, I called and let them know that I would be able to start a week after that following Monday, so approximately 1 1/2 weeks. I was not working at the time, so I didn't say I needed 2 weeks or anything. Now I have come down with a really bad cold/flu, and I start on Monday. I have been sick for most of this week and have a feeling I will still be pretty sick when I start. Since I have been so sick, I have not been able to purchase any clothing I will be needing for this job, which is requiring me to purchase basically a completely different wardrobe than what I have.
My question is, would it be too risky to ask them if I can extend my start date to the following week...and does anyone have any good ideas on how I should go about it? I don't want to risk the job, but I don't want to be sick and unprepared either. Thanks!

I want to be the "great addition to the team" they think they're getting.

Metroid Baby — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:04:40 -0800

Generally speaking, what can I do in the first day/week/month of a new job to make sure I get off on the right foot? Specifically speaking, how can I present myself as a smart interesting capable professional, and not a shy nervous slacker? I’ll be starting a new job in a few weeks. (I’d prefer not to give the details of what I’ll be doing – suffice it to say it’s a full time job in an office.) I’m excited, certainly, but I’m also a little nervous. I know how exciting shiny new jobs can sometimes turn into dull boring crappy jobs, and I want to avoid that if it’s possible. I know I can’t control whether the coffee sucks or my new boss is mean, but if there’s anything I can do that will help make a good impression – without coming across as a brownnoser - I’d like to hear it.

There are a couple things that I will probably have to overcome from the start. For starters, I’m shy and tend not to chat with coworkers particularly often. At some of my past jobs, I’ve thought, “well, I’ll make friends here eventually” and it never really happened. (My performance review at the job I’m leaving had two separate reviewers explicitly mention that I needed to socialize more.) I don’t want or need to go out drinking with work buddies every night, but on the other hand I want to appear approachable and likeable.

Additionally, given the choice, I tend to slack. Over the years I’ve gotten better about getting everything done, but I’m still as likely to be checking my personal email or drawing cartoons on my notepad as actually doing my work. I know it’s a good idea to ask for additional work if I don’t have anything on my plate, but when I have downtime the very last thing I want to do is reorganize all my file folders. This habit tends to get worse if I am bored/dissatisfied with work. It’s easier for me to control the slacking habit from the beginning than to try and reverse it when it’s in full swing, but regardless, procrastination usually wins in the end, so I’d like to head it off at the pass.

Finally – and this is probably my biggest hurdle – I am pretty scared that I’m going to blow this somehow. I’m worried I’m going to get there and be outed as a dum-dum, or that I’ll be too far behind the learning curve to be useful. My future bosses obviously think I’m smart and capable enough, but I’m having a hard time believing it myself.

I suppose that I need to convince myself I’m a fantastic addition to the company as much as or more than I need to convince my new coworkers. I’d greatly appreciate input on how to do both. I want this experience to be awesome and I want to be awesome at what I do.

Are we there yet?

Ham_On_Rye — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:15:33 -0800

How long (ballpark range) should it take to get comfortable at a new job after you've been in the working world awhile? I used to think it was around 6 months...my mom said 3, and frankly, I had the expectation that since I have now been in the 'working world' for going on 10 years, and am now considered to be a 'grown up', that I would be more adept at being comfortable at a new job faster. Anyone have a more updated timeframe, perhaps one that can be substantiated with hard data?

(Some additional background, just in case you are wondering...I have just passed the 6 month mark at my current project manager position which has been admittedly a bit of a stretch from my previous jobs (project/account coordinator positions that all involved project management to some level or degree, just not officially titled 'project manager'). It is more of a general project management position, not technical in nature.

I have received feedback that I don't always exude a high level of confidence at my current job. A big part of this, I think, is because I honestly do not feel 100% comfortable in my position, and hope with time that this will improve. To compound the issue, the other PM in my team recently left the company, so many of the duties they were doing have now fallen on my plate, and it feels as though I am brand new all over again. I don't know if this really means this isn't the job for me, or if it's all normal. But I digress...)

Quitting my job after 5 months. How do I explain to prospective employers why?

onepapertiger — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:36:48 -0800

Quitting my job after 5 months. How do I (or rather, "Do I") explain to prospective employers that I'm leaving because of a verbally abusive manager? I'm applying to new jobs and am resigning from the one I currently have this week. The trouble is, I don't know how to explain why I was with my current company for only five months. I'm only leaving because my manager is verbally abusive and I can't take it anymore. Otherwise, I've been outperforming and have been rewarded for it.

THE WHY
I've tried my best to keep my manager happy, but I feel emotionally unsafe in the workplace now. He belittles the work I've done (despite the fact that I've been recognized as outperforming) and he expects me to cover his ass when he's late to work, leaving early and when he doesn't show up for client conference calls. He speaks badly of upper-level management and colleagues at his middle level, and tries to manipulate me into believing that I can't trust anybody in our global company but him.

He also sees my high level of productivity as a threat.

I'm afraid. He is moody. I wouldn't put it past him to make up lies about me. I'm really scared. I have to cut my losses. HR, located in another city, asked me to adapt, but he's just so unpredicatable.

None of my old managers ever acted like this. I think this guy has problems but I just don't think I can do anything to make him feel like being a better manager.

THE HOW:
But how do I explain my decision to leave to prospective employers and not be seen as a problem applicant?

Grandma's Turning Blue... the same color as the films I sell online...

aristan — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:50:32 -0800

ResumeFilter: Objective or No Objective? List the unrelated work history or leave it out? Does doing work for your college count as "work history" if they paid you but it also counted as a class?! Please help me with my resume! I think I've found a great job and it is actually in the field I want to be in! While I will soon have a degree in the field and a lot of experience thanks to school, I have very little experience outside of that.

This is common for recent college grads, but I'm 28!

The fields I'm looking into is web design and graphic design, a field I believe I am talented at. The college I am about to graduate from seemed to agree as they paid me to design their IT department website, the site for the Creative Arts Magazine, and the school paper's website. These sites were also considered projects as they replaced classes that my advisor felt were beneath my level.

I also served as web editor, design editor, and editor-in-chief of the school paper, positions I was also paid for.

My other work history is mainly retail & retail management experience.

Also of note, and a fact that gives my grandmother heart palpatations, the new job is in the "adult entertainment" field.

So here are my "hard resume" questions:

- When moving into an entirely new field, do you include the unrelated work experience?

- Does work that counted as a class but you were paid for count as Educational Experience or Work Experience?

- I've seen a few sites that say to leave off the "objective" as it is considered pointless (it always boils down to "get a job with you") and can negatively effect scanning... are they right?

- I will not graduate until May, but my graduation date is going to be backdated to December 2006. How the heck do I include the info on my resume? (My college will say I haven't graduated if you called today, but if you called in May, they'd say I'd graduated in December).

- How do I tell Grandma that I'm gonna be a pornographer?

Too paralysed by indecision and fear to make up my mind whether to accept a job offer.

paduasoy — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:07:53 -0800

Seeking advice on whether to take a job, and experiences of those who did or didn't accept job offers. I work in statistics/performance management. I've been offered a post in a different organisation at about £3.5K more, though I still have to negotiate the actual starting salary. There's an increased travel cost of about £1K. The post has fairly similar responsibilities to my current one, though in another area of work so I would have some learning to do, and probably managing more staff. From what the interviewers said, there are problems with the technical set-up in my new team and there are likely to be a lot of headaches for me working with the new system.

My problem is that I am in my comfort zone in my current post, and can't decide whether to make the shift. I know my work very well and am respected in the organisation, though workload is a real issue and I am constantly trying to meet crisis deadlines. I work flexible hours in order to do research in my own time - I think I would be able to do that in the new post, but it would be harder for the first year until I was up to speed with the work. I find any change very difficult to deal with. The main pros for accepting this post are the money, not wanting to regret turning it down (which could spiral into depression), and that at some point working in this organisation would be a good move for me. The cons are the inevitable stress of new responsibilities, new systems, new people and a new environment, and fear of not being up to the job (I think I may have over-sold myself at interview, having read too many AskMe posts about interviews beforehand).

I would appreciate advice about and people's experiences of accepting or not accepting posts. What issues did you consider when making decisions like these? Do you have suggestions about how best to cope in a new job (I have read this thread)? If you have turned down a job offer, are there ways you managed not to regret too much the lost opportunities?

How best to research a potential employer?

blingblong — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 10:30:18 -0800

What's the best way to go about researching a potential new employer? I'm being given an opportunity to advance my career by an old boss at a new job... but she's so new there she only has glowing things to say about the place. I want to see if there's any other attitude about working there before I start, and I don't want to go to current employees and just ask because I think she might take it as my not trusting her (which isn't the case, I just want to Cover My A--)

So, how would one go about researching the work environment, corporate culture, etc, of a company without actually asking current employees? Are there internet forums that cover this kind of thing? Is there some way to find out about previous problems between this company and employees? Any help would be great.

How can I find a new job quickly?

autojack — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 08:04:36 -0800

I'm planning a move in late November, from Boston to San Francisco. At the moment, it's looking like I'm going to arrive there and THEN begin my job search. 1. Am I completely nuts? 2. What can I do to help my odds of landing a job quickly? I'm 25 years old, I've lived in Boston my entire life, I just graduated from college (worked full time while taking classes) and I'm looking for a new challenge, an adventure, a change of scenery, etc. I've visited San Francisco several times and I really love it there. I have a couple of friends and a cousin living there, so I won't be a total stranger.

My full-time work for the past five years has been in the IT industry, and I'm a very capable Unix system administrator. I have a solid resume, I clean up well, and I'm an all-around nice guy. However, the three full-time jobs I've had were all the result of personal networking, where the people hiring me already knew me in some capacity, and so the interviews and other pre-hire things were mostly just a formality. I may be able to work my network in San Francisco, but it's fairly small and I don't want to count on it coming through for me. I'm not really scared of going on _real_ job interviews, but I'm looking for tips on landing them and then making the most of those face-to-face meetings.

So far this is sounding vague, but I'm not sure what else to write. I'll monitor the thread today and respond to any additional questions anyone has for me.

How long does it take to adjust to a new job?

mygothlaundry — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 16:14:05 -0800

How long does it take to adjust to a new job? I just (4 days ago) started a new job and I feel like I'm in outer space, or the 13th level of hell, or something, but this has to improve, right? Any anecdotal or otherwise comments are helpful; right now, I think I'm drowning. I'm sort of the only person there, doing marketing among other undefined things and I really need to know if feeling like a complete idiot is going to stop. I haven't changed jobs in a while, and I was thoroughly courted and headhunted, oddly enough, for this one, and it's significantly more money. The job I have started is extremely amorphous. There isn't any job description; there isn't anything set in stone, it's all up in the air. All I know is that part of it is marketing, which was part of my last job, which was also kind of amorphous (art museum; communications, 4.5 years) but had more of a structure in place. The business comprises a vegetarian restaurant, a brewpub (lot of live music), and a microbrewery (with tasting room). There's a lot of talk about the "Big Picture" and not a lot about specifics. As far as I can figure out (my ability to speak & translate hippie is what may have gotten me the job and save me yet) I think I'm supposed to be my boss when he isn't there. I'm pretty organized, capable and calm under fire - eventually I will get some form of a handle on this, I hope - but how long is it likely to take? Anyone ever moved from a kind of defined job to a non defined job? How long did it take?

Researching Potential Employers

pomegranate — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 10:39:08 -0800

Okay, speaking of new jobs, I've got one ~

How do you research a potential employer, particularly if you don't know anyone who works there? After you learn all you can from their website, Googling their key players, stock analyst sites, and F*ed Company, where else do you look? I keep thinking there's gotta be a catch with my new potential employer, but nothing's turning up.