Dilemma, old job, new job-should I stay or should I go now? Where?
August 30, 2013 4:37 PM   Subscribe

Old job, new job, should I stay or should I go now? About 6 months ago I was ready to quit my job...they were cutting our hours and mismanaging the site I was at, out of the blue corporate asked me if I wanted a managerial purchasing job (they have no purchasing dept) I would start up this position monitoring supplies for 17 facilities....cutting back on spending etc.

So I did, I narrowed down surgical supplies, cut people off from ordering what they wanted week to week (set up a formulary), made a top 10 procedure card for physicians to choose the most cost saving supplies, etc etc...as time went on they piled on more work, for instance watching contracts, etc. In the meantime physicians were supposed to be on board for cost saving but they still demand costly supplies and call me routinely complaining like children. The med exec committee (made up of physicians and bigwigs) were supposed to help me with this, well it didn't last. I have no back up. Also I've been traveling to each facility helping staff organize supplies and initiate change, reminding them they get a bonus if they cut back on waste, even so they ride my ass (change is hard) I feel like they all hate change/me. The CEO stops at my desk routinely to ask me "what's new" meaning how much money are you saving and so on, that is all he is about, not patient care. My boss asks me to do tasks at the last minute, granted he is fair, but he forgets that I still have purchasing to do, the basic job they created. I could go on and on...I'm beginning to HATE it and want to go back to my old job at the company.....in the meantime I was pooling at a job I worked previously it is no piece of cake and now they are hiring too, less money only 3 days a week for full time. I actually got to work in surgery today (current company) and a physician said he'd back me up today.... but I want to give up. I will feel like a total failure though but am wondering if I should ask for my other job back at my current company, I don't know....I'm confused. I should have stayed in school and am getting to old (44) to change careers...not even sure I know what to do. I hate being a corporate person...
posted by irish01 to Work & Money (4 answers total)
 
So you don't like your current job, what does that have to do with failure?
posted by oceanjesse at 4:52 PM on August 30, 2013


In the meantime physicians were supposed to be on board for cost saving but they still demand costly supplies and call me routinely complaining like children.

Yeah, welcome to the wonderful world of trying to get physicians to change anything about how they practice. So, here's the thing. There is nothing, positively nothing, that a person with your job can do to that will keep doctors from having temper tantrums at you, especially not surgeons. It is just something that comes with the job, and as you get more experience, you will learn to reduce the frequency, but no matter how good you are it's still going to happen. The trick is just to smile, let it roll off your back, and keep pushing forward just as hard.

That said, sounds like you really buy-in from physician leadership. You've got the CEO's ear; him stopping by your desk to ask how things are going is a good thing. Next time he stops by your desk to ask how things are going, tell him that you're concerned that the medical executive committee isn't giving you the backing they promised. Presumably he didn't get to be the CEO without knowing how to influence them. He wants you making money, and you need to tell him what you need to make him money.

I guess it really depends on what you want from your career, but personally I would really stick with it if you can bear it at all. Medical supply chain management can be good money if you can get a few years under your belt, show a proven record of success, and jump up one more rung of management to something director-level. And it's usually run badly enough that it's not hard to find something to fix. Being good at something that will reliably get you paid well is nothing to sneer at these days.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 6:04 PM on August 30, 2013 [3 favorites]


It sounds to me more like you're asking us if you should keep a job at the company you're at, over whether or not you should shuffle around inside the place. I think every job's hard and there are lots of pros and cons and off-sheet duties to everything -- I'm probably talking to the converted, mind you -- but it sounds like there's a lot of space for fun in what you do presently (at least, I'd sure like the ability to create formulas and systems for spending, but I am a biiiit of a nerd).

Could you get up a list of stuff you like and don't like for each role, and we could maybe work from there? :)
posted by Howisstifflucky at 2:44 AM on September 1, 2013


Response by poster: Old job no advancememt good hours but pay is lower i could go back to school for teaching with the extra time off, new job is chaotic and anxiety ridden but good money I hate it here tho you are always worried about being fired because that's how they roll the employees here.
posted by irish01 at 12:25 PM on September 3, 2013


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