To leave work?

[Halloweene]

I’m in a vicious cycle at the moment:

Work is awful and I hate the job. It’s a badly run job centre that’s understaffed and the atmosphere is awful. I don’t get on with many colleagues as most of my friends have left. The staff turnover is high.

There’s an office clique that go out at least twice a week after work and stick together. They tend to lump extra work on me or do the bare minimum and get away with it cause they’re close to management. Work isn’t fairly allocated and management aren’t really supportive of me.

My own manager has changed 4 times in a few months and there’s no rapport there. It’s very micromanaging.

I am finding it hard to apply for jobs as I can’t really unwind or relax after work. Civil service job applications are a bit tedious and applications from start to job offer can take 6+ months.

I just feel trapped and seriously considering just handing my notice in without another job offer? But my household relies on my income.

You need to leave but you need to find another job first

Do you have a partner you can talk to about the logistics of resigning now? I don't usually believe in resigning until there is another contract in place elsewhere, but it has a place to do so.

I can't say if you're being unreasonable or not as I don't know your personal finances or situation.

I know - I wish I could apply for a job and get a date to leave within a month. I applied for a few HMRC roles last month, but they’re still sifting after weeks of the application deadline so no updates.

My skillset suits civil service so I’m not sure what private sector roles suit.

Our household would be okay for 2 months of me being out of work as I would get one final payslip with all my holiday pay.

Talk to some recruitment agencies and see what permanent jobs they have available for your skill set.

Could you book two or three days holiday and spend the whole time filling in job applications. Don't forget schools/education, NHS, local authorities etc all struggling to fill vacancies just now

I would put a week's holiday in, have some rest and cane the job adverts

If you could only manage for 2 months without your salary, don't leave without a job to go to.

Are you in a union?

Have you considered a temp agency as a bridge to your next job? That would allow you to escape what sounds like a miserable job but still pay your bills until you find something permanent.

You could:

• Register with a temp agency so you can do contract work until you find a good permanent job
• Find an easy part-time job to have an income coming in while you search for a more suitable role
• take some leave and use it to focus on job search
• take some sick leave if the environment is really toxic and use that to job search .

It is possible to just quit: I left my last job after a month before it was just a horrible place to work and very different from what had been advertised. I found another job while I was finishing my week of notice for that company. There are lots of job out there at the moment. But I did have a fair amount of savings so I could have afforded to spend a few months job searching if needed. In your case you need to make sure you would not be putting your family at risk financially if you just quit without a job to go to.

If you have experience of working in a job centre, some charities run employability projects and need employability advisers to help clients find jobs, volunteering opportunities and develop their skills. It is probably not as highly paid as the civil service but it is another option.

What is happening at your monthly 1-2-1's? They are as much your opportunity to raise issues/seek clarification/ask for development opportunities as they are for management to give you feedback on your performance.

You need to take control, show some initiative. If you have a constantly changing management structure, you need to flag up how this is a demotivating factor as you are constantly being reevaluated.

As for the clique.....you get them everywhere. However, if their behaviour is crossing a line into bullying/harassment you need to raise this with your LM. It can be addressed informally, escalating to more formal processes if necessary.

You need to look for internal opportunities.....secondments, temporary promotions, developmental opportunities (get involved with the staff survey.....it's ball achingly boring but it's different and no-one ever wants to do it, so you get the kudos of volunteering).

Resigning should be your last resort - but if you go down this route, please do the exit interview to explain why you are leaving