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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To quit a job after 5 months?

28 replies

liverpool122 · 22/02/2022 21:37

I’ve posted before about my job - I’m a healthcare worker who works for a private company and go around different schools.

I’m at each site once a week and in that one day I’m expected to see students back to back, complete admin and reports, create any training that they request etc. There’s always disagreements about how my boss v the school want me to spend my time. It’s near on impossible to get everything done and I’m always behind. Not to mention most of the schools give me the most difficult way to gain wifi or printing! I’m not even enjoying the clinical side, I just feel like I can’t be bothered most of the time.

My company all work the same way and so I have no opportunity to ever see my team. I don’t really make friends at schools either as I’m not there enough. So it’s a very lonely unsociable job. I’m suffering really bad burnout and my boss isn’t particularly helpful.

I’ve only been there 5 months, is that way too soon to quit? I feel so unhappy and burnt out but I don’t know if I’m just being rash.
I’ve found a job which is more in the research side of the clinical work I do, which sounds really interesting but is risky as it is only fixed term.

Can anyone advise?

OP posts:
Original poster
liverpool122 · 22/02/2022 21:42

Oh forgot to mention that 3 out of 5 days of the week I’m driving to a school around a 2 hour round trip, which is knackering as well

OP posts:
Fimofriend · 22/02/2022 21:44

The job is bad so a temporary job would be better. You can get ill for a very long time if you burn out. You need to take care if yourself.

FitAt50 · 22/02/2022 21:46

Do it. I left an admin job with the nhs after 3 months and now have a job I love, working in recruitment for a university. Am so so much happier and its the best thing I could have done.

nosyupnorth · 22/02/2022 21:49

It sounds like the job is a bad fit that isn't going to get any better so I would say start applying elsewhere.

Unless you have a history of hopping jobs reguarly then having this as a period of short term employment wouldn't typically be a red flag on a CV.

Original poster
liverpool122 · 22/02/2022 21:54

Well I only graduated in 2019 and I had that job for 2 years so I’m hoping it won’t be so bad… thanks all for your input! I guess I don’t really see it getting much better

OP posts:
VivienneDelacroix · 22/02/2022 22:06

Are you an EMHP? This isn't how you should be working if you are.

TeddyBeans · 22/02/2022 22:08

I quit a job after 3 shifts once. Life's too short

Motheranddaughtertotwo · 22/02/2022 22:10

I don’t know your industry at all but I stayed in a job I was unhappy at for a year and it made me so ill that I then took a year to recover. If it’s not working for you I would get out. No job is worth being miserable for.

parchedjanuary · 22/02/2022 22:18

I was also wondering if you are an EMHP. It is a career that I have been interested in myself, from the outside it looks like a really interesting and rewarding role...but a friend/acquaintance who is an EMHP said very similar things about her job, which did concern me.

I think you should take the fixed term contract. If you go on like you are now, your health will suffer.

I have previously worked in healthcare and did lots of fixed term contracts....there was always something else to move on to as the fixed terms came to an end. The fixed term contracts were also a great way of networking and learning about other areas of work. I would definitely recommend trying it, rather than staying in a job that's so stressful.

Is it possible that you could do occasional bank work in the area you are currently working in , to maintain those skills, while you take on the fixed term contract?

80sballetgirl · 22/02/2022 22:20

I gave my notice on a job after 2 months, so was only in the position 3 months when I left. Best thing I did. I was stuck in a tiny out of the way office, lonely & unhappy, people I worked with were not very nice.
Life is too short, put yourself first.

Beseen22 · 23/02/2022 07:35

I started a job a year ago and on my induction visit I had concerns. I remember coming home and telling my DH I wasn't sure about a few things. I should have listened to my gut. Life is too short to be miserable every day of your working life.

Original poster
liverpool122 · 23/02/2022 07:40

Thanks so much everyone. I am not a EMHP but similar!
Have the absolute dread of going in this morning I feel a bit sick, so probably the right decision..

OP posts:
Original poster
liverpool122 · 23/02/2022 08:46

I’ve been told I can be quite impulsive so I am nervous - am I right in thinking what I have said about the job is pretty bad? Or am I just being dramatic?

OP posts:
Original poster
liverpool122 · 23/02/2022 12:15

Struggling a lot today - but also feel a bit silly because most people just get on with their jobs and do people really enjoy their jobs anyway?

OP posts:
Xmassprout · 23/02/2022 12:19

You shouldn't dread going in to work, that's no way to live.

I actually do enjoy my job. I enjoy what I do and the company I work for really focuses on employee well being. They have worked out that happier employees = more productive employees.

VivienneDelacroix · 23/02/2022 13:39

CWP? I supervise EMHPs and CWPs and would want to support someone who was feeling how you are. Can you speak to your supervisor? Could you try to arrange to be in school close to where your colleagues are on certain days so that you can meet up afterwards? Or plan admin days together? Are you in school 5 days a week, with no team meetings or allocated admin mornings/afternoons?

Having said that- I wouldn't stay in a job that was making me miserable. Life's too short.

AffIt · 23/02/2022 13:42

Leaving a job within six months is pretty easy to explain, or even leave off a CV - it gets more difficult after six months, I think.

If you're unhappy and you can afford to quit, cut your losses and leave now.

SugarAndCoffee · 23/02/2022 13:44

Yeah sure, one short job isn't going to look bad on your cv. You've stuck it out long enough. Get the next thing lined up then leave.

Anoooshka · 23/02/2022 13:47

You should definitely change jobs. I stayed in a job for a month once, but I had a very good explanation as to why I left and had a good employment record prior to that. IMO it shows that you have a bit of initiative if you leave a job that you're not happy with. Better than spending years and years in a crappy job and moaning about it all the time.

Butchyrestingface · 23/02/2022 13:48

@liverpool122

Oh forgot to mention that 3 out of 5 days of the week I’m driving to a school around a 2 hour round trip, which is knackering as well
Is a 2 hour round trip to get to work in any way unusual? Sounds like many people’s average commute. Confused

Not that I’m suggesting you stay in a job you hate.

Original poster
liverpool122 · 23/02/2022 17:48

I guess so! But it’s an hour journey each way at the very least, often longer because of traffic. More tedious when you dread the job I guess!

OP posts:
dipdye · 23/02/2022 17:50

God just take the other job, you'll get no prizes for suffering, believe me!

Bananapants2020 · 23/02/2022 20:54

Schools can be like this towards people who aren't in every single day - it's not very welcoming and it sounds as if they make your job more difficult than it needs to be.

peachy3 · 23/02/2022 22:35

I left a job after 5 months last year, it was exhausting and mentally draining and my superiors were very unsupportive and ignorant. It got to the point that every morning I logged on (WFH) I would be on the brink of a panic attack as I still didn’t feel confident in the role due to lack of training but all the managers had to say was “you need to just get on with it” or “why are you asking me that you should already know”. I then would have to go back on a call with a customer having no idea what to do or say because the managers were too busy eating biscuits and chatting to each other in their teams meetings. There’s nothing wrong with leaving if it’s not right for you, your quality of life is so much more important.

autienotnaughty · 23/02/2022 22:46

Absolutely I had a break down working in a stressful job, I'd been there six months so felt I couldn't leave. I left then and would never put myself through that again